Only Hours Away

Good Morning, Thursday.

I rose and shone early today with Joseph as he prepared for his two day workshop on making the world a better place. He’s taking notes for me as we speak so later he can share all he learns with his Lovey. We’ve come a long way since I wrote “Because Maybe,” he and I. Now we feel more like “Because Seems Likely.”

Joe shared something else with me this morning that I’ve heard a hundred times before and will need to hear who knows how many again until it sinks in. He reminded me of the 10,000 Hours to Mastery principle. In the words of researcher Dr. Daniel Levitin, “. . . ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything.”

Though daunting, I also find this information reassuring. It seems to suggest that if all I can manage is to do something, even badly, over and over again I will improve. It helps me move past the blocks that prevent me from writing blogs and poetry and music.

But what about this practicing something “badly”? Could there potentially be detrimental effects as a result?

I Googled “the effects of practicing something wrong” and came up dry. So, I am forced to draw my own experiential conclusions on this one.

I consider my experience as a baker and a barista right away. I certainly learned many bad habits as both. However, I can’t say that being a poorly trained barista at age 15 has gotten in the way of me creating better and better coffee beverages ten years later. In a way, unlearning all those bad habits has actually enhanced my retention of newly learned good ones. Because I’ve seen the whole spectrum of the process, I more fully understand why I’d want to strive for more on the other end.

In my personal assessment of learning, I believe that sharing skills with an outside influence and allowing feedback is also crucial for accelerated learning. Without Abby overseeing me as I foamed milk for my first latte, for example, I would have taken many times longer to achieve the creamy perfection I often do today.

I suppose the same goes for my relationship with Joe. We were pretty unskilled at loving each other in the beginning. . . but now, perhaps 3,500 hours later, we’re getting pretty darn good at it.