I love to fish. I love to play music. More precisely, I cathect (to invest with mental and emotional energy) deeply with piscatorial pursuits and musical meanderings. In fact, I often find that those who geek out on one, geek out on the other. That's a coincidence perhaps.
This past weekend found me joyfully engaged in fishing for striped bass with my old buddy Vic, and practicing bluegrass with bandmates Steve and Susan. It got me to thinking about how I've attained fairly proficient levels of success in both endeavors.
Honing skills and gaining knowledge in any pursuit requires a certain kind of obsession. You've no doubt heard of the 10,000-hour rule. Malcolm Gladwell, the modern pop psyche author in his book "Outliers: The Story of Success," cites 10,000 hours as an average to a achieve master status for violinists the world over. That's 20 hours a week for ten years.
When I first heard this, it was discouraging. I would love to become a master guitarist. But, really; 10,000 hours.
First, Gladwell's theory has been debunked many times over. It's an oversimplification; Genetics, your age when you start, and most importantly, how you practice are all critical. Secondly, becoming a master and comparing yourself to others is all wrong. As Dr. Jordan Peterson says in his breakout bestseller "12 Rules for Life", rule number 4 is "Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today." This approach, I find, keeps me motivated to improve continually. Becoming a master at anything is relative. If your goal is to be competitively proficient, then having a deep cathection to it is enough. To be singularly masterful takes a kind of alignment and god-given-grace that is rare.
Find that thing to geek out over. Find many things to geek out over. Give yourself time every day to practice them, or think about them. See yourself in the Great British Baking Show, or on stage with Paul McCartney. Then bake yourself a lovely Yorkshire pudding or find a friend to play some music with and take that one baby step. And then, take another one. Consistency and follow through are my two rules for raising children. On second thought, they are my two rules for everything.
