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Deceased: 27

There is a school of thought that claims it takes 10 000 hours to master a new skill. And this obviously, is 10 000 hours of deliberate practice. The 10,000 Hour Rule is closely associated with writer Malcolm Gladwell, but a new Princeton study smashes this theory. In a meta-analysis of 88 studies on deliberate practice, the researchers found that practice accounted for just a 12% difference in performance in various domains.

This Princeton study argument roughly goes that deliberate practice is only a predictor of success in fields that have super stable structures. For example, in tennis, chess, and classical music, the rules never change, so you can study up to become the best. But in less stable fields, like entrepreneurship and rock and roll, rules can go out the window.

I like the fact that entrepreneurship is thrown in with rock&roll. That’s my jam right there. I am an entrepreneur. I have never been without an idea, or a solution, or some kind of business venture. Have they all worked? Erm no. But that is not the point. Trying and failing forward – that is my motto right there. I am a bit of a jack of all trades – I can really do a lot of stuff. I may not have mastered any skill, but I am pretty good at many of them. And that is ok.

But… I don’t think my mind has ever worked so much. If I need 10 000 hours to become the world’s best thinker, I am busy nailing it. But I just cannot think of a way for all of us out of this predicament, everything intact, no jobs lost. I feel a collective responsibility for so many people that I know. I need to make peace with the fact that right now, there is absolutely nothing I can do to help them.

To everything there is a season. This is actually a verse from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1. A song from the 60s by The Byrds, Turn Turn Turn, illustrates this verse beautifully. And who would know better than what we are going through now, than the generation who survived the 60s? Now there was a tumultous time of turmoil, of war, civil rights protests, assassinations, insecurities and so much more. It finally ended on a good note when the first man landed on the moon. (And now those same conspiracy theorists would have us believe this was a massive gaslighting move). If it was, it was well-timed.

The season we are in right now, is a time for deliberation. We can do little else. It is a time to prepare for when this time is past. We need to relook at our lives, at the way we’ve been doing things. At the way we’re living, at the way we’re treating each other, our communities, our planet. We need to hold on to the hope that our next season is one of growth and abundance.