Fun fact: Ten Thousand Hours by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis is one of my favorite songs. The Heist [Deluxe Edition] by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis is one of my favorite albums (don’t judge). And Macklemore has my favorite Tiny Desk performance.
And my favorite verse? “The greats weren’t great because at birth they could paint, the greats were great because they paint a lot”
Ten Thousand Hours
According to Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, once you spend 10,000 hours doing a certain task you become an expert. Although that has been debunked, see 10,000 hours myth, the idea still holds true. In order to be great at anything you want to do, you have to do it a lot. That’s part of the 30-day blog challenge.
You won’t become a better blogger, or writer, by saying “Hey, I want to be a writer”. You do it by shipping words. Putting your ideas into sentences, combining those sentences, building paragraphs resulting in posts. The posts add up. I have almost written 20,000 words. But how did I get here?
Fundamentals
I grew up playing a lot of sports. Basketball was my favorite. In the 3rd grade I started attending basketball camps full-time (Thank you parents for funding me!). Our camps always started with dribbling skills, followed by defensive drills and finally arriving at offense and shooting. Although we all wanted to be Kobe, firing shots from 28′, our coaches insisted we focus on the fundamentals. Yes, offensive strategy and shooting form was taught, but being able to dribble, pass and play defense is what wins games.
We learn fundamentals in almost everything we do whether it’s school, work, hobbies or blogging. The fundamentals are what create the foundation, the launching point of something bigger. For this blog I turned the dribbling drills into Google searches like “How to start a blog?”, “How do I buy a domain?”, “Should I use a hosting company?”. Slowly, but surely, I’m connecting the dots, all because I started with fundamentals.
The Sky’s the Limit
I have proven to myself I can tackle a blogging challenge, find the necessary skills to make it happen, and even start other projects. I know I can achieve what I put my mind to. And although the 10,000 hours “test” may be a myth, the idea holds true. If I practice over and over eventually I will have the skill set necessary for what I want to become. There is something of value in challenging yourself to step outside of your boundaries, work hard to develop the appropriate skills, and do it day in, day out.