10,000 Hours. Or My Commitment to Doing Good Work.
on Jan 28, 2013
“That’s what separates the wheat from the chaff. That’s what makes a CEO a CEO.” - Gillian Muessig, SEOmoz
You would think Gillian Muessig, SEOmom – who was on a cycling and business tour to India and spent time in our office for the better part of a fortnight – would be talking about some esoteric and vague values such as vision, leadership. NO.
She was talking about: blogging. She was referring to her son Rand Fishkin (@randfish), CEO and co-founder of SEOmoz who has been blogging every single day since the inception of the blog. No matter what happened during the day, a blog would be up at night. He blogs about what he knows best: "inbound marketing, SEO, startups & entrepreneurship". He shares all that he knows about his business and discusses all. He’s social in a true sense.
Sceptics questioned his policy of talking about business secrets out in the open which could lead to people siphoning off work. But he wasn’t worried. The response invariably was: “If they are going to do it themselves, they were never our customers; if they are our customers, they will come to us when they are going to see our expertise.”
Yes, this approach backfired sometimes. But this paid off more than it backfired. SEOmoz is one of the first, biggest and most successful online marketing communities in the world. The blog is visited by millions of viewers. If you can get published in their blog, you can coolly double the price of your services and people will be willing to pay.
And after a very public battle, they received a funding of $18 million last year.
This reminds me of my favourite blogger and a fellow libertarian Amit Varma (@amitvarma) who, unfortunately, doesn’t blog enough now and is on to bigger and better things such as writing novels and winning Poker championships. He wrote a column on 10,000 hours in 2010. He writes:
Natural talent alone isn’t enough to make you good. You have to work damn hard, and practice damn hard. Some researchers have even put a number to how many hours of practice you need to achieve excellence: 10,000 hours.
[…]
The part of the study that I find astonishing is that not only did all the top performers have over 10,000 hours of practice to their credit, but everyone who put in 10,000 hours was a top performer. The key to excellence was not natural talent, but hard work. (Caveat: this is not to say that talent doesn’t matter at all. Firstly, as the researchers pointed out, there was a minimum level of talent required to get into the Academy. Secondly, a completely untalented musician would probably not get the positive feedback for his work that would motivate him to put in 10,000 hours in the first place.)
This all leads me to conclude that, since I am in the business of communication, practice I must; specifically because, as Gillian put it: “you owe it not just to yourself but to your company to work hard and give it everything you can. Sometimes, just showing up is important.”
I promise to myself and to my company to start blogging at least once a week and increase the frequency gradually.
And since this is a meta-blog (a blog about blogging), it seems befitting to end with another blogger quote, Girish Shahane:
Film used to be a precious resource in India, to be used with care. This bred discipline among cinematographers. Once video became widely available, discipline often went out of the window. [...] I have this example before me as I inaugurate a blog -- which is free to publish and in which I can stuff endless random thoughts. I aim to bring some of [the] discipline into the inevitably looser, less formal structure of the blog.
Wish me luck. :)
Nimit Kathuria
Team OMLogic
Post a comment
8260 comments
Recent Post
.png)
.png)
More Stories
.jpg)
Copyright © 2025 - OMLogic Blog. All rights reserved.
Victorspire
В то время как любители по всему миру знают его по хитам, возглавившим чарты, за ширмойнигерийский певец Patoranking поставил себе цель поменять жизни миллиона молодых людей к 2035 году. Рожденный Патриком Окори, Patoranking выросший из бедных районов Эбуте Метта, Лагос, чтобы стать одним из самых многосторонних и успешных музыкантов Нигерии. Смешивая регги-музыку, дэнсхолл и афробит, он завоевал сердца по всему миру. Однако, помимо своих музыкальных талантов, Patoranking трудится над тем, чтобы помочь африканскую молодых людей. Выросший в трущобах, Patoranking рано столкнулся с суровой реальностью. Его отец, частный предприниматель, с трудом сводил концы с концами. Высшее образование казалось недостижимым, поэтому вместо этого Patoranking обратился к своему естественному таланту — музыке. "На меня повлияли неформальные мелодии Daddy Showkey, Baba Fryo и Tuface. Музыка была способом показать трудности моего народа, и я хотел быть помощником молчаливых", — вспоминает он. Его первый шаг произошел в 2013 году, когда нигерийский певец Тимайя взял его под свое крыло, чтобы поработать над хитом «Alubarika» и выпустить его на музыкальном лейбле Тимайи. В следующем году песня Patoranking «Girlie O» принесла ему место в официальном чарте MTV Base’s Официальном Naija топе MTV, а также множество наград. Несмотря на свой стремительный подъем, Patoranking никогда не терял из виду свои корни. В 2018 году он основал фонд своей организации, цель которого — помочь миллиону молодых людей с помощью программ, направленных на образовательные программы, физическую активность и развитие общества. «Одной из моих мечтаний в детстве было стать профессиональным игроком.», — сказал он. «Поскольку я не смог этого достичь, я хочу предоставлять возможности для других». В рамках этого видения Patoranking возводит спортивные сооружения в бедных общинах, предоставляя молодым людям места для безопасности для игр, обучения и общения. Первое было в его родном городе Эбуте Метта, районе, который исторически страдал от бандитских разборок. «Это настоящий спортивный центр, и по милости Божьей мы смогли построить что-то, что объединяет наш народ», — молвил Паторенкин. Новость опубликовало новостное агентство Агентство новостей Новостное агентство Новостное агентство <a href=https://highbrend.ru>highbrend.ru</a>
new
Excellent items from you, man. I have keep in mind your stuff previous to and you are just too wonderful. I really like what you have obtained here, really like what you are stating and the best way in which you are saying it. You make it entertaining and you continue to take care of to stay it sensible. I can't wait to learn much more from you. This is really a wonderful site.
new
Heya just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the images aren't loading correctly. I'm not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I've tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same results.
new
Hi mates, its impressive post about tutoringand completely explained, keep it up all the time.
new
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply as I'm looking to construct my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. many thanks