Tuesday, July 5, 2011

10,000 hours

According to Malcolm Gladwell, I need to spend 10,000 hours at something to have a chance at being really good at it.

It seems then, that I should be a fantastic and amazing parent having been at it for 9+ years. But parenting by it's very nature requires one to multi-task in ways never imagined before embarking on the journey. And so I am an adequate parent (spending my time at attempted meal planning, discipline, house cleaning etc., etc., etc.) just as I am a semi-adequate piano player, a decent writer, a once-upon-a-time fair dancer, and so on.

It makes me wonder: what dreams that I vaguely hold to have any chance of coming true? Pondering this is only disconcerting on a certain level. The things I am most committed to in my life are not wholly measurable. I am okay with this, given my personality and my priorities. I am content to be a Jack of all trades, master of none. There might be time in the future for other, more focused attempts at something specific.

Might be.

For now the task before me is to decide how long to let the baby cry in his crib before giving up on his afternoon nap.

These are the types of solemn questions that lie before me on a daily basis. I suppose I have gained in the skill of knowing how to answer them. Or at least, I am able to make an educated guess.

1 comment:

  1. I read that- no, scratch that- heard about that book. Got the liner notes somehow. I bet you have for sure chalked up 10,000+ hours of being a great mom and it shows. It is a delicate decision about those nap battles. A rookie would not be able to tell.

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