Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Rocket engines burning fuel so fast, up into the night sky, they blast (Black Sabbath)



Wie geht's?

Reading Geezer Butler's autobiography (Into The Void) reminded me again of that 10,000 hours idea.

Malcolm Gladwell theory was that world class expertise was gained, to a large extent, by practising for a total of at least 10,000 hours.   

Geezer is of course the bassist/lyricist in Black Sabbath - who provided my soundtrack to teenage-hood in 1970 and 1971 via their second and third albums (Paranoid, Master Of Reality).

He tells of how, pre fame and pre their first album, the band (called Earth in those times) performed marathon sets in Hamburg at The Star-Club (one of The Beatles' venues from their Hamburg days during their own 10,000 hours).

Geezer says they 'blossomed in Hamburg' while doing seven 45 minute sets every day. That means playing music for about five and a half hours every day. If you do that enough times you rack up a lot of practice.

With that experience and all the gigging they were doing in the late sixties, the members of Earth accrued those 10,000 hours.

Those 10,000 hours also equate to approximately the first eight years for full time teachers. My first two schools (from 1983 to 1990) were my equivalent years of practising my craft.

By 2023 I have accrued nearly 50,000 hours of teaching, leading, managing, coaching, advising in a variety of contexts.

Phew. No wonder I'm a bit tired.

Love and peace - Wozza

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