The 10 year rule
No, it's not like the 5 second rule where you are allowed to drop a Cornetto onto a steaming cow pat and pick it up and eat it, so long as you do it within 5 seconds. No, it's not that. I'm talking about the 10 year rule.
The 10 year rule (or 10,000 hour rule) states you can completely master something in 10 years. I saw a cartoon a while back which illustrated it really nicely and broke it down, showing someone can have a good 7 life times and master 7 different things if they apply themselves. It's completely possible to die having produced several brilliant paintings, recorded an album, built a motorbike from scratch, got your pilots license, and maybe perfected a few foreign languages.
I find this really inspiring. If I choose a craft now (within my IQ ... I'm not going to choose particle physics), and practice at it day in day out, in 10 years I could be a master at it. I've never painted before but I could pick up some water colours and a canvas tomorrow and start my quest to paint an amazing landscape by the time I'm 40. Or I could take up a martial art and be a completely lethal ninja. All it takes is practice.
So the question is, what would you really like to be a master at in 10 years time? Maybe you can motivate yourself to start now.
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