How Long Does It Take To Get Good At Something?

billcollector99 said:

Exactly what i was gonna point out next.

Its easy to "Master" something like picking your nose.

Much harder to master something like levitation.

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yes, even without going that far in extreme skills.

just exaggerating for emphasis.

There's people out there that haven't even mastered properly wiping their own asses.

No shit, they live at a place called The Home of Guiding Hands.

being able to do something is all in perception although physical limitations take us so far


not all of us need to study to become talented

i have aspergers and have several talents innate to me

but there are several autistic savants that would make the normal person seem useless

but try to get these kids to socialize and its impossible because their filter is screwed up

i have high functioning autism meaning i can still communicate (not in the best ways) and can still live normaly

but have some shortcomings and some natural abilitys to lose and gain from it

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/29727-the-musical-genius-a-musical-savant-video.htm

It takes 10 000 hours to master something.

statistics bah...

Unnk said:

being able to do something is all in perception although physical limitations take us so far


not all of us need to study to become talented

i have aspergers and have several talents innate to me

but there are several autistic savants that would make the normal person seem useless

but try to get these kids to socialize and its impossible because their filter is screwed up

i have high functioning autism meaning i can still communicate (not in the best ways) and can still live normaly

but have some shortcomings and some natural abilitys to lose and gain from it

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/29727-the-musical-genius-a-musical-savant-video.htm

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possibly its the other way around, the society that has a screwed up filter.

I have to agree with SSO. It is what society sees and reacts to. Once you are "labeled", you have that dogma for your entire life. Case in point is a recent commercial with Jane Fonda. We all know that she f--cked up once in her life concerning her views and everything else on Nam. But we tend to forget some, or all of the good, that she has done since, to try to redeem herself (whether to make up for her mistakes or not), but she will always be remembered for her "one mistake in life". I think this is so true with today's world in general.
As far as being a master at anything, "It takes patience to attain greatness, and only oneself can say that He/ or She IS Great"

Have a "Great" Day
The MaineYankee

10,000 hours. (Appx)

To elaborate on what ANC said, a study was done wherein they looked at athletes from all over and at various levels from beginner to pro. The very simple interpretation of the data showed that those at the top, elite levels had appx 10000 hours of practice (in all it's forms). This does not take into account anomolies like autistic people, or freaky talented people. But it does include professional athletes.

My apologies for not having citations and references in front of me. I just got home from work and am about to toke my first bong load.

maineyankee said:

I have to agree with SSO. It is what society sees and reacts to. Once you are "labeled", you have that dogma for your entire life. Case in point is a recent commercial with Jane Fonda. We all know that she f--cked up once in her life concerning her views and everything else on Nam. But we tend to forget some, or all of the good, that she has done since, to try to redeem herself (whether to make up for her mistakes or not), but she will always be remembered for her "one mistake in life". I think this is so true with today's world in general.
As far as being a master at anything, "It takes patience to attain greatness, and only oneself can say that He/ or She IS Great"

Have a "Great" Day
The MaineYankee

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this is why, if people dont love you, dont give too much of a fuck about their opinion.

´s the reason why celebrity status never held much appeal to me, "loved" while being "perfect",

and why people are so obsessed with appearances,,,appearances are everything..

jane fonda looked perfect, till she did something many did not approve of and then, to them, she was just another fuckhead (lol, rather funny if you think about it..)

people that love you, forgive you your faults or look past them (if they arent too obnoxious lol)

other people, dont really matter. (quite especially if they are the judging fucks (people that are full of flaws and desperate to hide them by pointing out the flaws in others..)

I've been playing golf religiously for 10+ years and I'm still improving.

There is no ceiling to your skills...unless you give yourself a ceiling

Of course certain things are going to be easier to master than others, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement

...if you consider the idea of a polymath, then anything is possible in very little time. I agree that talent plays a huge role. We've all heard of how things are 'natural' to some, like those who can put something amazing together with little resources. Creativity is a hard thing to pin down, so it seems obvious that "90% perspiration" is very true. 90% of yourself over 5 years can do a lot for your abilities. But, you also have to learn how to get out of your own way.

I think of talent as a monetary unit, and the word 'gift'. It's a bit like a currency we can use to buy 'stuff' in the form of ideas, abstract or concrete - world moves forward - people get happy - you get paid, hopefully.


*goes cross-eyed*

I think talent is necessary to be great or even really good at something but motivation and hard work are the defining factors. If someone has the same talent level at you and you work way more then they do at it then they won't look nearly as good as you would.

I'm with the 10,000 hr theory. But, what about the variable of who's teaching us? Take weed growing. 5 years learning from a highly tallented grower with teaching skills vs. 5 years reading High Times articles. The quality of our information sources is too important to ignore. I would rather have 2 months working in a commercial grow op under a master grower than 5 years of book study on growing.

It's like making a clay pot. The quality of the clay is the learning capacity of the learner, and the skill of the potter is the educational experience. Even with bad clay, a master potter can make it work. But, it will never be as good as if the clay was good quality. Great clay worked by a non-skilled potter will be OK...just OK. But, put great clay in the hands of a great potter and you get the maximum potential.

I have found through a lifetime of learning that being truly good at something is defined by your ability to recover from mistakes quickly and without ill effect on the final product. Where a beginner may spend an hr preventing a mistake, a master spends 2 minutes...makes a mistake...and spends another minute correcting the mistake.

dtp5150 said:

5 years. 10 years to really get good. 20 yrs ur not gonna get any better, i mean ....the marginal increase in "mastery" gets lower and lower

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Like masterbation? You can only do so much...

speak for yourself

5 years sounds about good for most things. Some things take longer though, and some other things don't take as long. Depends on what you're trying to get good at.