Quote:
Originally Posted by dbstraight  Well, I'll give you a suggestion for a post topic.
I was recently reading Steve's article about the chances of becoming a black belt (no clue how old it is). In it, he says that you have very good chances of becoming a black belt if you commit to mastery. I definitely agree with that. It goes right along with what some of my other favorite blog authors say (practice anything enough and you'll get good at it). I have also heard of something called a 10-year law, which says that it takes roughly 10 years of dedicated practice to become world-class at something (regardless what it is). Now, given that people don't tend to live forever, it's highly unlikely that someone could simultaneously become a black belt, a professional pianist, a chess grandmaster, and a skilled sculptor. There just aren't enough years in a life. So, here's the question: How many things is it reasonable to pursue in your life? What if you enjoy a dozen different things and would like to become good at all of them? Are you doomed to be a dabbler in all of them, never acquiring any real mastery? How do you know what you should really pursue? |
MattFYF, I'll help you by giving a free bump to your thread by responding to the above quoted text.
dbstraight, instead of asking how many things can you do at once, you want to understand the mechanics that will allow you to do many things at once, effectively.
So you want to ask, "what do I have to do to do many things at once, effectively?" (Since we're not interested in doing things ineffectively.)
My answer comes partly from games, partly from biology. Basically, you want to do things that have a lot of synergy and overlap, such that they leverage pre-existing biological infrastructure such as knowledge, developed skills, and talent.
To tell you a personal story, throughout my life I've been a player of games, and I consistently drawn on the same skills when playing games--ranging from board games, to video games, to card games. Because I spend most of my time developing general skills that apply to all games, and playing games that emphaise those general skills (such as
Kongai, a free virtual card game designed by David Sirlin, a game designer and Street Fighter tournament champion), I can regularly "flex" those muscles and build them to be stronger. Then I can apply that one muscle to a variety of activities that make use of them (and you'd be surprised at the amount of overlap there is when you dig deep enough).
The particular muscle I've developed is making good, intuitive decisions. No matter where I go--whether I'm in a high pressure retail environment, buying groceries, being pummeled by
Guile in
Street Fighter, having to decide whether my opponent is going to switch or intercept in
Kongai, or catching something that's about to drop--I'm able to draw on the same skill again and again, and consequently, I get better at applying for it.
In general, I notice it takes about 10 years for someone to develop their muscle to a degree of "strength" such that other people start to notice it (I see this pattern again and again), and I also know that you'll be most likely to actively practice and develop developing something when it aligns with your
talents. But if you follow your instincts, your intuition--what you're naturally drawn to--and align your life with activities that draw on that core strength, regardless of how different the specific trappings of the activity are, you'll be drawing on the same core ability for all of them, giving you the ability to at least develop a degree of mastery in them if you have an environment and mindset that supports that.