Lesson to Self #15: The beautiful duet of time and effort

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“How many songs are you guys going to play at the end of the year concert?”, I inquired of Addyson, my  ten-year old granddaughter. We were chatting cheerfully as I steered the Grandma Taxi to deliver the child to her classical school that places great value on music education and the arts. The first semester of the year introduced the students to the recorder, performing the practiced songs at the Christmas concert. Now, after five months of playing the violin, she answered my question: “We will play four songs.”

Having previously experienced the lovely squeaks and squawks of novice string musicians, I posed yet another question. “Do ya’ll sound good?”

The answer? “A whole lot better than before!”

She’s on to something. Progress requires equal doses of time and effort. Excellence doesn’t happen in a void. In fact, the standard 10,000 hour rule first attributed to Anders Ericsson and propagated by many, argues that expert status is only achieved after thousands of hours of prescribed, quality, and focused practice. While one might argue the quantification of this road to excellence, few can deny the powerful combination of time and effort.

Addyson knows this. Though she has absolutely no aspirations of becoming a competent violinist, she realizes how important time and effort are to her growth as a competitive gymnast. Foundational skills, precise practice, mental focus, and countless hours in the gym are a must as she makes advances through the Junior Olympic  program.

But one does not need to be an athlete or musician to understand the principle. Whether in business, medicine, construction, education, race car driving, or endless other vocations and avocations, we have no chance of optimizing our performance without optimizing our preparation, which takes considerable time and effort.

The moral of the story? Don’t be discouraged if you think progress is slow and cumbersome. The prerequisites of becoming really good at something always include substantial time and effort.

Is it hard? Sure. Is it tedious? Yep. Can it be frustrating? Of course. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

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