Great article. The author uses the principle to learn more efficiently, but I've actually applied it in a different way. I have a broad interest, like many here

Great article. The author uses the principle to learn more efficiently, but I've actually applied it in a different way. I have a broad interest, like many here do as demonstrated by the constantly interesting frontpage, and I like to know everything. Since it's such a vague principle, this is a bit handwavy, but imagine peoples perception of a skilled person. Someone who has mastered 50% of a skill can be said to be able to do it, but not be very good, someone who has mastered 100% of a skill, can be said to be the legendary kind of master that's spent 10.000 hours honing it. No one really expects someone they meet to be a master. Anyone you meet in your life, when they say they can do something because it's their work, or their hobby, you expect them to be good at it, having spent perhaps the first half of their 10.000 hours, and getting to 90%. They might have spent 10.000 hours, but it wasn't 10.000 hours of hard practice, the kind that starts out fun, but ends up being a hard grind towards the end. Imagine your surprise if you met someone and they were a professional of international renown, not just good at their jobs. In the time it takes to become that kind of a master (about 5 years if you work at it 8 hours a day 5 days a week (remember, hard practice! not just applying things you already know)) you could have learned 5 things to 80%. That means you could have easily become a decent programmer, an enjoyable guitar player, an excellent home cook, an adept sportsman and a poet. Note that besides taking the same amount of time, it was a lot more enjoyable and required less discipline, because it's the last 20% of mastery that takes 80% of the time, that's also where the drudgery is. Definitely not saying the drudgery isn't enjoyable, obviously it can be quite rewarding to push the boundaries of what a person can achieve, and be lauded for it. But if you seek diversity in the way you spend your time, you could be great at many things and be very satisfied as well.