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Comment by yodsanklai | Hacker News Reader

1 - some tasks are simple enough that much less than 10000 hours is needed. Consider every day driving. 100 hours should be enough.

2 - some people are order of magnitude more talented better than others at some things. Maths or music come to mind. My personal experience: it took me years of hard working to get decent rhythmic abilities. On the other hand, my sister (who is a professional musician) had a innate sense of rhythm. She doesn't even understand how that could be an issue.

Maybe it's more accurate to say that after 10000 hours, one can get close to its full potential, which varies tremendously among people.

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> Consider every day driving. 100 hours should be enough.

100 hours should be enough for most people to pass a driving exam, not to become an expert driver.

Right. I took to drumming very easily. Like you said about your sister, not having rhythm is something I don't understand. I think of that as a head start, but it doesn't disprove 10,000 hours. I do still need all the hours to reach my potential. Someone else without that head start but who practices a lot will catch up to me if I don't practice.

Even if I do practice the same amount as them, I expect the difference between me and someone without the head start would go down significantly over time.

So innate talent is a real thing but it's consistent with 10,000 hours.

I recently started drumming in a hobby band and I seem to have a knack for it. I'm curious to hear how you've progressed and what kind of practice you do. I'm just winging it and it's alright.

Drumming wasn't important to me, it was just a fun novelty for a short time. I knew what it would cost (both time and money) to bridge the gap from talent to real expertise and it wasn't personally worth it to me.

Generally when the meaning of 'innate' is actually investigated, it's found to not be something innate; see this paper: http://cogprints.org/656/1/innate.htm

  >She doesn't even understand how that could be an issue.

Sounds like you two haven't put much thought into understanding the issue.

> Consider every day driving. 100 hours should be enough.

I'd say that's driving competence, not driving expertise. Formula 1 drivers, for example, usually start out driving go-karts as kids. By the time they get to Formula 1 through all the junior racing categories and feeder series they've been practicing their driving for at least a decade.

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