November 27, 2024

Oh, those 10,000 hours. We’ve used Malcolm Gladwell’s book as a guide to how 10,000 introduces mastery or skill in what we do. That, secret number of greatness. But how can we each get there?

The writer Anne Lamott tells us a story, that she uses when she faces a hard, overwhelming and seemingly impossible task - like these 10,000 hours. It help Lamott "get a grip" she writes. Her brother was ten years old and having a

difficult time with a school project on birds. Her brother almost to tears, facing this seemingly impossible task.

At the kitchen table. Surrounding him were stacks of books, binders and pencils. Books that were unopened by the way.

Then their dad sat with brother at the table, put his arm around him and said, "bird by bird buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

Anne Lamott would later write and in 1995 publish an international best selling book, titled, 'Bird by Bird.' And she uses this story there. That is the point we must take away from this blog post or Lamott's story. Take it slow. Chip away at the task, one bird at a time. Get to your 10,000 hours one hour at a time.

What does that look like? Take a page from Toni Morrison,

where she would wake up before sun rise and write, before she heard the word "mom." Or J.K Rowling or Stephenie Meyer and they would write when their kids were asleep. Or Matthew Dicks, as he uses the cracks in his day to write. Whether sitting in a boring meeting or waiting for the doctor to arrive in the exam room. Using the cracks in the day to get things done.

I learned this approach from Matthew himself, over cokes at a local place named A.C. Petersen's. You can get there the way Michael Crichton did when he wrote Jurassic Park, where while in med-school, he wrote on the train/bus ride in to lectures or labs.

We have the obligation and ability to be what Coach Buzz Williams calls, an "everyday person." This is how he coaches his basketball program. We are the kind of people that does this, everyday. When it is hard or easy, we do it everyday.

And, I'll leave you to be that today. Fulfill your quota. Show up everyday. Do the thing you want to do because only you can. Chip away at those 10,000 hours, one by one.