10,000 HOURS! How to Tap The Awesome Power Of Passion, Practice, and Persistence
 Bruce Elkin

Did you know that participants in the Turin Olympic ceremonies
practiced their routines 11,000 times?

Or that, in the year leading up to Turin, figure skaters
practiced each element in their programs 14,000 times?

Similarly, Buddhist monks who tested off the scale for inner
peace and compassion sat in meditation for over 10,000 hours?

10,000 hours!  Why?

Because they know there is awesome power in practice and
persistence.



Practice Plus Persistence Equals Mastery

The source of that power is passion.

To tap into it, you have to practice, and, to practice, you have
to love what you do.

Passion alone is not enough.  Vision without action deteriorates
into daydreaming.  Without persistent practice, passion fades.

So how best do we integrate passion, practice, and persistence?


By developing mastery in what matters most to us.

Mastery is key to consistently producing high-level results.  And
practice is key to growth and mastery.  So is persistence.

In Aikido, the master is the one who stays on the mat five
minutes longer than anybody else.

Powered by passion, persistent practice eases you along the
learning curve until you hit that sweet spot where the curve
starts to rise sharply, and results come easily.

Although rich in natural talent, Wayne Gretzky, the "Great One"
of hockey fame, was first on and last off the ice from the time
he started playing until he retired.

The Great One translated his natural talent into real and lasting
success through passion, practice, and persistence.

You can do the same.



Want To Get Lucky?

Not only do practice and persistence tap passion's power and
enable you to create successful results.  They also make you
lucky.

Legendary golfer Ben Hogan was interviewed after winning a major
tournament.

"Mr. Hogan," said a reporter, "You were under amazing pressure
in this tourney yet you consistently hit remarkable shots.  How
do you do it?"

"Hmm," said the laconic Hogan, "I suppose I'm just lucky."

"Just luck?" said the reporter.  "But you practice more than
any player on the tour."

"Well," said Hogan, "I guess the more I practice, the luckier
I get."

Hogan loved golf.  Gretzky loved hockey.  Enduring successes in
all fields come from people who love what they do enough to
persist in their practice until they achieve mastery, grace, and
excellence.

What DO you love?



The Most Painful, Creative Act Of Life

What brings you most fully alive and engaged?  What gives you
juice?  What do you MOST want to create?

If answering these questions is difficult, you are in good
company.

Business expert Sir Geoffrey Vickers said, "Learning what to
want is the most radical, the most painful, and the most creative
art of life."

Three reasons get in the way of knowing what you truly want.

* First, we focus on what is second, third, or tenth most
important because we're afraid to fail at what's most
important.

* Second, when asked about passion, many are quick with "YEAH,
BUT..." comebacks.

People say, "I know what I am passionate about, BUT I do not
know how to do it."

Or, "I do not have enough time.  Or money.  Or confidence."

Or, often, "Yes, I want that, BUT somebody or something always
gets in my way."

Is that you?  Or someone you know?


* If so, a third reason knowing what to want is difficult might
be because you often work out of a "fixed" mindset.

If you operate out of a fixed mindset, you may dismiss what you
want most as a pie-in-the-sky impossibility.  "Yeah, that'd be
great, but . . . I could never do it."

The motivational energy created by the "Yeah!" is instantly
negated by the "but...."

With no energy, there is not action, no results, and no success.



You Mindset And Success (Or Lack Of It)

In her new book, MINDSET: The New Psychology of Success, Stanford
professor Carol Dweck identifies 2 different mindsets (or belief
structures) that play critical roles in whether we succeed at
what matters to us, or not.


The Fixed Mindset

People working with a FIXED mindset believe their intelligence,
talents, and ability to create results that matter are fixed.

You have them, or you do not.  Nothing can be done to change
fixed traits.

Because they believe their traits and abilities are fixed, people
with fixed mindsets focus on proving they are talented by
demonstrating what they do well.

They hide weaknesses.  They are afraid to fail or look foolish,
so they close themselves to practice and learning.  They fail to
grow their talents and abilities.

They fail to achieve the success the desire.



The Growth Mindset And Success

People with a GROWTH mindset believe their intelligence, talents,
and ability to create can be developed through passion, practice,
and persistence.

They do NOT have to prove they are smart or able.  They are not
afraid of looking foolish if it will lead to learning.

They risk failing because they know growth and change are
possible, and failure is useful feedback.

For people with a growth mindset, it is not about grooming an
image.  It is about learning what it takes to create what they
most want.

Growth mindset people are passionate about the results they want
to produce, AND passionate about learning how to create them.

They believe passion-driven practice and persistence lead to
improved abilities, increased talent, and successful results.

Here is the good news.  You can learn to work from a growth
mindset.

If you embrace a growth mindset, you will likely create success
beyond that which you have been able to create so far.



Embracing A Growth Mindset

Managers who learned the growth mindset in 90-minute workshops
succeeded in shifting from fixed to growth mindsets, and
sustained their results.

In workshops, they read an article and watched a video about how
the brain changes and grows with learning.  Then they were asked
to do 4 things:

* List 3 reasons why it is important to think that ability can
be developed;

* Recall an area where you developed an ability, and explain how
you made that change;

* Email a hypothetical protégé about how ability can be
developed, and

* Bring to mind times when you saw someone learn to do something
you did not think the person could do, and think about how that
happened, and what it means.

If you want to succeed at what matters, I suggest you try these
four techniques yourself.  And do not just do them once or twice
and quit.

Keep at it until you notice yourself changing, and then keep at
it until the growth mindset becomes your new go-to habit.

When it does, you will be able to tap into the awesome power of
passion, through practice, and persistence.  You will be able to
harness your time and effort in the service of your deepest
desires and highest aspirations.

Confident that you can learn what it takes to make your dreams a
reality, you will be much more likely to put in the persistent
practice to successfully do so.

I doubt the success you long for will take 10,00 hours.  But if
it does, it will be worth it.




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Bruce Elkin is the author of 3 books, and an
internationally known Personal, Professional,
and Organizational Renewal Coach. Get his
eNewsletter at http://www.bruceelkin.com/free.html
For more info, visit http://www.BruceElkin.com
and http://createwhatmattersmost.blogspot.com



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