Can 10000 hours practice lead to mediocrity?

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I am an architect by training. I graduated with an ms in architecture back in 1971… 50 years ago. I ‘practiced’ architecture for about 50 thousand hours… My classmates who didn’t quit in 1988… ditto. I won competitions, an award of excellence… My 10 thousand hours plus ‘worked as predicted’… their: not so much.

But all in all, I got excellent in a profession that was a poor match for my personality: I am a words person and a thinker.

I don’t even waste a glance at building nowadays: obviously my heart isn’t into it.

I did want something… wasn’t sure what though… So when in 1988 I was unemployed I was ‘forced to look’ what would light that fire.

As I said I was unemployed, except for a gig I had for two or three days every month. It almost paid enough to survive, but not quite. I could not legally work as an architect, and I spent a lot of my time bemoaning my fate.

Even famed Landmark seminar leader found it easier to say: just go back home… than to suggest that I snap out of it, and look at life differently.

I was reminded of this while, right after I published today’s article about…