I've been reading Malcolm Gladwell's "The Outliers" - it's a book about the unexpected and often overlooked factors involved in various success stories. There is a section in the book that references the 10,000-hour rule. It's something I've heard before about how mastery of any craft is gained after about 10,000 hours of work. Gladwell's examples were the Beatles - who played endless long gigs in Hamburg, Germany before taking the US and the world by storm - and two giants of the computer industry, Bill Gates and Bill Joy - both of whom had vast amounts of rare access to computers long before the personal computer was a reality.
I don't think The Beatles knew the long-term value of their toiling away in German strip clubs, nor do I think either of the Bills knew as gawky teenagers that their hours of nerdy fun on the room-sized computers of the 70s would put them in a position to lead the computer revolution that was to come.
In both of Gladwell's examples, the future success stories were only happy to have a chance to do the work they loved. Because they loved the work, they did it as often as they could. Because they wanted it, obssessed on it and delighted in every opportunity to do it, they were provided with opportunities to work. No guaruntees of glory, just the chance to work a lot - that's what got them their 10,000 hours. They were most certainly born with talent and potential, but lots and lots of work made them masters of their of their relative crafts.
As with most situations, I thought of how this applied to Heretic and our vision of success. Each and every one of us was a child performer. Each of us toiled in Belasco - 2, 3 sometimes 4 shows a year - onstage, backstage in the booth - 16-18 shows a run. We've all sought out opportunities to learn more and practice what we do whenever we could. For the past five years we've busted ass to put on our own shows, often with no reward but the joy of doing what we love. We rehearse often because we love rehearsing and we desire the satisfaction of being a well-oiled ensemble.
My happy point here is that I believe we've each reached, or are close to reaching that golden 10,000-hour mark. We are masters of our craft, and that is just one of the many reasons Heretic is destined for greatness.
Heretics be happy!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
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