Ten years ago, Malcolm Gladwell published a book called Outliers about the factors that lead to high levels of success. In the book he cites research that purports it takes 10,000 hours to master a craft. There are 2080 hours in a work year (40 hours a week x 52 weeks) which means that you would have to work at something full time for five years to master it. The original researcher, Anders Ericsson challenged this by saying his research actually said 10,000 hours was the average amount of time elites spent practicing and that the quality of the practice matters. Another study in Intelligence attributed practice to only one third of performance in chess and music and another field analysis found that practice may be responsible for as little as 12% of mastery. Genetics matter and science and psychology have something to offer as well. Upon further study, it appears getting precise feedback from a coach/mentor along with deliberate practice learning the sub-skills of an overall skill seem to expedite learning. So, in summary there seems to be a lot more to mastering a skill than time spent.
You might be asking why I am wandering around in this rabbit hole. Well, as a lifelong learner, there are two areas in my life right now that require this understanding. The first is weaving, which is both surprisingly simple and complex. This fall, I assisted with warping of three looms which is a time consuming sub-skill associated with weaving. Having woven about 30 rugs/runners/placemats this summer, along with many more over the past several years, I have mastered the plain weave most often associated with rug weaving and have secured a table loom to use at home for smaller projects. This requires learning about the myriad of fibers available to weave with and the vast array of weave patterns available to use on my rigid heddle loom. I have several books but reading about these things only goes so far. I have found several websites, blogs and numerous utube videos and podcasts that are adding to my arsenal of knowledge and skills. I have also been learning (getting feedback) from an area weaver who has mastered many looms, uses interesting fibers and has learned numerous patterns producing many different products. After completing several table mats using both fabric and fiber along with a set of placements, I have decided to focus on making kitchen towels on my table loom in the spring. This will require me to decide on the proper fiber to use (mercerized, un-mercerized, cotton, linen, combo, etc.) along with a pattern to determine warping and then a weft weaving pattern. Of course, I will need to make color choices and source my fiber before I can begin plus, I will need another lesson or two to feel confident warping my table loom. For now, I will continue to read and listen over the winter months before coming back to the loom in May.
My next project has been even more difficult and time consuming. I am a year and a half into writing my column now and am often asked by those who don’t subscribe to the Review if my articles are available to read online. I would also like to expand my readership and get feedback from and interact with readers. After lots of thought and research it appears the best way to do this is to set up a Blog. My online research told me this should be a quick simple process which has been far from what I have experienced to date. I learned it is best to consider both today’s and tomorrow’s needs in choosing a paid vs. unpaid host and platform for your blog. But first you must pick a domain name for your blog which requires all kinds of considerations and availability of the domain name you settle on.
Once I signed up with a host and selected my software, I quickly learned I needed to pay for technical assistance to build my blog (website). Just because you don’t need to write code doesn’t mean a layperson can navigate their chosen software without help. So far, I have logged at least 20 hours on the phone with technical people setting up my blog and learning my way around the software (Word Press). I have mentally “hit the wall” numerous times and my guess is I have learned only about 1% of what the software offers. My goal right now is to stay focused on my initial objective which was to archive my articles. The good news is that my blog is probably 90% complete, unless I run into a whole new set of snags next week, so stay tuned for the imminent launch of myoverthemoonretirement.com.
2018