There’s No Such Thing as Overnight Success

Overnight Success: When you were a kid, did you ever spend hours and hours on your guitar learning how to play your favorite jam? Or perhaps you spent every free moment you had playing chess or shooting hoops? Why the obsession? Why did we do that?

I’m Jana Hennemann, and today we are talking about How to Master a Skill/Why There’s No Such Thing as an Overnight Success.

Mastering a skill or skills is something all human’s crave. It’s near the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It’s something that drives us.

We all want to be loved, included, accepted, we all want shelter, food, & water, but once all of these are taken care of, we reach for something more.

So how does one master something? What does it take?

Sure, we’ve all heard the coveted 10,000 hours leads to mastery of a skill. But is there more to it?

Why 10,000 hours?

Personal Story

I remember being a young whipper-snapper 2 or 3 years ago (I jest), and I found myself in the middle of a salsa class.

Now, I didn’t necessarily want to learn salsa, I had no desire, but a gentleman I worked with, who ended up being the father of my child, insisted I come with him.

Reluctantly, I went. It was either that or spend 2 hours getting home in one of Kuala Lumpur’s infamous traffic jams.

Sit in a traffic jam… Dance… I chose the latter.

Anywho, during the first class I embarrassed myself. Apparently Terence was in a middle-of-the-range skill set kind of salsa class and I had never salsa danced before in my life.

To call myself a “beginner” is being generous.

At least twice a week I found myself in this class, making a fool of myself.

I was embarrassed. I watched the other dancers excel, while I stayed mediocre at best. I don’t think any of them wanted to dance with me. 

Finally, the salsa instructor took me aside after yet another humiliating class and asked me, “Do you want to get better at dancing? And do you want to do it quickly?” 

“Of course!” After all, I hated looking stupid.

She then gave me an assignment: I was to go home and practice the basic steps every night for 25-30 minutes. No fancy moves, no styling or spins.

Just.
The.
Basics.

I did as I was told, and the next week, to my surprise I could kind of keep up with everyone. I was elated! At least I didn’t look as stupid as I did before!

Anywho, in the following weeks, I kept up my nightly basics.

After a while, she told me to go home, practice every night for 25-30 minutes, and incorporate some simple spins into my 20-30 minute regime, which I did.

By the time I went back the following week, I still wasn’t the best dancer in the class, but I was able to follow and keep up with everyone in the room!

What’s the lesson here? The takeaway is this: in order to achieve mastery, you MUST master the basics. There’s no such thing as overnight success!

Sure, we all want to be that couple out on the dance floor whipping, spinning and sliding – a delightful visual spectacle for all to experience!

But in order to get there, the basics must be unconsciously competent.

When I started the salsa class, I was consciously incompetent. I knew what salsa dancing was, & I knew that I didn’t know how to do it.

Then, my salsa teacher took me aside and told me to practice knowing the basics (or conscious competence). I had to consciously practice in order to get better.

Remember learning how to drive a car? You consciously put on your seatbelt, adjusted the mirrors, put your foot on the brake, put the key in the ignition and…you get the idea. Nowadays, you probably don’t even think about driving. You get in your car and go! This is an example of unconscious competence.

In summary, unconscious competence usually happens before we hit 10,000 hours of practicing it. However, to truly master a skill, 10,000 hours of practice is the rule of thumb (according to Malcolm Gladwell in his famous book “Outliers”).  Again, an overnight success takes time!

Anywho, I’m Jana Hennemann, and thank you for tuning in today. Remember to like, follow and subscribe to our social channels and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

I’ll see ya this time next week!