Again. It’s ok if no one reads it or even finds it. This is my ramblings about the journey to improve my painting skills as I transition from graphic designer to full time oil painter.

Today I watched a youtube video by Jake Parker called “The 10,000 minute rule?” No, that is not a typo. He makes the point that Ericsson’s 10K hours is beyond what most of us can focus on, but 10,000 minutes might be doable and if you focus the minutes on specifics of your trade, you’ll still get some damn good results.

Here’s my notes on Jake Parker’s advise:

  1. Focus on the micro-skills that are necessary in your chosen craft. He suggests there are probably about 40.
  2. Use Deliberate Practice: meaning set out to focus on one of those micro-skills with each practice
  3. Establish a feedback loop: Some thing you can judge for yourself how well you are doing and some topics benefit from some outside critique, including a step for reworking the art with the suggestions and getting a second critique.
  4. 1% Rule: try to do 1% better today than yesterday. This level of improvement is achievable and compounds nicely.

So, 1 hour a day, 5 days a week. In 33 weeks, you will hit the 10K min. That’s less than a year. That flies by

What’s to loose?

Wanna try it with me. Come back. We can keep each other accountable.

Inspiration for this post: 

Jake Parker, YouTube

The 10,000 Minutes Rule?

Step One: 

Make a list of 40 or so “micro-skills” required for your art.