Awesomeness Takes Time

Don't watch me, watch the clock. BOYYEEE!! You know what time it is!!

We would all like to believe that we were born awesome. And to some degree we are absolutely correct. When we first arrive as crying, slobbering masters and mistresses of manipulation, the world literally revolves around us. Furthermore, the universe is merely an extension of us and only exists as we interact with it.  But as we get older, we develop a sense of self that differentiates us from the universe that was formerly our appendage. And that’s when awesomeness becomes more complex.

A couple years ago, I read a book called Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.  I had even gone as far as to begin writing a blog post about it for the 1^st failed incarnation of The Awesomeness Consultant. It went like this:

Today’s Inspiration for Awesome: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
[Imaginary Scene: A young Awesomeness Consultant stands before his 4^th grade classmates, clutching papers tightly and shuffling from foot to foot] 

Good morning, my name is the Awesomeness Consultant and this is my book report on Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  Mr. Gladwell has written three other famous books that I haven’t read yet named What the Dog Saw, Blink and the Tipping Point.  I think that Outliers was a good book that presented some interesting information that hold interesting implications for awesomeness…

[End Scene] 

Pardon me for being silly, but yeah this is your basic book report.  Mr. Gladwell makes some interesting arguments and presents some interesting facts that I think would help any of us look at this thing called success differently.  I don’t where success fits into everyone’s “awesomeness paradigm” but as far as my own is concerned – it deserves some attention. Allow [me] to go through the book and highlight a few sections and the implications for awesomeness… 

Chapter Two: The 10,000 Hour Rule
Implication for Awesomeness: Awesomeness takes a lot of time invested

And this is exactly where that blog post ended. I never finished it. So now we’ve come full circle.

Since reading the book, I’ve actually heard the 10,000 hour rule mentioned a number of times. Most recently, I was reading a Men’s Health article about Georges St. Pierre, and in addition to quoting Bruce Lee and Michaelangelo, he mentions the 10,000 hour rule. So what does the rule say? To master anything, it will take a person 10,000 hours. That’s a lot of hours. Let me put it into perspective for you:

Pick anything that you want to master. For me, it would be…ummm…I don’t know….maybe White Lotus Kung Fu (for the sake of discussion). Now let’s break 10,000 hours down:

• If I practiced 2 hours per day, 5 days a week it would take 20 years to reach 10,000 hours.
• If I practiced 4 hours per day, 5 days a week it would take 10 years to reach 10,000 hours.
• If I practiced 3 hours per day, 7 days a week it would take 9 years to reach 10,000 hours.
• If I practiced 4 hours per day, 7 days a week it would take 7 years to reach 10,000 hours.

From that perspective, awesomeness (as defined as mastery of a craft or skill) takes an incredibly long time. As well, to commit to 10,000 hours of practice requires motivation, dedication, and humility. That is one heckuva formula.

Now, you may not have invested 10,000 into any particular craft or skill, and you may not want to. That does not limit your ability to be awesome one bit. By the time you reach 30 years old, you will have been yourself for 262,800 hours. Just being who you are has given you mastery 26 times over.  So actually, awesomeness is still as simple as it was when we were babies. It just takes time for us to realize it.