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So yesterday I plotted out my "ideal week" on a new Google calendar. A suggestion from this video by Ali Abdaal. The reason for doing this is because recently I've felt like I'm not pushing myself enough to dedicate more time to the things I want to be working on. Chief among them, writing more.


Too often I find myself not knowing what to do with my time and so filling it with useless activity that accomplishes nothing. Following a calendar is something I've tried before and really not enjoyed as it always felt too restrictive but I'm going to give this another go.


This morning I've clocked in just under 2 hours of writing time thanks to the new routine. Sticking to that means I'll get 14 hours of writing a week done... which sounds insane compared to what I'm currently on. It's a big jump up. I'm hoping practice will make it easier. But right now I feel much better for having done those 2 hours of writing and still having the bulk of the day ahead of me for whatever else needs doing.

I'd heard of the 10,000-hour rule a few times but last night was the first time I properly read about it. I couldn't sleep and ended up reading some of Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers. In the book, he looks to redefine how we view success by looking at the conditions that create the people we see as successful in the world.


The 10,000-hour rule simply means that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practise in something to become a master of that thing. Gladwell talks about the Beatles and how they managed to cram in thousands of hours of live shows by performing in clubs in Hamburg that required them to play for 5,6,7 or 8 hours straight. Doing that consistently for years meant that by the time the Beatles enjoyed their major successes, they had clocked in way over 10,000 hours of practice. The Beatles didn't hussle or earn their time in Hamburg but instead go the opportunity via a random chance and a bit of luck.


Bill Gates had a similar experience. He was incredibly lucky to be sent to a school that not only had access to a computer but also resources that could allow him to spend hours and hours learning how the machine worked. By the time the personalised computer revolution came about he was in a prime position to take full advantage of the 10,000+ hours he'd crammed in as a kid.


Now I'd wondered about the 10,000-hour rule for myself a few times and how it might apply. If I assumed I was starting from 0 today and wanted to reach my 10,000 hours in 10 years, I'd need to do 1000 hours a year - which immediately sounds more doable. But breaking that down further means I'd have to do 20 hours a week or just under 3 hours a day. That's 3 hours every day for 10 years.


For someone who averages about 10 minutes a day, adding 2 hours and 50 minutes onto that is a bit of a tall ask. Is it something worth aiming for? Maybe. Will I aim for it? Not sure yet. I've known for a while that I need to increase the amount of time I spend writing at my desk. More often that not it becomes a question of what can I drop from my life to allow that to happen.


My writing routine had a bit of a sledgehammer taken to it over recent weeks as I've been moving house. Everything suffered a little except maybe my day-to-day journal. I haven't updated that short fiction site for a while now so I'm keen to bring some consistency back to that. I am now onto an 11-day streak with "showing up at my desk" each morning so the regular fiction writing is also starting to happen again.


In other news, my Goldsmiths course came to an end yesterday. After 10 weeks, those of us who had made it through to the end, read out what we'd been working on. There was an impressive variety of writing. 1st person plural stories of asylum seekers coming to Britain, insights into the work of Russian translators, and a couple having breakfast as the wife begins chemotherapy.


I shared my story Objects of Silence that I'd been working on throughout the course. A story that began from a place of memoir/autobiography but branched out to become a story of the changing relationship and communication difficulties between Will and his father. I drew a lot of it from my own life but made great efforts to keep it fictional. The relationship I show is not the relationship I have with my own dad. But I'm glad that I did draw from my own life, more so than I have before. It illustrated to me the breadth of areas that must be drawn from, in order for a character to feel real. I think that's definitely a lesson I can take forward to other projects. I had some great responses and more great feedback.


It would be great to keep in contact with some people from the course. There was definitely a shared interest there I think. Though there is always an awkwardness to these things I feel, exaggerated by only ever meeting one another virtually. We'll see what happens. It's been a great 10 weeks and I've come to the end feeling as though I've learnt a lot, met some great people and gained a good deal of confidence.

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