People Share Which Skill They'd Choose If They Could Wake Up With 10,000 Hours Of Experience

People Share Which Skill They'd Choose If They Could Wake Up With 10,000 Hours Of Experience
Nico Benedickt/Unsplash

There's a commonly held belief that it takes 10,000 hours of practice or experience to really get good at something.

It's a false fact that's been debunked countless times, but the basic idea - that time, commitment, and effort will help you improve your skills - is a solid one.

Except that takes SO LOOOOOOOOONG. Can't we get a montage or something?

Reddit user Iron-Wall asked:

"If you could wake up tomorrow and be automatically granted 10,000 hours of experience in any skill of your choice, which would it be?"

Reddit had a lot to say on this one. Turns out, there's a lot people who want to learn but finding an hour here and there, much less ten thousand of them, is almost impossible.

Surprise!

Kristen Wiig Snl GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy

"Piano. I want to be the kind of person to sit at a public piano and surprise people."

- FreedTMG

"I remember back to my days of in-school detention, there was another kid who was in there quite frequently who would sneak out and go play the piano in the other room. He was extremely talented."

"I think I overheard that he didn't know exactly how to read sheet music, but he'd memorized the songs he played. It was all classical music from the greats."

"Looking at him you would have never guessed, he looked like he should have been in detention."

"The teachers eventually knew where he would be if he was missing from his table and they would let it slide. They finally made him a deal to get all his assignments done and he could go play the piano."

"It was easier than trying to keep him in his seat."

- thedriftlessdrifter

The Split

"Speaking foreign languages."

- vyletteriot

"I would split it evenly between Mandarin and Spanish."

"Being semi-proficient in both of those languages as well as being proficient in English would mean that I would be capable of talking to almost everybody on the planet."

- AmNotSatan

"Split it 60:40 or even 70:30 in favor of Mandarin if you want to his similar proficiency in each - assuming you don't already speak Cantonese or something."

- ViolaNguyen

"According to Google, it takes about 2200 hours to learn Mandarin vs 600 to learn Spanish, so definitely favor the Mandarin here."

- Kaylagoodie

Walk In The Woods

Camping Season 4 GIF by The OfficeGiphy

"Foraging."

"I want to walk into any woods and immediately know exactly what plant I'm looking at, it's uses, medicinal purposes, everything."

- CrazedMuffinz

"I was just talking about this the other day! Great answer!!"

- urmama22

"Currently staying at a hotel and got a lil sunburn by the pool."

"I found an aloe plant by the vending machines, broke off a leaf, split it in half, and rubbed on my burns for some sweet relief."

"Felt like a part of nature."

- Thinkwronger12

Handy

"Handyman skills."

"I need to rebuild my rotting deck and replace some plumbing that is guaranteed to fail structurally. Plus I could do some light work on the weekends for some extra cash."

- BronzeAgeTea

"This is also one of the best ways to save money!"

"Being able to do everything from fix a dryer drum to replacing brake fluid will instantly save thousands of dollars per year."

"And these are skills which are not overly taxing on your time or energy once you know how to do it. They are just frustratingly hard when you first start learning, and often, due to mistakes, more expensive when you are learning."

- Qubeye

Sharpening This Skill

New Amsterdam Surgery GIF by NBCGiphy

"My actual job. Surgery. Because you can never have enough experience."

"The second I feel like I’ve gotten enough experience will be the second I lose my humility. I can always get better at this and I won’t ever stop trying to sharpen this skill."

- hiyer2

Heard

"Origami: and every time someone came to me with their problems I would start by saying something seemingly profound like: 'ya know, life is a lot like origami...' "

"and they I would fold the ever-loving sh*t out of a piece of paper while basically repeating the person's problem back to them."

"They would then walk away feeling heard and one finely hand folded frog richer."

- somewhatclevr

Ulterior Motive Mechanic

Dog I Have No Idea What Im Doing GIFGiphy

"Automotive Mechanics."

"For my area they're a dying breed, plus that's what I've always wanted to do."

"And there may be a cute guy that needs a few things done on his car. 😅 Free repairs AND he gets a free dinner if he lets me take him out? How could he resist?"

- purplesheepy

Cut Off From The Culture

"Speaking Korean."

"I was an infant during a time when it was pretty common for the relevant professionals in some regions to tell ESL parents not to speak their mother tongue to their kids at home ("it'll lead to an accent" "they'll have problems integrating" "other kids will make fun of them"), etc."

"So I grew up monolingual and then had no one around me to practice with or help me once I was old enough to be interested in learning."

"As a result, I was effectively cut off from my family and my mother's culture."

- enbymaybeWIGA

"I feel the same regarding the Korean."

"I had no interest when I was younger to learn, but now that I’m older and have in laws who are Korean and aging parents, I made it my goal to start learning at home through YouTube and free pdf workbooks."

"Not too late to start!"

- applefuzz

It's Hard To Suck

Guitar Rockstar GIF by WallowsGiphy

"Guitar."

"Just started playing and committing at least 30 min a day. It’s so hard to suck at something, but I want my kids to see me stick to something and develop a skill, that things just don’t happen overnight for people."

"And it’s super therapeutic."

- Blueskyz8

Ideas Die Swiftly

"Carpentry for sure. Not even close."

"Owning a home fills me with all sorts of cool ideas. Decks, additions, shelves, tables, the list goes on and on."

"Then I say 'I’ll just do it myself!' and become completely overwhelmed. Then I get quotes from contractors and the ideas swiftly die."

"Doing it yourself is literally half the price. You just need the know-how and some tools."

- Rotanikleb

"I feel this in my soul."

"I could do it myself, but with what time, what tools, what money?"

"Oh, it costs how much for someone else to do it? I guess it's not getting done."

- dcux

"I've been a carpenter for 4 years and I would also choose carpentry lol. You can never stop learning new stuff."

- ImAPlebe

1 calendar year is 8,760 hours. So ten thousand hours is more than a year of time spent focused and concentrated on doing just one thing - not eating, sleeping, bathroom breaks, nada.

... Yeah, we'll take the montage or sleep learning.


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