The 10 year rule

[tigersaw]

theres hope for me eventually mastering changing a quilt cover without either ending up inside with it or it all a big shape on the floor then

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by Fallout

But reading the comments so far, I'm not surprised to find them joking or negative. Most people are either uninterested in being good at something, or are too lazy to dedicate themselves to it, or lack the confidence to think they're capable of it.

.

I wasn't joking

In seriousness, I am extremely fond of horses, I would love one day to pop across the pond and sit within a herd of wild mustangs, my dream is to own one. You never know what life throws at you, so maybe both might happen.

As for Wing Chun, I am unfortunately pretty broken, and my bendiness has gone a bit stiff over the years. I did do Tai Chi for a while, found it most exhilerating.

Most take the pee if I talk about the things I'd like to do in life. Yer lucky I shared it, and as usual on here, the eejits took the pith

I've been playing guitar for over 25 years btw .....and I'm flippin rubbish!

[Bibio]

i have been playing the guitar for 37 years and i'm still crap.

Been on the beer pretty much constantly for the last 10-12 years, I'm a master at that!

[carelesschucca]

Originally Posted by Bibio

i have been playing the guitar for 37 years and i'm still crap.

and how long have you been riding motorbikes?

[Fallout]

Originally Posted by Spank86

You could write and learn about writing for 10 years but still be producing absolute dross nobody wants to read, and or simply never be published because you just don't have talent.

This is where we disagree. I don't believe in talent. Yes, I believe some people have an aptitude and can learn quicker, perhaps because of physical make up or how their brain works. I also think the older you get the harder it is (as Grandad found out!), and starting young when you're a sponge is going to work out best. But I don't believe in this mysterious thing called talent which means you can magically do something others cannot.

In the case of writing, it's all about life experience, knowledge of language, and experience with books. I bet half of the best fiction writers alive now write sentences based on ones they've read from other people, perhaps subconsciously. I bet they draw on experience from where they've been, what they've seen and feedback from many years of people reading their stuff. All that has taken many years and has sculpted them and given them the knowledge and tools to be creative.

Language is similar to music in that it's formulaic. Music is maths. Language is based on rules. There are a thousand ways to write a sentence which describes a shoe. If you spend an entire day writing a description of a shoe, you'll eventually home in on one that's brilliant. That's the dedication.

All art is plagiarism in some sense. I bet Van Gogh had idols and mimicked them as he learnt and then drew on his own inspiration along the way to come up with his own style. If you develop the ability to exactly copy Van Gogh and the techniques he used to make his paintings, then all you need to do is apply those techniques to something else and suddenly you could be seen as special.

And I'm not saying that's easy. I'm saying if you painted every day for 10 years, read books and learnt about techniques, took lessons etc. you could.

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

I wasn't joking

Being broken is a fair argument! I'm not saying everyone can do everything (see Spanks argument about no arms and a piano! )

Originally Posted by Bibio

i have been playing the guitar for 37 years and i'm still crap.

I've been playing 15 years and so am I, but neither of us played every night for 4 hours for 10 years! We drank and ate pies instead.

Originally Posted by Fallout

You've missed the point Ad. I'm not saying in 10 years you can be the best in the world at your chosen task, I'm just saying you can master it. You can know almost everything about it. .

Do you really thing someone can 'master' or know almost all there is to know about neuroscience, astro-physics, molecular biology etc in the space of 10 years on a foundation of no basics whatsoever?

On the 10 year rule theory, everyone would be competent to perform brain surgery or fly to the moon if you give them that period.

Maybe it's just me, but I personally don't think so.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Fallout

But reading the comments so far, I'm not surprised to find them joking or negative. Most people are either uninterested in being good at something, or are too lazy to dedicate themselves to it, or lack the confidence to think they're capable of it.

I don't think it takes 10 years, I think it depends what you're doing.


In "Chickenhawk" Bob Mason reckons that the most dangerous helicopter pilots were the ones around 600 hours... pretty experienced but just enough to think themselves experienced and so a liability. At 1600 hours they were at one with the machine...


On a bike who knows, I'm getting slower. Then again half the time I'd rather go diving so my time on the road isn't practicing for proper riding (i.e riding like a tw*t)... it's just riding.

[tigersaw]

Whats the rule when you should throw things away if you have not used them in a while - is that the 10 year rule also, or the 5 or the 2 or 1?
I've still not unpacked everything after moving 6 years ago

[widepants]

does that work for the misses.If you've not done it for years can you bin them?