In early 2021 a buddy asked if I wanted to join a golf league. I said sure.
Now, I’m a pretty crappy golfer, and I was nervous about joining a league. I thought, “I’ll be bringing nothing but a sunny disposition and a can-do attitude to this team. What if they’re a bunch of ‘win-at-all-costs’ dude-bros?”
I do bring a sunny disposition and they’re great guys. And I’m still a crappy golfer. But I enjoy my teammates’ company, and while I’ve got a long, long way to go, I may be getting marginally better.
I suspect most people are aware of Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour thing. That it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery at something. I mostly agree with those who find it a little glib, or superficial, or incomplete. Mainly because I agree that the quality of instruction, or the lack thereof, is critically important to that calculus.
But generally, I think Mr. Gladwell was on to something. If you want to achieve a level of mastery or excellence at something, you need to put in the time. So much time that the doing of it is written in your bones, muscles, and brain. So much time doing it that the basics of it, the bones of it, require no thought. I think that’s what allows us to add layers of technique, nuance, individual style, and innovation to that thing. Otherwise, you’re just reinventing the wheel every time.
There are a few things over which I have achieved some degree of mastery, and spent so, so much time doing. And for the sake of this whole weird essay, here they are: Photoshop, Pork Ribs, Pop Culture Trivia, Popcorn (hey, so far all ‘P’ words!), graphic design and animation, Carbonara, the English language, the Twin Cities beer and restaurant scene, and the works of Tolkien, O’Brien, and the Beastie Boys.
Golf is not on that list. I am a poor golfer. I golfed about 20 times last year, and will do the same this year I think. That’s like, 80 hours a year. So I’ll hit 10,000 hours around my 140th birthday.
Ugh. Go to hell Gladwell.
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