In Malcolm Gladwell book, Outliers, he talks about the 10 000 hour rule. I’m oversimplifying here but in his book he talks about outliers being the people who stand out from the crowd. He debunks the myth that outliers have natural talent but get where they are through practice, and it takes 10 000 hours of practice to become an expert at something.
I use the 10 000 hours as a guidepost. If I want to excel in something I need to choose carefully because it will take many many hours to get there. The concept helps me to be patient with my progress because 10 000 hours takes 3.5 years to reach if you practice your craft 8 hours a day, every single day… and it takes 14 years if you only spend 2 hours a day on something.
I wrote about this concept from a competitive stand point here, and in that blog I wrote that you have to know the rules before you can break them. Since I wrote about it, I’ve come across it elsewhere…you have to know the rules before you can break them…so I’ve been paying a little closer attention.
I’ve been watching and trying to figure out how people break the rules within the rules.
My most recent conclusion is that it’s not actually about breaking the rules so much as it’s about learning and feeling the rhythm of what you’re doing.
The rhythm is the whole overarching feel of something.
The 10 000 hour rule applies because that’s what it takes to really become attuned and aligned to all of the nuances within the rhythm, and so that it’s a part of you and you are one with it, as opposed to a separate entity.
Once you are totally aligned with the rhythm then you can do as you please, which could be seen as breaking the rules in some cases.
This is a big topic, and I know I’m only scratching the surface.
I wanted to bring awareness to the rhythm of everything.
It is felt and can be seen, but it’s not obvious to the naked eye, only to the trained eye in the sense that it takes one to know one.
I encourage you to stay open to the idea of rhythm in your life and see where you have tapped into it.
For now we just want to see it and feel it and start to recognize where it exists in your life.
Later we can work with it more.