10,000 hours

Last week we had a motivational speaker come talk to us at work.

Everyone meet Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky. She is amazing.

She talked about finding contentment in life and how to be happy even when we see such horrible, traumatic things in our lives. But it wasn't like the "la di di, be happy" typical speech. She was real. Understanding. Knows what's like.

One of my favorite things she talked about?

10,000 Hours to Expertise

umm what?

There is a theory that suggests that after 10,000 hours of practice in anything, one is considered an "expert" in that topic.

Play your piano for 10,000 hours? Move over, Ray Charles.

Spend 10,000 hours working on perfecting your buttercream frosting recipe? Join a gym, and move over Martha Stewart.

I bet you get the point. :) So. Laura was talking about how when we gossip and do things we KNOW we shouldn't be doing, all that time is adding up towards our 10,000 hours.

For some reason this really hit me. Do I really want to be an expert in face-book stalking? Or gossip-magazine reading? Or for that matter, WORRYING?

An hour here, an hour there, a couple more minutes on the Internet may not seem like a biggie. But over the course of a week, a month, a year? How close to being an expert are you?

...Cuz I think Mark Zuckerburg is getting a litttttle nervous about my facebooking skills. ;)