10,000 Hours of Survival

I'm a wimp. I'll be the first to admit it. I enjoy all the modern conveniences that life has to offer, and I cringe when the remote isn't within arms length of where I am,  and that is no way to live your life. We stop appreciating things like nature and the outdoors to a point where camping has even sometimes become luxurious. I would want to know what it's like to fend for myself, to live in the woods, and to actually have some redeeming skills if the world were to fall apart. With 10,000 hours I could immerse myself into that life.

Perfecting my driving

If I had to spend 10,000 hours of performing a certain activity I would spend it on driving. The reason is that I just recently got my learner's permit earlier this month and I am a very inexperienced driver. I have only been out driving around five times so I need as much driving practice as possible. I do not want to be a driving who is careless and stubborn. When I get out on the road by myself in the future I want to have knowledge and patience so I do not cause accicents by being a reckless driver. I also want to know all the skills of drivng. Some of these skills that I want and need to learn are 3-point turns and parallel parking. I also need to know the rules of the road in order to be an effective driver. I need to know what the lines and signs mean so I do not cause commotion on the road. Driving is a very important skill to have in life and 10,000 hours of practice would definatley help me perfect it.

10,000 Hours to Perfect a Skill

If I had to perfect an activity I would think of something that could change my life or maybe help me later in life, but I am not sure what that would be yet. So my first instinct would be gymnastics but like many other activities there are so many different skills inside of the activity. It is definitely a big part of my life, I go to my gym six days a week and I could not imagine my life without it. It is a lot of work and i have dedicated a lot of time into it, so i would want to perfect it. Instead i would focus on a smaller skill to perfect and I would choose floor. It is my favorite event. It combines many skills and is the part of gymnastics that shows the most expression. It would take a lot of hard work but 10,000 hours could perfect it. My background in the sport will help.  I would need to perfect my tumbling skills and also my dance skills. To be perfect in the sport i would need to score a perfect ten performing the hardest skills and moves possible. It would be a good skill for me to perfect since I have been working on it for a large part of my life.    

Becoming a Master Chef

If I could put 10,000 hours of my life towards a single activity, it would be cooking. Mastering the art of cooking will have many benefits for me. First, I will be able to cook for myself and create delicacies that my taste buds can only dream of. Being able to cook for myself will benefit me in my years after college when I move out of my home and start my own life, so I won't have to rely on pizza delivery or settle for canned foods every night .
I have been interested in cooking ever since I have seen chefs on television or at restaurants cooking. Some of the dishes they cook look amazing, and I want to be able to cook something of that quality.
Becoming a great cook in this 417 day period will also open many doors for career opportunities.  Wielding this new talent will enable me to pursue jobs in catering, restaurants, critiquing others, or teaching cooking classes.  I will be able to use cooking in my home life and at work. I believe that making delicious food and seeing the satisfaction on customers' faces will convince me that cooking is an exciting career choice and a great use of my 10, 000 hours.

10,000 Hours To Master the Study of the Brain

The study of the brain, otherwise known as neuropsychology, is something I would like to master. I have always been interested in the brain, how it works, and what makes work. For a long time I could not understand how a group of neurons could process information or store memories, after all they are just cells. After doing my science fair research paper on memory and the brain this year I understood a lot more about it. But many of the brain's functions are still a mystery to scientists and researchers. I would like to discover more about the human brain possibly become a neuropsychologist or neuroscientist and so I can discover new things about the brain.

10,000 Hours of Soccer

If I had to spend 10,000 hours mastering one activity, it would have to be soccer. Ever since I could, I have been playing soccer. A lot of people say that I am good at soccer, but I want to be better. My wish someday is to play in the pro leagues, especially in the Barclays Premier League in England, where some of the best teams in the world play. I have always wanted to master the skill moves that some of the best players in the world have done, such as Ronaldinho, the master at skill moves. I want to be a player that everyone remembers, and not for being a bad player who messed up big, but one of the world's best. Here in America, many people won't even know who I am talking about, but outside of America, almost every one will. It's hard to play a sport that the entire world loves except for your own country. My main goal in my soccer career is to play over in Europe for a well known team, like teams in the Barclays, Liga BBVA or even Serie A. These 10,000 hours will help propel my training for my soccer future.

10,000 Hours of Races

It's actually taken me this long to figure out what I would dedicate 10,000 hours of focus to, at first I stumbled between a creative approach (architecture drafting and design) and a more physical approach (running, soccer). So instead I decided to take on something that's a little bit of both; racing (and no not like track and field like most you probably figured I'd write about). I've been a huge car enthusiast my entire life, my uncle actually works on old cars such as 1970s Corvette's, 1950s Bel Air's, etc, so growing up cars have always been a big part of my life. Now, to many people NASCAR is viewed as a simplistic race between over 20 cars and three to four left turns, and I do side with them it's quite boring. However, even though the track is just a straight oval, the amount of precision drivers must use to overtake another at such high speeds is incredible, every little detail counts; whether its the angle one would steer their vehicle on the turn, to the exact moment and duration one would draft behind another to get make a pass.

Now like I said, this isn't the ideal adrenaline pumping, head to head, car racing that interests me; it's the racing from Fast and Furious, Need for Speed, and Forza Motorsport that engages the real fun. Similar to how everyone has their own "style of writing" people also have different "styles of racing" too. The actually style comes from the average speed one drives, how one would take on a turn either by drifting or straight braking and turning, and how one passes other cars either punching it full throttle and coming up the side or by drafting (slipstreaming) another and overtaking the car once close enough.

I think that racing cars is not only physically fun by being in control of such a rush but also a creative way to show off the signature of ones driving.

10,000 Hours of ASL

        If I could practice anything for 10,000 hours it would be American Sign Language. Ever since I was little I have admired the language and the ability to communicate using only your hands. My hope for the future is to have a career in ASL interpretation. Those 10,000 hours of focused practice would be my chance to improve upon the basic American Sign Language knowledge I have now and to help me achieve my career goals.

A Different Sort of Language in 10,000 Hours

10,000 hours equates to about 1.14 years. In this time, like a few people on the blog, I would like to learn a language. Unlike people on this blog, the language I would like to learn is not Finnish or Arabic. The language I would like to learn is more along the lines of C++ or JavaScript. I would use those hours to teach myself a programming language. Instead of using this language to communicate better with my family, learn more about my heritage, or use it to get a job, I would use the language to create programs, apps, websites, or games. I have always been interested in computers and games and would like to create something of my own. I would love to be able to create my own video game. Hopefully, that would lead to me making a living creating video games or apps. In our increasingly computer-dependent world, having the skills to create websites or apps are very helpful to succeed. It propelled Mark Zuckerberg into fame. It helped make Valve millions of dollars. It helped make Angry Birds a household name (Do I have to link that?). Even if I don't create the next Half-Life, Facebook, or Angry Birds, just knowing that I could help entertain a few people would be enough to justify all the effort.

Perfecting Art

When I initially thought about what I should dedicate over a year of my life to, things like driving a Formula One car or piloting an Apache attack helicopter came to mind. However, I realized these were just things I thought were fun, not things that were practical. So I thought about skills that would add to my life and improve my chance of success in the world. I eventually came to art.

I'll be the first to say I have zero talent when it comes to drawing or painting or sculpting, but the way I see it, that only means I have plenty of room to improve over the course of 10,000 hours.

Perfecting art would not only add to my general skill set, but also help me use more of the creative side of my brain. Being a great artist would help my career as well. My goal is to become a mechanical engineer with a focus on car design, a field in which drawing is definitely a necessity.

Who Doesn't Want to be an Illusionist?

10,000 hours. That is a straight 417 days of life on this planet. A skill great enough to be focused on that long must be extremely valuable and worthy.  So what would I do, learn Mandarin Chinese, play the drums, hack a computer? No, I would like to learn to be an illusionist. A person who has the power and wit to deceive the eye and perform amazing tricks that set the mind on edge. Ever since I was a child the very idea of magic has fascinated me greatly, being able to do just an inkling would be a childish dream come true. Illusionists have the ability to make things disappear, especially themselves, pull off amazing escape attempts, and wow crowds around the world with so called "magic."
Magicians are sought after in Vegas, Boston, New Orleans as a pleaser to the people who want to think there is something more out there than just a trick of the eye, even though that is what illusion is. I would be able to pull off any trick and see subtle things that a person does to describe their whole life story to myself and others. Illusion is beyond making things disappear but a special skill the mot of the population would never put the time or effort into learning. Why learn to do a simple card trick when I have the possibility to make a person disappear? Ever since I saw the great Chris Angel, a world known illusionist,  that dream of magic was rekindled. To have the ability to amaze people but be smoke through there fingers is an interesting way to look upon life. Illusion is the essence of magic humanized.

10,000 Hours of Astronomy

When I was considering the possibilities for this dedication of time, several tasks came to mind. I struggled on deciding on a task worthy of committing 10,000 hours to. Should I learn how to play an instrument, or should I learn a new language? There were so many options and skills that I wish I could acquire. I finally decided that if I could dedicate 10,000 hours to learning a specific task, I would choose to learn astronomy. The topic of astronomy has always intrigued me. By definition, astronomy is a branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole.  The idea of thousands of other planets, solar systems and galaxies is fascinating to me, and I would love to learn more of the topic, and to become an expert in the field. I plan to go into astrobiology as a future career, and if I had the 10,000 hours’ worth of study and knowledge, then I would be well prepared for the future. 

Poker Master

If I was to spend 10,000 hours on mastering an art I would master poker playing. Not only would iMessage out a poker play I would master the art of counting cards. Poker players can make  multimillions. While this is frowned upon if you could master it so no one could tell you were counting cards you could make millions of dollars. It would take hours of studying math not only poker. Poker is a game many play but not many not actually win money. 

Some think poker is just a game of luck but to me it will be an equation  that i can calculate and can master. This will require many math classes which i will spend almost half of my hours studying. The other half I will be playing poker in casinos and testing security to see how i will begin to get away with these frowned upon acts. This business will make me millions of dollars and I will only have to work less than 15 years of my life and will retire. The perks of playing poker I will be traveling all over the globe in tournaments. As Scott Adams once said "the creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers" ... Winner winner chicken dinner.

10,000 Hours Towards Mastering Blogging

One option I could certainly spend 10,000 hours trying to master is blogging. This isn't something I'm typically interested in but the more I think about it the better it sounds to me. Blogging is a fast-paced hobby on the internet right now. There are so many different blogs about different topics, however almost every topic has multiple blogs that cover it. Therefore, competition is created between these blogs that post the same kinds of information. This is why blogging can be challenging for many, it is time-consuming and difficult. Regardless, I think it would be entertaining and challenging. A (successful) blogger must stay in tuned with so many things happening at once, so they would always be connected to social media and events occuring within the topic that they have chosen to cover on their blog. In other words, they would always be in touch with a topic they enjoy.

Also, as the internet and computers advance, I expect that people will be able to blog things from anywhere, using their cell phone or type of mobile computer. This eliminates the idea of having to spend all of your time indoors on a computer, posting things on your blog. Being able to be outdoors, or wherever you want while being able to blog makes blogging a much more likeable hobby, for me at least. Blogging could definitley be something I spend a lot of time doing.

10,000 Hour of Finnish

If I were to spend 10,000 hours fully committed and focused on one activity, I would attempt to teach myself how to speak and read the Finnish language. My grandfather has a strong Finnish heritage, being almost a full-blooded Finn. He knows how to speak little pieces of the language and can read some. His mother, my great-grandmother, spoke fluent Finnish, it having been her primary language. She spoke the languageto my  grandfather and my mother. I would like to learn how to speak it to feel closer to my heritage, and to feel closer to my grandfather. I hope to one day journey to Finland to see where my roots started and to partake in their Midsummer Festival. A Finnish Midsummer Festival is a celebration of the Summer solstice during which the Finnish people sing, dance, feast, and burn massive bon fires symbolizing the changes of seasons. Learning the language would help me communicate with the citizens and help me get the "full experience" so to speak, of the festivities. 

10,000 hours of jumping

Originally i thought i would dedicate my 10,000 hours to mastering dance, but i felt like that is something you would never be able to "master" because everyone has a different style. After further thinking about it i decided i would dedicate 10,000 hours to mastering high jump. High jump is a field event in track that I started this year, to do really well in high jump one has to have  a certain form and also have a high jump. Therefore, this is an event that someone could always keep improving on, whether improving on jumping skills or on form. After 10,000 hours of practicing high jump i would have mastered my own form and a solid jump. I believe that i would not only be a strong competitor in my track season, whether high school or college, but i believe that i might even be able to compete in the olympics. Going to the olympics is a goal that many aim for but not many achieve and it would be a huge accomplishment to even be considered for it.

Achieving Fluency in the Arabic Language

If I were given the opportunity to utilize the 10,000 hour theory, I would want the ability to speak fluent Arabic. Mastering the art of the Arabic language is considered to be a very rigorous and intemperate acquisition.  As an individual, I have no preference of what branch of Arabic I learn, as there are many different forms. In fact, I would attempt to ascertain the language as a whole!

Fluency in this language would not only increase my knowledge of the culture, but more importantly open up beneficial and virtuous job opportunities. Ever since I had become alert and mindful of all the turmoil the United States had faced with Middle Eastern countries, I had become instantly intrigued. My aspiration of mastering this language would be to attain a job at a federal government organization, such as the FBI or the CIA. I have always wanted to be apart of the nations most intelligent individuals, and also performing this job to the best of my abilities, for the greater good of the United States.

Based on research I have done, the FBI is in dire need of employees who have the ability to speak a fluent Middle Eastern language. Now that I have the goal to reach, I just need to put in the work to attain it.

Perfecting the Art of Making Art

When I started to think about what I would dedicate 10,000 hours of focused practice to multiple things came to mind, like learning guitar, practicing Ultimate Frisbee, or making art. Pretty much all my hobbies I love to do. But my mind kept going  back to how I would want to become an expert in making art. I do not believe this is something anyone can perfect per se because there will always be new techniques or styles. There are also many forms of art, I would specifically focus on drawing and painting. Making your own art is an excellent way to express yourself or relive stress. I am one of those people who does not always know how to express my feelings in words so instead I draw what I feel. Art does not have rules or guidelines so you can really go about it however you want. At this point I have taken an art class every school year and extra classes over the summer. I have had amazing teachers who have inspired me to always try my hardest. It is extremely difficult to make a living from being an artist but it would be fun. I would love to do something in my future involving art and in order to make that happen I need to be an expert on the subject.

Perfect a Foreign Language

          If I were to commit 10,000 hours of focused practice at a chosen activity, I would choose to become fluent in Spanish. Foreign languages have always been an interest of mine. Having taken Spanish for the past two years in High School, I view this goal as one that would be beneficial to me and one that is highly attainable. Being fluent in a second language can open many doors both in my personal and professional life. Spanish is the official language in more than twenty countries around the world and the second most spoken language in the United States. Having a command of a second language would make travel much easier and enjoyable, and could be useful in many professions. At this point, I have put in about 300 hours of Spanish and I feel like I could get along in a Spanish-speaking country. Putting in over thirty times that amount seems like a realistic amount of time to become an expert in that field. Within the next few years, I plan to spend a summer in a Spanish-speaking country to immerse myself in the language. Fluency in a second language can increase my vocabulary and help me have a better understanding of English. Having mastered Spanish can also help me more keenly appreciate different cultures and lifestyles. Becoming an fluent in Spanish is a realistic goal of mine. I am anxious to read the rationale behind Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers on what it takes to become an expert.

Perfect the game of golf

If I was to commit to 10,000 hours of focused practice on a certain thing I would choose the game of golf.  Golf is a sport that you can play your entire life unlike football and basketball which are very physically demanding on your body.  I have always been interested in the game of golf and I know from watching the professionals that you can earn a lot of money in the PGA Tour.  Tiger Woods received 1.7 million for winning The Players Championship earlier this year just over one weekend.  If I could perfect the game of golf not only would I be able to compete in the PGA Tour and win millions of dollars but it would be really fun.  For those who have played golf before will probably agree with me that golf is a difficult sport and can get really frustrating at times.  To be able to hit perfectly straight drives and sink putts all the time would be awesome.  Perfecting the game of golf would enable me to become very successful at the professional level and be able to have an enjoyable time playing golf all over the place for my entire life.   

Perfected Psychology

If I were to commit 10,000 hours of focused practice at a chosen activity in order to become an expert, I would most definitely practice a form of psychology such as mentalism, behaviorism, or, in a more spiritual sense of psychology, reading auras and using the brow chakra.
Psychology has always been an interest of mine, especially since I began watching the television show, "The Mentalist". Playing psychological games and "reading" people, I found, were entirely entertaining. I've only been able to use tricks I saw on the television show, but I've been longing for a further understanding of psychology, thus giving me the idea of combining two of my greater interests: psychology and spirituality.
A "psychic", who a family friend hired to "read" my sister, my friend, and me, told me of something called the Indigo and Crystal Children, telling me to further research them, as well as the brow chakra. These all had to do with some sort of indirect telepathy, which brought me to my research of auras and reading people's thoughts and emotions through the brow chakra.
Watching experts at work with psychology and spiritual psychology greatly interested me and made me want to try it, which later made me want to perfect it.

June Assignments

Here are some things I would like you to do in June.  One of the topics covered in Outliers is the 10,000 hour theory.  In short, this argument holds that a person can become an expert at a chosen activity with 10,000 hours of focused practice.  My question for you is: If you were to commit to 10,000 hours of focused practice, what would your chosen activity be?  You should also explain your reasoning.  After all, I think that is the more interesting element.

Please create your own new post rather than replying to this post with your answer.  You should also comment on at least 2 of your classmate's posts.

Before you begin posting or commenting, I'd suggest you read the Blogiquette post.

Blog Etiquette

Please take a moment to read this post about Blog Etiquette.

http://digikev.co.uk/articles/blog-etiquette/

Welcome!

Welcome to the A.P. U.S. History summer reading blog for the 2013-2014 school year.  There will be questions released throughout the summer for you to contemplate.  These questions should foster analysis of the readings and also conversations among the class.  I look forward to working with all of you as this blog will be a great introduction to your work ethic and insight.  Please contact me with any questions throughout the summer. 

Remember, organization is the key to enjoying all the beach and/or pool time you're looking forward to.