The 10,000 Hour Rule

I started reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success and I have been thinking about the 10,000 hour rule. This is the idea that practicing anything for 10,000 hours is the key to mastering it. All throughout history, there are examples of the greats in any field and the glory they have achieved. On the surface, we'd like to assume that it's the innate talent that they posses that drove them to reach the mastery of said field. A deeper look would say otherwise. The willingness to practice something for 10,000 hours, which is the equivalent of doing  something for a year and roughly 2 months straight, would speak of that person's work ethic and determination rather than his or her innate talent.

A few days ago while we were having a picnic out in Merritt Island, we met a fisherman named Steve. My aunt went over to him and asked if he was catching anything. He must have only been there a few minutes, but he already had about 20 sheepshead the size of a grown man's hand. Already full from the crab boil picnic for lunch, we decided to purchase his catch for a fraction of what it would cost at the market. The week before we attempted to fish that same spot and came up empty handed so naturally I was curious as to what bait he was using. Thinking it was some well guarded secret, I figured he'd lie to me and say chicken liver, but he was gracious enough to show me exactly where to get them.

I marveled at this 60 year old man's strength as he held that 5 gallon bucket between his knees as he picked up 20-30 pound rocks with one hand and shook them as the crabs fell into the bucket. As you can tell by the photo, he's practically half my size.....

Moving on....

While I quietly panicked in my head upon hearing him tell me that if I were to grab some bait along the shore just as he's doing, that I should look out for snakes, He tells me that he's been fishing these same waters for 45 years. This was how he brought home the proverbial bacon. 7 days a week. 365 days a year.  It was either here or some other causeway or lagoon or pier. To say that's a lot of time spent fishing is the understatement of the week. This man paid for his beach condo that he shared with his wife by fishing. Every. single. day. Talk about self sustained simple life. (on a side note, his wife is absolutely sick of eating fish.)


With a chance to be taught by a local to fish these waters, I quickly rigged up my pole and followed him to his spot. He would point at different areas in the water and tell me where exactly the fish would be, but under the bridge, right by the pillars that hold up the bridge itself was his main spot. He didn't waste time. Baited his hook and told me where to drop it, how far and when to pull. Just like that, he reeled in his first fish. Before I could even finish baiting my own hook he was already reeling in the second one. On and on he went, as if that particular spot had a cage around it that was filled with sheephead waiting to be picked off. 5 minutes later, my hook was caught on the rocks and today's lesson was essentially finished. I told him I'd see him again one of these days and would come better prepared. Walking away, I could still hear him say I got you, every time he got one.

One of these days I'll get lucky and catch me a few fish, but the inspiration I took away from that day was priceless. In this day in age where delayed gratification is a long gone dinosaur of an idea, there is still no replacing the act of putting in the work to hone your skills in order to master your craft.

Start something today. Give it a try and see how you like it. If you end up loving it, then keep doing it. Get better at it and someday master it. Then most importantly, share the knowledge. Inspire someone else to spend some time in finding their own greatness.