I first heard that saying, riddle, little gem, piece of advice, years and years ago. I think my kids were small: or maybe it was me that was little. Metaphors tend to stick in your memory better than names or where you put your keys. I know that, I’m a teacher and menopausal.
When I went to work at CARHDS in Alice Springs, they did a workshop about that elephant as though it was a new, original, simply brilliant idea. And why not? It's hugely motivational!
Driving to the ferry with Jackie on Friday I was reminded again of that elephant.
“It takes 10,000 hours of hard work to really get good at something” she said. “There is a book about it.”
Jackie always seems to have the scoop on good books.
“The first chapter says you need to be immersed in something for 10,000 hours and the rest of it supports that hypothesis."
I think Jackie reads entire books - the anal accountant, detail oriented part of her personality. But she has to read the whole thing. I know she often starts at the back and so has to work out what the author told the rest of us in that first bit. It's that creative, doing outside of the box side that makes her so interesting - Jackie the artist.
I start at the beginning: boring - and then quit: lazy.
"The author gives lots of examples of how even an ‘over night’ sensation has put in their time before making it big. They just start young," she continues.
I don't have to read the book now, and I love the concept - all good!
It makes sense to me: fits in with my schema of how the world works. Sounds like a framework in which I can organize my own life. I am always trying to get organized.
We can all be really good at anything we put our mind to, we just need to do the time.
Although, we need to have a base on which to build: some natural ability. Who would want to put 10,000 hours into something you don’t have some aptitude for anyway?
But the main ingredient to really being good at something lies at your ability to stick with it and put in the time: old fashion hard work.
Jackie mentioned dad and his art.
“I really learned from him,” she said. “A little bit everyday. He would go to the shop, every afternoon, just for a few hours and work on his sculptures. Over the years, he not only became good, he also produced massive amounts of work. All the little bits add up to a big bit.”
Hence my ‘elephant’ metaphor. (Ya.. it’s all mine now!)
A little exercise every day is much better than a 10 k on the weekend. Brushing your teeth and eating properly = good dental health. We know this.
Jackie figures that, with life going on all around us, 10,000 hours is about ten years. She has put in her 10,000 hours to accounting/business and only now does she feel she is good.
She overlapped some of that time with teaching: a few years in Canada, eight in the Middle East: 10,000 hours. She is now an expert teacher.
Jackie is now focusing her hours on her art. She has a few hours to go. That is what makes life interesting - a goal, a check on that 'bucket list."
To me, she has always been an artist.
But I am not important to her perceptions. Others can make you feel good, or bad, but it is your own perception of who you are that counts.
10,000 hours sounds a bit cold, mathematical, something only an accountant could appreciate. But what I really like is that it makes things attainable.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Big forks don't help unless you have a really big mouth! Hours and hours of hard work are what eventually add up!
Jackie wants to be an artist? She needs to do art.
Setting clear objectives and concrete goals is what I like to do, it is who I am: a ‘master’ teacher who has put in her 10,000 hours and I need to hold on to that.
But I also want to be a writer? I need to write – for 10,000 hours.
I love working with Indigenous people. Maybe this is the field I will put my next 10,000 hours into: I probably have about 3,000 already and I can combine it with the writing.
It would also help to ‘top up’ my ESL hours. I figure I have about 4000 of those: 6000 to go.
I would be doing some teaching, which would help me hold on to the skills I have and allow me to become an ‘expert’ in something I love.
I need to: keep my eye on the ball! Put one foot in front of the other! Be like a ‘rolling stone’ and 'gather no moss'. Lots of good old sayings out there.
Eating an elephant would be a big job. Not one I am too interested in spending my 10,000 hours on. Each to their own. But it sounds a little like all-you-can-eat sushi: a little crazy but worth every bite!
10,000 hours? No problem!
They say life is a journey, not a destination! But, that’s another blog!
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