Expertise and Habit: Outliers Analysis

[cathschaffstump]

Rethinking learning how to write, I've decided to seriously practice, so I can get to Carnegie Hall.

The expertise literature is old news. Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers suggests that "greatness requires enormous time." A constant theme in the book is Anders Ericsson's theory that in order to be an expert, one must spend around 10,000 hours practicing in an area. For example, the Beatles performed over 1200 times in Hamburg from 1960 to 1964. That kind of practice changes art.

In our own genre, Jay Lake is an example of this. Jay was a story-writing, rejection-receiving machine, until ultimately his expertise caught up with his output.

There are other factors that we commonly believe help us succeed. The public thinks "our smarts, ambition, hustle and hard work" are among these, although Gladwell remains skeptical. I think they probably do play a role, although they are no substitute for expertise. Gladwell also continues to question about whether environment plays a part.

I've been thinking about my writing. As a writer who didn't buckle down until later life, I realize that I have quite a long way to go before I reach those expert hours. In order to invest 10,00 hours in my writing, I'd have to spend 20 hours a week writing for 10 years. (520 weeks X 20 hours = 10400). That's an ambitious schedule. I probably don't have quite that many hours to go. Even the hours from when I hadn't buckled down count.

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Mirrored from Writer Tamago.