The Theory of 10 000 hours

There`s a theory that said that you have to put 10000 hours to master an art, i found it pretty exact when i learned the hand drums a couples of years ago as it took something like that to really get it (after 7-8000 hours i found new way to hit the drums, new way to united the rhythms, polyrhythmics and polymetric and amazing stuff like that) , i don`t talk about being a Pro but a Master...

Wonder how many people have done that with tarot, i must have put 1 or 2 thousands hours in it but really a long way from the 10 000

so anybody are around the 10000 ?

Oh, easily. I started in the 1970s some time. I really only didn't have strong and regular use for a few years in the context of a partnership with someone who was dangerous-to-Tarot, and that didn't last too long.

I wouldn't ever dare say I'm a master, though - I'm on a learning curve, as always.


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Never trust the Wheel of Fortune to ensure stability.

10'000 hours equates to approx 5 years of full time study at Uni which would be between Masters and PhD level so I guess it sounds about right.

I certainly don't read tarot for 40 hrs a week though so perhaps I may master the art by the time I reach 150 years old.

On saying that, I have been living as a human on a full time basis for nearly 50 years, clocking up an impressive 411995+ hours and still haven't mastered it . . . .

Milfoil: i talk about an art not about being human as it`s a lifetimes road

and yes even a master continue to learn but i think it`s the level of understanding that increase a lot and also that all the barrer are open...

ok, question for the one that have the 10000 hours under their bucket, what have you gain now that you didn`t had after 4-5 thousand hours ?

Namaste
TheOld

TheOld said:

Milfoil: i talk about an art not about being human as it`s a lifetimes road

and yes even a master continue to learn but i think it`s the level of understanding that increase a lot and also that all the barrer are open...

ok, question for the one that have the 10000 hours under their bucket, what have you gain now that you didn`t had after 4-5 thousand hours ?

Namaste
TheOld

Click to expand...

Oh, I know you were talking about art, I was being rather flippant and silly, sorry. T'was just a bit of humour.

Tough to quantify something like an art that uses a lifetime of life experience and intuition to pull from. But that is an interesting theory--that of the 10,000 hours for mastery. Something to ponder, for sure.

That said, no mastery here--regardless of how long I have been reading and studying cards.

i think the term mastery can touch us, we can be affraid of having our ego inflating by it but my viewpoint on it is that`s mastery is not the "know it all" but more a step where we have gain enough control of the art so we have a deep understanding of it, where we can learn more deeper stuff and all...

There`s a couples of interesting articles about that
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Theory-Of-10,000-Hours&id=5299864

http://365pwords.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/practice-practice-practice-the-theory-of-10000-hours/

Namaste

TheOld said:

ok, question for the one that have the 10000 hours under their bucket, what have you gain now that you didn`t had after 4-5 thousand hours

Click to expand...

Wrinkles and grey hairs.

Honestly, the more you learn about Tarot, the more you see the huge gaps in your knowledge. In 1981, having read for a few years and just received my first payment from a very happy client, I smugly thought I knew everything there was to know about reading. I also thought I'd passed some kind of milestone after a decade. Now, nearly thirty years after that, I'm a rank beginner who's learning all the time.

The more you learn, the more you need to learn.

I have a brother who is an engineer: it took him four years to learn his profession. I have a number of friends who are doctors: it took the GPs six years to learn their professions, and the specialists well over a decade to learn. It's going to take me at least another thirty years over and above the time I've already spent to become even vaguely capable.

It's therefore a lifetime-thing, and the hardest profession in the world. If you start as a teenager, you're really only just getting good at it when you die of old age.

But what immense fun you have along the way!


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I had rather live with cheese and garlic in a windmill. (Shakespeare)

Nowhere near it for me, but like Nisaba says, it's an ongoing process. What I have gained over time I think is an understanding of the broader underlying stories - Tarot draws on so many rich cultures. Even when there is not a 'deliberate' connection, one can still be validly made. At the moment I'm very interested in astrological and astronomical symbolism (well they morph into one another) and how that relates to the Trumps particularly. So that opens up a huge field of knowledge and storytelling.

I think with any craft or art, it's a case that you learn the fundamentals and internalize them. You develop a font of internal wisdom about your field so you don't need to look things up - you just know. And that enables you to identify connections and be creative. You can't spot an obscure reference if you don't already know the stories its referring to.

Then with tarot, there's all the personal stuff - about how people tick, why they do what they do....

I'm going to completely go against the grain here and raise my hand. I do believe that I have studied and practiced enough. I have two loves in my life, tarot and crochet. I know more about crochet than I do tarot and I have no problems calling myself a master crocheter. I teach both so if I'm teaching then I must know what I'm talking about. At least a little.

What have I learned? That reading in theory is completely different than reading in practice. That the only meanings I need to know are my own. That seeing something different than another reader doesn't make either one of us wrong. That just because I read it in a book doesn't make it true. Somethings I am not meant to know and that's ok. No matter how long I read I still misinterpret and that's ok too. I don't care about the history of tarot and it has made no difference in my ability to read. Tarot isn't logical, it can't be truly studied in a way that mathematics or sciences can. You can "study" all you want and it will not make you a better reader.

It's like studying how to paint. You can read all you want about certain techniques but if you can't pick up a brush and start marking up a canvas, you are not a painter. It's something you just have to do. You just have to read the cards, and then read them again. And read some more. And read, read, read. That is the only way to get to where you want to be, if your goal is to be a tarot reader.

I've also learned that I'm good at what I do and people value the service I provide. I don't think that's ego talking either. When I read it isn't about me. It's about my sitter. I think that's what made it real for me. The first time I actually saw something in the cards for someone else. That knowing that I could do this. I still don't actually know what "this" is but I can do it. It doesn't mean that I'm special or different. It just means that I worked hard enough to train myself and that is what I teach those that come to me. How to find that voice and how to focus enough to hear what it has to tell you.

Did I get off track again?