Q. you mentioned in an earlier blogpost (" Are 10,000 hrs needed for awakening? NO. How to practice better..." ) that research shows that 10,000 hrs of practice of any skill are required before one achieves "mastery", whether it's chess, meditation, sports, etc. i have been meditating for over 10,000 hrs and am still not awakened, why?









K. Anders Ericsson

Florida State University

One of Ericsson's key points was "Experts are always made, not born. Forget the folklore about genius." Ericsson cites Mozart as an example often used of a "born genius". Actually, Mozart's father was a famous music teacher who worked diligently w/him starting at the age of 4.





Ericsson also described at length in " The Making of an Expert" (2007) how "all practice isn't equal" and how to do "deliberate practice" which yields the best results as it is strategically focused.





He pointed out that most folk waste much of their time continuing to do the elements of the skill they already do well. The real gains come from focusing practice on what you don't do well - that which is outside your "comfort zone".





However, we all know folk, whether in sports, music, painting, or meditation/awakening, who don't fit that model, who seem to have a huge advantage, are "different" and seemingly perfect for that skill.

David Epstein

Last year, " The Sports Gene" , by David Epstein, discussed the relative roles of genes and environment - nature and nurture - in building a "master" athlete. A fundamental conclusion - genes matter.





Epstein cites Stefan Holm who started high jumping at age 6, and trained more than 20,000 hrs before winning the 2004 Olympic gold medal - a clear demonstration of the Ericcson/Gladwell model that 10,000 hours is needed for "mastery" of high jumping, chess, rock climbing, etc.

Stefan Holm





However, Epstein then cites Donald Thomas who in the 2007 World Championships beat Stephan Holm. Thomas had only started high jumping eight months before. (However, Thomas could slam-dunk a basketball.) Thomas also beat Yaroslav Rybakov who had competed for 18 years w/o a single world championship.





Thomas, however, hasn't improved even one centimeter in the ensuing six years of high-jumping even w/thousands of hours of practice. (Haven't you seen examples of these three in meditators?)





Gladwell also cited the Beatles , who spent more than 10,000 hrs playing in nightclubs in Liverpool and Hamburg. (However, many of us know other bands who spent 10,000 hrs "practicing" and who are (understandably) still playing in Poughkeepsie.)





Fernand Gobet

Brunel University

An important caveat that Epstein points out is the huge range of performance in achieving mastery in "anything". A study of 104 competitive chess players was done by psychologists F. Gobet and G. Campatelli (both chess masters)

in "

" (2007) and by Gobet in "

(2008) .





Gobet, et al., found that an average of 11,053 hrs were required to achieve masters status. In chess, there is a mathematical system for different titles based on accumulated Elo points , so it is a more precise measure of "mastery". Ericsson's original work on violinists' mastery used only 10 subjects and had no such clear definition for "mastery" (like "enlightenment").





Anand vs Carlsen

(Carlsen Won 6.5 to 3.5)

The range in chess is interesting. One folk achieved mastery in 3000 hrs, while another needed 23,000 hrs. As Gobet said "...some people need to practice 8 times more to reach the same level as someone else. And some people do that and have still not reached the same level."





Gobet points out that chess players learn in "chunks"; it takes about 300,000 chunks to become a grandmaster. If one learns chunks in 7 seconds and another takes 10 seconds, it makes a big difference in practice time. With practice after reaching mastery, some players advanced, while others did not.

Phillip Ackerman

Georgia Tech





Phillip Ackerman, a psychologist @ Georgia Tech found that "the effectiveness of practice depends on the task...In simple tasks, practice brings people closer together, but in complex ones, it often pulls them apart."





Ackerman's studies on grocery clerks found that (no surprise), more experienced ones are much faster than new ones. However, after 10 years of experience, the best are three times faster than the slowest, i.e. grocery clerking is a complex activity.





Ericsson similarly found that dart players' difference in performance after 15 years of practice was only 28% due to practice itself; the remaining 72% came from "something else".





Epstein compares genes and environment - nature and nurture - to software and hardware. Both are required, and at the right time.





The most cited study on genetics and training is " Familial Aggregation of VO2 Max Response to Exercise Training: Results from the Heritage Family Study ", in which 481 participants from 98 two-generation families underwent stationary bicycle-training, 3X/wk, to increase their fitness. Fitness was determined by VO2 max - the amount of oxygen a body can utilize. DNA was taken from all participants.





The surprising results were that VO2 max improvement ranged from "nothing/0%" to "doubling/100%". Fifteen % saw no improvement; 15% increased by 50% or more. There was no correlation with initial fitness.





The improvement was 6X to 9X larger between different pairs of brothers than it was between brothers, i.e. genes ruled. Half of the ability to improve aerobic capacity was determined exclusively by genes.





There were 21 gene variants identified that related to aerobic improvement. Folk w/at least 19 of these improved their VO2 max 3X more than subjects w/fewer than 10 gene variants.





So, the takeaways are:





a) All practice isn't the same; dedicated practice focused on

skill elements that are difficult for you

is much more effective.





b) There is great variability in how long it takes to achieve "mastery" in sports, games, arts, and presumably meditation. This variation is larger in more complex tasks (meditation?).





c) There is a significant genetic component in determining how long it takes and whether or not you will achieve mastery in any skill, and after achieving mastery, whether you will continue to improve.



