10,000 Hours

My recent lack of running has provided me with more time to devote to yoga. As a result, I’m gonna go all Zen on you today. 

Have you ever read Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers? If you haven’t, do it. In short, Malcolm Gladwell suggests different factors and theories that may contribute to a person’s success. One theory that has stayed with me is the “10,000-Hour Rule.” The basic idea is that if you practice anything for 10,000 hours, you will become an expert at it.  (This theory is according to this Florida State University study.) 

So there’s this guy, Dan, who has decided to test this theory. He quit his job, and is devoting 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to golf, with the hopes of becoming a professional golfer. (Check out details and ways to support The Dan Plan here.) Dan hopes to “inspire others to start exploring the possibilities life affords them.” I love that statement. You can have the life you want. 

I started pondering – what would I do? If I quit everything to devote 10,000 hours of practice for any skill I want – what would it be? The caveat here is that it has to be something you have minimal existing knowledge of. So, for example, I couldn’t pick “to become a professional runner” because I already know a thing or two about the sport.  

Last week I finally went in for an MRI of my pelvis. Wow – what a process. I had no idea it was such a “procedure”. Since the MRI was of my pelvis, I had to be all the way in the tube, strapped down, which was not so much fun for 45 minutes. I’m glad I didn’t know this beforehand; otherwise I probably wouldn’t have gone! But I’m obviously glad I did. Although I haven’t gotten my radiology results yet, they did send me home with a CD of images that I’ve been obsessing over for the past few days.

Seriously? How cool is this? No, I have no idea what we’re looking at here. But I have spent way too much time analyzing the symmetry, random black shadows, and strange formations in what may or may not be muscles, tendons, ligaments, or bones. I mean, how do they expect me to not self-diagnose when they send me home with a CD of images like these?!

Not my fault.

(And, yes, I blocked out my lady bits. This is the internet, afterall.)

Anyways! This obviously answers the 10,000-hour question for me. Without a doubt, I would study Kinesiology – the study of human movement.  or Musculoskeletal science. Seriously, learning the different components of the body and how they all work together totally fascinates me. Then, I could run all I want, injure myself, and analyze my own MRI results much more efficiently!

My runners-up include becoming a professional tennis player (they have killer legs) or learning the spanish guitar (that would be cool at parties).

This is such a great cocktail hour question – you learn so many random things about people. For example, Joe’s answer was to become a computer science expert or learn to play the classical piano. Huh?

Q: Okay, now it’s you’re turn!! If you could devote 10,000 hours to becoming at expert at anything NEW, what would it be?! Please share!

PS: Happy National Running Day!! Enjoy 30% off ALL ORDERS today only! Enter RUNNINGDAY2012 at checkout!