The Master Within

Another of Malcolm Gladwell's (see post #1) postulates is that the time required for complete mastery of a subject or task is about 10,000 hours. Think about it. Think of a master. Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Michael Jordan. Those are easy. They are celebrities, celebrated for the mastery of their art. Who else? Yo Yo Ma, Louis Armstrong, and any number of "virtuoso" performers, musicians, actors, singers. How did they become masters? According to Malcolm, practice, practice, practice. While it's true that there has to be some degree of inate talent, some basic ability, the thing that sets the masters apart from the rest of us is that they did what they do for thousands upon thousands of hours.

While at the glass factory (see previous post), I observed the workers pulling molten glass from the furnaces, shaping it into a square that was pressed into a sheet, then cutting the sheet into a pane. Each step required the glass to be within a narrow temperature range, so as the glass cooled, timing was everything. I'm not sure whether to describe it as a ballet or a human machine - each component working together perfectly. They had mastered their jobs and it was a beautiful thing. It occurred to me that this is what it once meant to be a master carpenter, for example, or a master mason. Unfortunately, I think mastery of a skill - unless it has entertainment value - isn't celebrated or even recognized as it once was and that's a shame.

On the other hand, if time and practice are the main ingredients in proficiency, then we are all masters of something. What are you a master of?