I’m surprised by how many writers I meet who misunderstand the 10,000 hour rule.
Popularized by Maclom Gladwell in his quadrillion selling “Outliers,” the idea is that a person needs 10,000 hours of intentional practice to master a complex skill like playing an instrument.
My respose: who cares?
Gladwell’s premise seems to have been inspired by a paper by Anders Ericcson in the Harvard Business Review.
The upshot of the paper:”Consistently and overwhelmingly, the evidence showed that experts are always made, not born. These conclusions are based on rigorous research that looked at exceptional performance using scientific methods that are verifiable and reproducible.”
That’s great news.
It tells us that skill is not reliant on talent. Talent is fundamentally having an interest in something. If you are attracted to it, you’ll have a keener interest in the subtleties, and therefore a better knack for mimicking good work.
This is why I only compliment people on their skill, never their talent. Skill is the product of work, dedication, and persistence.
But this doesn’t mean we must wait to share our work until we’ve put in our 10,000 hours.
This leads to a much more important book for creatives: Show Your Work by Austin Kleon.
We live in an age where it is possible to go right around all the old, traditional gatekeepers that stood between us and our audience. And you can attract an audience by sharing your progress. Share your journey and let people watch you grow as an artist.
I encourage you to buy Show Your Work in paperback, not ebook. It’s a little, square book, with illustrations and very short chapters. The sort of thing you can pick up and dip into to discover inspiration. I’ve read it many times and I recommend it to everyone.
Forget talent. Practice for skill, and publish your practice. A fulfilling creative life isn’t about the chore, but about the journey.
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