10,000 Hours Rule
Is the word ‘genius’ overused? Is it real? What makes a genius? This was the topic on WNYC’s Soundcheck a little while back with guest, Daniel Coyle , author of The Talent Code. Coyle studied gifted musicians and places with concentrations of geniuses or highly accomplished musicians. Coyle brings up Malcolm Gladwells’ 10,000 Hours Rule. (from The Outliers) All highly successful people have one thing in common — they train in their field for 10,000. That is the threshold for success. Coyle extends Gladwell’s thesis noting that its not just 10,000 hours but, in the case of music, deep practice — that is, deeply concentrated, very slow practice. This produces great artists. It produced Mozart. In science, it produced Einstein.
Skill takes time. Knowledge takes time. Patient, deep, slow time. Undivided attention, full involvement. Current culture is screamingly fast and often Much Ado about nothing. We’re highly connected over Zilch. This fosters the notion that speedy connectivity is in itself holy. And more of it all faster is better. A form of mental greed.
Dancemeditation is slow connectivity. Connecting. Very. Slowly.
We open our inner circuits slowly, connect our brains and bodies acutely and clearly, remove brain fuzz. (At some point Teresa Hawkes, PhD-to-be is going to prove how this lets us write better, think better, move better with her neuroscience research.)
In practice, we cultivate interior connectivity –inner to outer space, time to inner and outer space, time to non-time.
The radio discussion also made me think about my Teacher Training Certification. I’ve been giving certificates after the completion of 480 hours of training– a long training in our current immediate gratification culture. But I know 480 hours won’t produce an accomplished teacher, or even successful one. It won’t produce deep understanding of the Dancemeditation work. It is a good a beginning. My reason for giving a certificate after 480 hours of training is for encouragement. Start with smaller goals. 10,000 hours is for those who really love the subject. If the 10, 000 hours is no burden, I know this person will be a wonderful teacher.
I do not think I am alone in the thankfulness that comes from having received our precious DMTT certification after only 480 hours. Was it really that many? I also do not think I am alone when I enter ‘the space’ (leading others) in full realization that I am only a step ahead of those who follow me. That I am not a master, not by any stretch of the imagination, but simply a student who, as you told me once, “…knows 2, which is enough to help they that know only 1….”
It is a slow process. I have to remind myself daily of where I am in relation to where I started, which is quite a lengthy road. I feel the unraveling, and somedays (many days) the tension that draws it all back in… waiting for further unraveling. Despite all the back and forth, 10,000 hours does seem more acheiveable with the tiny milepost of 480 tucked safely in my memory, and how quickly it seems to have passed.