Ten Thousand Hours

My mantra for 2009 is "Ten Thousand Hours."  According to scientists -- and as reported by the prolific Malcolm Gladwell in his recent book Outliers -- it takes ten thousand hours of practice to truly master a discipline.  

You wanna be a master violinist: ten thousand hours.

You wanna be a master piano player: ten thousand hours.

You wanna be a master chef, a master accountant, a master mathematician, a master swimmer: ten thousand hours, ten thousand hours, ten thousand hours, ten thousand hours.

My goal: master networker.  Seeing that it my natural inclination to stay inside and avoid all contact with people I don't know, I will bank myself fifteen hours of networking over the course of my almost 44 years of life.  That means I only have 9,985 hours to go!

Now I've done a little math -- so you know I'm deadly serious -- and it turns out there are actually only 8,760 hours in a year.  Hmmm.  This might take a while.  Cause also I have a job and two unusually needy children who demand a lot of homework assistance.  Plus also a husband and an unusually needy dog.  Plus also I feel that it's important to exercise and to cook healthy meals for my unusually needy children.  And I'm one of those people who needs a lot of sleep.  Really, eight hours minimum.  Hmmm.

So here's what I'm thinking: I will network for one hour a day -- everyday -- and then I will be a master networker in 9,985 days, which translates into almost twenty seven and a half years!  At which time I will be a spry 70!  So it's totally worth it, and then, no doubt, I'll have so many contacts that my manuscript will avoid the slush pile and go straight to a fabulous agent's in box

That's my ten thousand hours: What's yours?