Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The 10,000 hour rule


If you want to master something, whether it is piano, dance, sports, programming or music, you should be putting in 10,000 hours of practice, which is roughly equal to three hours a day over the course of ten years!


I came across this book, Outliers by Gladwell Malcom a few days ago and thought it is worthy of sharing. The author is referred to by some people as a person revolutionizing the way we think.

His book Outliers is a wonderful book focusing on successful people and how they got to it. When we hear about successful people most of us think that they are successful because they are more intelligent than the rest of us. Most of the times, even though intelligence does have a major role to play in determining success, its more correlated with the chances your given, your environment, where you were born and when you are born and how hard you are willing to work. 

I am not going to go into details in the book, just pointing out to the most impressive points he made. 

Malcom stress the importance of hard work by using a theory known as the 10,000 Hour rule. The 10,000 hour rule is that mastery at anything, be it music, sports, programming is dependent upon 10,000 hours of practice, which is roughly three hours a day over the course of ten years!

Malcom uses excellent examples to illustrate his theory. Those are the stories of exceptional individuals who are able to log in these critical practice hours and become successful beyond our wildest imagination.  

First there was the Beatles, who before making it big, managed to get 10,000 hours of practice while playing in Hamburg. Other similar bands had only a fraction of that experience and never made it to the top.

For Bill Gates it was the lucky break of being born at the right time and getting the gift of a computer terminal in junior high. He acquired a computer terminal at his school which was quite rare in 1968 and he program non-stop for the next few years. This was once in a life time opportunity considering they don’t have personal computers at that time. Luck played a crucial role in his success by allowing him significant programing practice time that only a few others had during a critical time in computer history. 

The other parts of the book focus on culture and success, for instance how the Chinese got to be so good at mathematics – this is also quite a good read. 

Malcom goes on to stress that success follows a predictable course, and that it is not the brightest that succeed. Nor it is simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. He says it is a gift. Outliers are people who have been given opportunities – and who have had the strength and the presence of mind to seize it. He does not disregard innate ability of an individual, stress that hard work is a crucial thing for success and points that timing, circumstance, and cultural heritage play an often overlooked yet critical role in determining who becomes successful. 

What I learned from this book is to do our part in giving our loved ones and society a chance for success and to give them the necessary motivation to work really hard. Having the right environment for learning, going to the right schools, having access to the right facilities and resources as well as providing them with the mental attitude to work hard would be key factors in helping them to succeed. 

And if you want to succeed do not forget to log in your 10,000 hours! 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

My favorite things about Maldives






With the focus on all the negatives of being a Maldivian it’s often hard to think of the things that we love about our country. First there are all the political clashes, murders and crime on the rise, drug abuse and the list goes on. It’s easy to focus on the negatives, because there’s a lot to dislike about Maldives right now.  

Yet, as another year approaches, it is important that we think of the good things about Maldives and being a Maldivian. We can all start fresh and work towards building a stronger and happier nation.So I thought I would come up with a list of things that I love about our little nation.

After all, I think that foreigners love our country more than we love our own. That sounds good from a tourism point of view, but let’s faces it; this is our country, and who better to love it then us?

      Here is my list, not necessarily in any specific order. 

        1. The beach and the natural beauty.

      2. The weather (its summer all year round) – sounds too good to be true right?

      3.     Friendly people – at least that’s what our parents and history books tells us. I also have come to the realization that most of us are really friendly and socially capable of handling ourselves even in the most difficult of situations. 

      4.       One religion – (you might argue that there are still religious conflicts) but imagine what it would be like if there were more than one!

      5.       Tiny little islands, and the fact that we could travel to some new island during the holidays 

         
      6. Picnics in the sun and Pretty fishes.

      7.      Luxury resorts.

     8.       Water sports – not that I can surf or do anything of that sort other than handle a jet ski. But still, its breath taking to look at and we can’t ignore all the international competitions hosted in Maldives.
   
 9.       Football.

    10.    Zero Degree Atoll.

      11. Rihaakuru and Mashuni.

      12. The fact that we never have to travel too far to meet family and friends.

      13. Democracy – hey, at least it’s been introduced

       14. Foreigners want to become Maldivians because of its beauty (once while I was traveling to Australia one immigration officer said she want to steal my passport – I was pretty proud of my country at that moment).

       15. The expression on people’s face when you tell them you’re a Maldivian. And you probably would be the first Maldivian and the last that they would meet in their life time. That makes you special right?

       15.       Value on education.
       16.       Snorkeling – it’s an ‘out of this world’ experience. (I still haven’t’ tried diving – I’m sure it’s much better).


  17.   The fact that there are lots of intelligent and high achieving Maldivians for a country as small as ours.

     18.       Le’Cute.

     19.       Seaplane rides.

       20.       Watching the sunset

       21.       Starry nights on a deserted beach.

       22.       Safaris.


 23. Palm trees – don’t you think that they are one of the coolest trees on earth? And of course the tasty young coconuts.


       24. Cleanliness 


       25. Digu hedun – the dress is designed to make any lady look breathtaking. 

  
       26. Maldivian national flower- the rose. Whoever picked this flower have good sense, it’s probably the most beautiful flower on earth.  


       27. Coming home after a long trip abroad and seeing the clear blue-green sea, the beaches and even the smell of the sea breeze which takes my breath away. 


      28.  Coffee with friends – This is usually the only option available with the lack of things to do and places to hang out with friends. And over time we have come to love these places that we frequent.




      29. Under water cabinet and underwater restaurants – totally unique 



      30. Shell beans, Sea house, Thai wok, Traders and the likes.


      31. Corner stores – they are life savers when we need something urgently.

      All that said, I wish that we could all put our differences behind and work together to better ourselves and show the world what we are capable of. Our country is in much need of entrepreneurial spirit, innovative ideas, diversity, compassion and generosity. We need to take more risks, become more creative, love each other more and be more forgiving. 

      What is it that you love about Maldives?

 

      


The 10,000 hour rule

If you want to master something, whether it is piano, dance, sports, programming or music, you should be putting in 10,000 hours of prac...