10,000 hours

[Steve Branam]

These were my thoughts on this subject a year ago: http://www.closegrain.com/2010/11/mastering-craft.html (you'll have to scroll down past the class stuff). But I figured I would hit the 10,000 hour mark in 35 years. Even then, 10,000 hours is only 5 years full time.

[geoff wood]

i think it might be true if you were doing one thing for 10,000 hours- finishing, inlay, stairbuilding etc. cabinetmaking/woodworking/furniture making is just too multi-faceted. if you really want to try to master it, get a job doing it everyday; where one is completely engrossed in the craft. im about 15,000 hours into finish carpentry/remodeling, definately not a 'master' of anything. but i do know how to not starve.

[Dustin Keys]

George, your the woodworking guru, Bill Newman is the classical guitar guru. Difference Is that Bill would never opine on woodworking. My teacher, 15 years ago, looked at what I brought to the studio and told me I could become a good classical guitar player.....not Segovia, but with a lot of work a good player. So, no your wrong. You want to watch getting out of you depth. I'm all ears when your talking woodwork or instrument building but beyond that your just another guy. Bills not teaching anyone to play Freight Train or Foggy Mountain Breakdown. You teach that ungrateful kid to play Bachs Little Violin Suite? Anyone can strum C, F and G.

I stay out of heated woodworking debates (I'm a newb), but since we've turned to performing music - I'm in.

Wasn't the idea of this discussion about being a "master" of a craft? Being pretty decent and being a master are not the same thing. You can think that it isn't about "gifts" but about "work" all you want, but I can assure you that some people can work very hard for many years and never master the guitar even though they put in well more than 10,000 hours of good practice. Some people have a gift for it, and they excel within a relatively short period of time and go on to accomplish what many would consider to be mastery. I've seen this play out time and time again. You either have "it" or you don't. No amount of work makes "it" appear out of thin air in my experience.

But about the 10,000 hours thing... I haven't read the book, but I've heard the topic debated among musicians before, but with a twist from how you guys are describing it. The twist is that the 10,000 hours isn't merely playing (or woodworking, etc), but it's 10,000 hours of concentrated practice. There's quite a difference between concentrated practice and merely doing an activity. 10,000 hours of repeating a task or activity is likely to leave you little better than you were at the beginning if you aren't actively seeking to progress your skills constantly. I often see people vainly repeating the skills they already have and can use and calling that practice, but it accomplishes almost nothing. Most people can't practice at a highly concentrated level for very long in one sitting, so that 10,000 hour mark is very difficult to accomplish and usually takes quite a number of years.

My personal opinion is that a person with a unique talent for a given field can master it with 10,000 hours of concentrated practice. In my experience, very few people ever find such a talent in themselves and devote the necessary time and energy to develop it to mastery unfortunately.

D

[Christopher Charles]

Hello all,

Thanks to all for the stimulating discussion--I fully agree with the NYT article and George's observations that some people will never get there and some get there really quickly. I've seen both in my experience with academics. Like many simple rules, the 10,000 hour rule is probably incorrect but has some kernel of truth... (interestingly, Ph.D. programs are typicallly 5 years).

In my OP, I was curious about how others feel they have progressed toward feeling like they've mastered some element of woodwork and (as mostly hobbist) woodworkers, how quickly they might be getting there, etc. At least as curious about that as the truth of a 10,000 hour rule.

Thanks!
Chris C.