Blogging and 10,000 Hours
The title to this post seems ridiculous to me because it seems to me that it’s so obvious. But I’ll admit, I haven’t always had this attitude nor this perspective.
As a member of the so-called Generation Y, I have a problem with pressures and entrapments of entitlement and being “successful” without actually having to do anything. It’s a disease I tell you (and it’s well-documented that Gen-Yers have some serious issues with “paying their dues”)!
But we have to work hard at it. We have to earn it. It’s amazing how many blog posts (and blogs) that want you to believe the lie that it’s really that easy to make it big and that all you have to do is signup for this and do that and follow this person, yada yada yada.
LIES!
Your blog and your blogging is an investment and it’s much better to understand that it’s a marathon race and not a sprint. I believe that what Malcom Gladwell says in his book Outliers is true: There is a 10,000 hour rule to practicing your skills as it relates to success. He points to Bill Gates and the Beatles as examples.
You want to be a “success” at blogging? Think long term. Think the “long road,” and think 10,000 hours, not 10.
So here’s an encouragement to you, yes you; the person who hasn’t “made it” yet: You’re on the right track.
[Image from Klash]
- Share
-
0 saves -
Leave a Reply
23 Responses to “Blogging and 10,000 Hours”
Tweets that mention Blogging and 10,000 Hours - ChurchCrunch -- Topsy.com
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Saddington, Jim Gray. Jim Gray said: Blogging and 10,000 Hours http://bit.ly/FB1iB [...]
- 4,365 feedburner + twitter followers
- Defining ‘Church Media’ and 3 Questions I Ask (Or Get Asked)
- First Ministry, Church iPad App? iPad GUI Photoshop File!
- The Design Process and ‘Clarifying the Win’
- Technorati…
- Billings 3: Professional Time Billing Giveaway! 3 Copies!
- How the AV Director, Ken Wilson, of NewSpring Church Leads His Team of Creatives
- Write for Us – This is Your Community!
- Hello world!
- iPhone Giveaway!
- YouVersion Brings a Missiological Approach to Mobile Technology
- Audio Footnote for the iPhone – Free Codes!
- Technorati…
- Blackberry Rocks the Wordpress App, But is Mobile Blogging Really that Good?
- YouVersion Looking for Community Champions (and So Are We)
- Write for Us – This is Your Community!
- Hello world!
The 8BIT Network Launches 3 New Blogs: ChurchCreate.com, ChurchIT.com, and ChurchDrop.com 
Excellent point and great encouragement.
ps Thanks for the hard work and countless hours you've put in to make this what it is.
thanks dude!
Thanks so much for this. As a new substantive blogger, I sometimes feel like I'm writing to a brick wall and have no real audience. Your post reminds me of that and was definitely a good thing for me to read this morning.
don't quit!
Thanks for the encouragement John. I get rather frustrated myself with my blog and wanting more "readers" but I often have to remind myself that I have only really been truly blogging and working at it for 5 months now. I am not very patient at all and want immediate results, so it is hard for me to be patient and wait my turn and work at it until it is my time.
Great points here, and Gladwell is exactly right.
gladwell. bomb.!
Thanks for the much-needed-because-today-is-a-two-pots-of-coffee-type-Monday encouragement John! No matter how much I pour over those Google analytic graphs or try to see why this blog or that blog is popular, I just need to remember why I'm doing this and not why my "readership" feels like it could fit inside a Burger King.
“He that can have Patience, can have what he will” – Benny Franklin.
Great quote at the end. loved it and will remember it
Amen John! I love it! I must admit on behalf of "our" generation (okay, I'm 32) that we whine a lot about why things don't come easier. But the hard work it takes to get there is where the fun is at!
whooo, scaring and encouraging all at the same time.
scary that it is that long
encouraging that I can't expect much for the hour I have put in and that I can put a whole lot more.
and good that it's not 10,000 hrs in one shot
At this point, I think I have my mother and father-in-law as "fairly" reasonable readers. Its definitely hard, when you know there is so much ground to cover. But with patience, its amazing what skills can develop…
Something I think all new bloggers need to learn. I myself have felt like I am going to MAKE it easily, but 6 months down the line, I realise what work it takes to actually become successful doing this.
Like I said before dude. You control your blog. It should never control you. Don't feel like blogging? Who cares? Don't do it! Feel inspired? Great get it out into the open.
Stats, clicks on ads and authorities don't mean anything when compared to your sanity. B)
Great point
So i've got about 150 hours down of blogging, which took about a year. In ten years I'll have about 1,500 hours. And in about 60 years I should be awesome at blogging. Sweet!!!
Gene Kelly told Debbie Reynolds on the set of Singin' in the Rain that it takes 104 repetitions to drill the tap move into your body's muscles, and that's only once ur a professional.
The world of technology blogging and musicals intersect, finally!
omg. killer.
With all that you crank out, what multiple of 10,000 are you up to by now?
If you take 10-11 hour days at 6 days a week (allowing for one day of rest) you'll get to 10,000 hours in 3 years. The public ministry of Jesus was three years. He didn't need to practice, but maybe the rest of us who do can take it as inspiration.
huh. never thought about that…
ey thanks for the encouragement…
Thanks for this post, John.
sure.