Everyday Musings > Practice

Practice = repetition = familiarity = routine = boredom = being thorough = perfectionism = Godliness. A simple act of practice if followed through could lead to Nirvana?

So a woodcutter who diligently cuts wood in the same precise manner, every hour, every day, every week, every year, for all his life is closer to Nirvana than the random me who doesn’t stick to anything but flits and is constantly at the starting point over and over again?

I mentioned this to V who promptly handed me Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and said that he spoke of it too. And even quantified it. 10,000 Hours. That’s how much practice masters put into their craft. Bill Gates, Michael Schumacher, Michael Jordan, Beatles, anybody who has made it to the top of their fields did so with practice.

Perhaps that is why they say Jack of all, master of none. Because for one to be a master, one has to choose and do that one thing over and over again. I go back to ‘The Cooking Gene’ and what I wrote about cooking. Of course, there is the element of love and talent, but perhaps the reason why our grandmothers and mothers are so much better at it than we are was because they practiced more than us. They cooked morning, afternoon and night, every day for all their lives, most of them starting to help their mothers in the kitchen from when they were very young. How do we, the microwave-meal generation, expect to match that amount of rigorous practice?

The better writers write more. The better singers sing more. The better cooks cook more. So the sooner you start, the better your chances at more practice time. My friend ‘I’ always said to me, The best time to start is when you are furthest from where you want to be.’ Reading Outliers and the many factors that he states for the rise of winners, it seems like the advantage is clearly with those who began early and had all the advantages of that time - Luck, opportunity, the right guidance and timing. And of course, practice.

The book talks of other things too – of how winners are not self-made - that their environment, the opportunity they got, the guidance they received and how even being born in the right month changed their destiny. Not astrological at all, just a view of how the modern natural selection system works. He also talks of IQ and how in a class of clever students, it doesn’t matter who cleverer. All have great levels of analytical intelligence; what then matters is who has more Practical Intelligence. He makes a case for how wealthy children are brought up to own the world whereas poor children are taught to be deferential and constrained. And that he says makes a huge difference in getting ahead. The reviewers called the book ‘humane’ perhaps because it breaks the myth of the X Gene being solely responsible for why the greats are great. It tells you that there is a system and that perhaps there is a way to beat the system. I’m still reading it and there’s much more to go before I feel the humane bit kick in.

If a thing has been repeated enough number of times, it becomes the truth. I read that a long time ago and wondered about the nature of the universe. 10,000 Hours. There is something in the practice argument. I see it working with my cooking and my writing, when I do write. My parents have said it enough times to me too - practice makes perfect. Thankfully, they also said, it's never too late to learn. Whew.