Some random thoughts…

School is starting.  For most kids, big whoop.  But for some, a real and true Big Whoop.  I don’t know what to make about education nowadays.  We are spending more money on it, so I know we all care.

I know venture guys who are big backers of online universities, like DeVry, Capella, and Phoenix.  And I know people in HR who are dismissive of each when they try to fill all those open jobs.  I think these schools must still be finding their way.  In a decade or two,  more of us will come to understand how good an education can be like this, even online.

And then I read that Bill Gates, HIMSELF, is a big fan of something called the Khan Academy.  Evidently, Bill and his kids review these videos on a consistent basis.  They are so well done, I am thinking about watching the video on quadratic equations…just to see how much I have forgotten in 10, 20, 30, 40 years.  Realistically, though, something tells me that Bill’s kids are going to be smart enough, no-matter-fricking-what, but it is is noteworthy that he uses this free resource to help his kids get prepared.  Beats reading THE CAT IN THE HAT every night at bedtime.  Or does it.

Related sidebar–When I mentor young folks on entrepreneurship, I always mention that most start up people I know have a combo gene of Urgency and Delayed Gratification.  Urgency because one must have a ‘git-r-done’ mentality and Delayed Gratification because often the payoff is years ahead.  Sometimes the two don’t mesh very well.  Education is like that.  The pay off is years ahead.

So this brings me to the other hot button of mine, as it relates to job seekers.  I am amazed at the little things that job seekers do NOT do.  Basically, most are ill prepared. The stats are that job seekers spend way less than one hour a day job seeking.  So, I guess it is not realistic to give advice like I  have in the past, suggesting that they practice answering interview questions, or practicing their self elevator pitch.  Few do.  Again, job seekers, practice this stuff…it is even legal to do this before your interview.  Enough.

Malcolm Gladwell in OUTLIERS wrote about the 10,000 hour rule.  Basically, it takes about 10,000 hours to become expert at anything.  Wow.  But.  True.  What is that like?

Much of our success is really based upon practicing our skill whether it is critical thinking, dribbling with our left hand, drywalling or how to be more likeable.

Scott Adams, the Dilbert Guy, may have stumbled on to a big idea here, without realizing it.  Maybe someone today will read his essay today, and put two and two together.  That’s still four, right?

Here is his essay in its entirety cuz I know you are too busy to make the jump.

Let’s say that you and I decide to play pool. We agree to play eight-ball, best of five games. Our perception is that what follows is a contest to see who will do something called winning.

But I don’t see it that way. I always imagine the outcome of eight-ball to be predetermined, to about 95% certainty, based on who has practiced that specific skill the most over his lifetime. The remaining 5% is mostly luck, and playing a best of five series eliminates most of the luck too.

I’ve spent a ridiculous number of hours playing pool, mostly as a kid. I’m not proud of that fact. Almost any other activity would have been more useful. As a result of my wasted youth, years later I can beat 99% of the public at eight-ball. But I can’t enjoy that sort of so-called victory. It doesn’t feel like “winning” anything.

It feels as meaningful as if my opponent and I had kept logs of the hours we each had spent playing pool over our lifetimes and simply compared. It feels redundant to play the actual games.

I see the same thing with tennis, golf, music, and just about any other skill, at least at non-professional levels. And research supports the obvious, that practice is the main determinant of success in a particular field.

As a practical matter, you can’t keep logs of all the hours you have spent practicing various skills. And I wonder how that affects our perception of what it takes to be a so-called winner. We focus on the contest instead of the practice because the contest is easy to measure and the practice is not.

Complicating our perceptions is professional sports. The whole point of professional athletics is assembling freaks of nature into teams and pitting them against other freaks of nature. Practice is obviously important in professional sports, but it won’t make you taller. I suspect that professional sports demotivate viewers by sending the accidental message that success is determined by genetics.

My recommendation is to introduce eight-ball into school curricula, but in a specific way. Each kid would be required to keep a log of hours spent practicing on his own time, and there would be no minimum requirement. Some kids could practice zero hours if they had no interest or access to a pool table. At the end of the school year, the entire class would compete in a tournament, and they would compare their results with how many hours they spent practicing. I think that would make real the connection between practice and results, in a way that regular schoolwork and sports do not. That would teach them that winning happens before the game starts.

Yes, I know that schools will never assign eight-ball for homework. But maybe there is some kid-friendly way to teach the same lesson.