Hmm it got lost - lucky I saved it

"if you spend 10,000 hours on something - anything - you will become an expert"

That was in relation to a physical motor skill - CAT/PET scans can show the build up of the nerve fibres in the relevant skill area. The 10,000 mark was for someone at the standard of a concert pianist in the Classical area - babies show this change in the speech areas.

As far as the 'expert' thing - it was 'do 20 mins a day for 3 months' and you become an intellectual expert in a small restricted area of knowledge.


"I get to a certain level, and then practice fails. It's difficult to describe what I mean, the simplest way is to call it clumsiness. I just hit a wall, and however much I do, I don't improve. I get worse."

Normal. The trick is to 'take a break and let it sink in' - not 30 years :-), but a week or two, then come back with serious intent. Keep repeating this - the brain DOES need time to assimilate, wire up new physical connections, etc. That said - I do have actual micro motor nerve wiring damage - caused at birth due to low oxygen - and there are certain physical skills (writing neatly, etc) that it is just a waste of time to stress about, that is similar to what you say - but I CAN improve... and KEEP that improvement!

Interestingly, I CAN perform intensely minute accurate such physical skills when 'isolated', because I can 'scavenge' circuitry (due to the training) to do certain functions, but when the original functions are demanded, the circuitry is 'returned', and my apparent 'improved ability' in that area dissipates instantly (it returns when the brain's "internal processing demands" subside)... this was demonstrated to me by the physiotherapist as part of the diagnosis :-)

Of course this means that when I did blacksmithing, while I CAN temper steel (it's just a visual skill, with no micro motor physical skill needed) brilliantly, actually hitting the hot metal to do neat work is impossible (I can build the fire correctly to weld, etc) - but I CAN SEE mentally what is needed, and can actually instruct those who are willing to trust and listen to someone who cannot physically demonstrate :-) - 'those who can, do', etc...

Another such related quandary was how I could do titration brilliantly 'to the last drop', but be such an uncoordinated klutz with the other needed physical skills in Analytical Chem at uni... I was asked repeatedly to demonstrate to others who had difficulty this 'the last drop colours the lot' skill :-)