How many hours is too much for any particular craft?

[killerman]

Now there's one thing that 's been bugging me recently and that's how many hours I should be spending practicing guitar. In order to reach a very high level in any industry one does have to dedicate a lot of time to their chosen area of expertise. In order to be world class in anything you have to put in hours and hours. Then there's some people who say that you have to do "everything in moderation" and that doing anything for hours and hours is excess. Thing is, which people are right?
I'm a guitarist who wants to be absolutely mind blowingly awesome on my instrument (that's my mission and purpose) but i'm worried that if i follow the route of "everything in moderation" i'll end up mediocre yet doing 8-10 hours a day might cause more harm than good so what should I do? Is the "everything in moderation" just people trying to spread mediocrity and not wanting others to succeed or is there an element of truth to it?

Also another thing that really confuses me is when people say, especially on this site, that the more passions and interests you have the more success you'll have with women as you'll have more going for you. The thing is how can you get REALLY good at anything if you have so many interests and hobbies that you can only allocate a certain amount of time to each thing? Surely you're meant to focus on one thing and excel at that? I mean it's like if you want to be a pro session musician who tours the world with mainstream artists and has his own originals band. How can he achieve these things if on top of his musical interests he also wants to spend his time surfing, doing marshal arts, working out, rock climbing, writing and putting together his own business? It's just too much to concentrate on. Wouldn't that just make him mediocre at everything? I mean sure, women might find that guy interesting but would they really choose him over the guy who's absolutely fucking dominating by touring the world with these top international artists and his own band? Sure he might only be pursuing one thing but he's kicking ass at what he does.

 

[Lotus]

Killerman,

If you love playing the guitar and want to continue to play to guitar do it bro!

Who cares what the "ideal" amount of time you should spend doing one thing. To purely master something it takes a ridiculous amount of hours and anyone who became a master at an area of expertise had people tell them they were crazy for "wasting" so much time on one thing.

I for one have spent a lot of time playing soccer throughout my life, and I am now past the point where it's going to generate substantial income.... if any, but screw it. No one will convince me not to play, because I love it and it makes me happy.

I mean sure, women might find that guy interesting but would they really choose him over the guy who's absolutely fucking dominating by touring the world with these top international artists and his own band? Sure he might only be pursuing one thing but he's kicking ass at what he does.

Of course but I don't think you even have to get to that level for it to be an advantage. Women find passion sexy. If you are extremely passionate at something they will be attracted to it.

-Lotus

 

[foggy]

If you want to master something, you have to put in deliberate practise. So, you must constantly be pushing yourself. You repeatedly practice your weaknesses until they are your strengths. This is not very fun, it's hard and a lot of work. But if you do this, then you will find yourself quickly becoming really good at your chosen activity.

In my opinion, its totally OK to focus on one particular thing (like playing guitar), and there is no such thing as too many hours. The only way you will find yourself not getting better at something is if you are not deliberately practising.

As well, the only way you can never get good at something is if you're limited in some physical way. For example, I will never become a basketball player. Too short.

Don't worry about what other people are doing and just be yourself!!!!

 

[push_pass]

Recently stumbled upon this letter from the great writer John Fante corresponding with his then editor idol Mencken. Fante at this time had been writing for about a year.

"July 26, 1932

Dear Mr. Mencken,

Will you answer a question for me? In the past thirty days I have written 150,000 words. I know a writer with a reputation does not do that many, but is the man just starting supposed to do that much? I certainly feel the effects, for being broke throughout, I ate very little and lost a pound a day, or thirty pounds. Moreover, to test my immunity to other writers who are often imitated, I read all of Hemingway, Dos Passos, and De Maupassant, besides great stacks of H. G. Wells and a chronic dose of Mencken. It means ten hours of the day and night, including the writing. I'm not bragging here. I just want to know whether a man just beginning to write must necessarily work that hard. I want to know whether you did as much in a similar period of your life.

It is my plan to edit the American Mercury some day. By forty or thereabouts I think I shall be qualified. This means a lot of hard work, so I am going about it very systematically, and barring death or blindness a man can get whole warehouses of work done in twenty years, and I know no earthly reason why the job should not be mine at the end of that time. The only hitch in the plan is that should you ever decide to quit the job, the magazine is liable to go on the rocks, so for God's sake stick around for a while longer.

Yours with great admiration,

John Fante

Aug. 3, 1932

Dear Mr. Fante:

I incline to think that you are trying to pile up too many words. Certainly it is absurd to write 150,000 in thirty days. I believe you'll accomplish more if you take things more slowly. If you get one thousand words of good stuff on paper every day you'll be doing well enough. Very few authors are able to do actual writing for more than three hours a day. In fact, a good many very successful ones average no more than an hour."

 

[Fuck This]

Only Perfect Practice makes perfect. Pat Parelli Horse training clinician.

Actually what he said....

"Pat Parelli proudly presents his program and the proclamation that prior and proper preparation prevents Piss-poor performance; particularly if polite and passive persistence is practiced in the proper position. This perspective takes patience, from process to product, from principle to purpose. The promise that Pat plans to prove is that practice does not make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect, and isn't it peculiar how prey animals perceive people as predators and not partners."

 

[GeneralFap]

I saw an documentary once where they said Eddie Van Halen used to play guitar 12 hours a day and even slept next to his guitar. The type of guys that are the best at something are usually the ones who are the most obsessed.