Negative Beliefs About Hardwork

[Phrae]

I have this belief that I've picked up a couple of years ago. I was first introduced to this 10,000  hours rules at a time where I wasn't exactly being intelligent. I then read some article that said 4 hours are the maximum amount of hours that you get benefit from. For some reasons I generalized from a single activity to many activity. It wasn't clear for me at the time that the concept of deliberate practice was talking about a specific domain. So, naively, this 4 hours was translated into 4 hours of possible concentration FOR ME and it's almost a fucking placebo thing right now. I just tell myself I can't concentrate after 4 hours.

I do think that I'm supposed to work way more but I don't feel it in my gut that it's absolutely necessary.

What biographies/resources do you recommend to unroot this belief or turn it completely around? I feel like this is really essential to getting to my absolute edge.

Leo recommends Arnold Schwarzenegger but I my ego would dismiss the evidence as he's a body builder.

[poimandres]

Not sure why you are discrediting Arnold Schwarzenegger, he still put in tons of work to be where he is.

How many hours do you expect to concentrate productively on one task for a stretch of time?

10000 hrs of practice is over a long length of time (months, years) with many small sessions adding up to 10000hrs.

School, for example. You take a calculus course for months then, at the end, you are tested to see how much you learned. You certainly sat through more than 4 hours of lectures and homework to get to the final exams.. And in order to pass, it takes looking at it more than 4 total hours for an entire semester.

Edited January 24, 2017 by poimandres

[Alicja_]

@Phrae I think it is actually quite tough not to exhaust your laser beam of focus after 4 hours of  intensive work. 

You may consider tricking your subconscious mind. If you feel like you're gonna give up after 4 hours, it might be advantageous to work fewer hours, e.g. 2 hours, then stop for a while,  have  a break and resume (work for 2 more hours), stop, and resume (2 more hours). This way you may devote to 6 hours of focused work daily intersected by short breaks, to let your mind rest for at least 30 min.

[Christian]

4 hours? That is nothing. Do you know how hard South Korean students work on a daily basis? 

They literally have school from 7pm until 11pm including homework generally speaking and they work 6 days/week - not 5 days like in European countries. Which explains the high suicide rate in South Korea among teenagers, but you get the point. So don't tell me you cannot even work concentrated  for more than 4 hours per day? For what; because your mind "tricked" you into believing in what some authority figure told you?  I think you may fear hard work and you gotta set higher standards for yourself and put things into perspective here. 

[Siim Land]

@Phrae You have to simply immerse yourself into the activity and go past the 4 hour mark without noticing it. If you reach hour 5, then you will go lie: Hey, I've been concentrating successfully for the past hour, without getting sidetracked. Maybe I can indeed focus a lot longer than that. To do this, you can simply time yourself to start working more intensely at 3,5 hours or something. Then you're priming yourself to enter flow.

What you also need to do is have a shift in mindset. Do read Arnold Schwarzenegger's book because it's pure gold and shows you what it really means to work hard. And he's just a bodybuilder? Far from it, the man is also a movie star, a businessman, a politician and a philantropist. He's like one of the most actualized people out there in mainstream media. He did bodybuilding only until his 30's or so (don't quote me on that), while the other half of his life he's been changing the world for the better. If you can't be inspired by that and learn from him, then I don't know what will. Only getting hit with the cold harsh fist of reality would show you that it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

[Passionate]

@Phrae I absolutely love the work ethic of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  you should check out some of his motivational videos on YouTube - just to see what you think before you decide.  He took ballet classes to be a better bodybuilder.......give him a chance my friend.   Moreover, If you are stuck at four hours a day, perhaps you are not spending your time on the right thing for you.  If you are interested/like what you are doing, then the time flies and four hours are long gone before you even realize it.  Finally, check out some studies on productivity levels and how much work you can do before you are fatigued.  I have read some information from Travis Bradbury, author of Emotional Intelligence, who cites that we can put in sixty hours of a work week before our productivity decreases.  So, check out some studies on our productivity and the type of work that you are doing.  Best of luck to you    

[Awomanaware]

@phrae Maybe you are doing something you don't like doing? If that's not the case, try Ameer Rosic youtube videos, maybe you'll like him. 

[Nahm]

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Edited January 30, 2017 by Phil

[Arielle]

No ones mind can concentrate on pure work for that long. You need to take 15min breaks after each hour. or you can do the 5 hour work week and do only 1 hour of work a day. Whatever you have time or that will work for you best

[Nahm]

When you can imagine and vision to an ongoing state where you no longer choose to see in terms of work, but instead fun, you will not need to ask about this. No one was born more gifted than you. But some people are choosing to use their imagination and vision more.