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

4817 comments

WilliamFrorp

11 months ago

Reply

水微晶玻尿酸 - 八千代 https://yachiyo.com.tw/hyadermissmile-injection/
Lesterzof

11 months ago

Reply

<a href=http://davistrailer.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=mir74.ru%2F25578-proceduru-oformleniya-osago-vskore-mogut-uslozhnit.html>Челябинские предприятия</a> http://koolsmilesdental.biz/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=mir74.ru%2F27026-v-troicke-marshrutka-pereehala-shkolnicu.html
클라우드웨이즈

11 months ago

Reply

클라우드웨이브은 컨테이너, 쿠버네티스 등 클라우드 네이티브 플랫폼으로 애플리케이션을 개발해 온프레미스, 하이브리드 클라우드, 멀티 클라우드, 엣지 등에 올리고, 통합된 케어를 구현하는 구역이다. 클라우드 커넥트는 클라우드에 올린 애플리케이션을 안전하게 연결하고, 연결의 품질을 보장하면서 관리자의 가시성을 제공하는 것을 사용한다. <a href=https://cloud-korea.com/>클라우드웨이브</a>
CarlosNoubs

11 months ago

Reply

<a href=https://poisk-lekarstv.su/lekarstva/ozempik-1mg-3ml-8/>Оземпик 1мг в наличии</a> - семаглутид таблетки инструкция +по применению цена отзывы, оземпик ozempic
Orielijen

11 months ago

Reply

Извиняюсь за беспокойство, XBOX приобрести в спортивные игы на различные тематики и получай бесплатные подарки + https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3204091 Автопополнение моментально Steam(выгодный курс) https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3589474 ИНТЕРНЕТ МАГАЗИН ЦИФРОВЫХ ТОВАРОВ https://bysel.ru/goods/?activation=origin Акканты xbox https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3098640 купить игры +на xbox +onehttps://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3221060 Автопополнение моментально Steam(выгодный курс) https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3589474 xbox купить игру лицензиюhttps://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3036392 чат-бот с искусственным интеллектомhttps://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3225209 steam key купить ключhttps://bysel.ru/goods/human-fall-flat-steam-key-ru-region-free/ xbox gift card(покупка игр в иностранном аккаунте)https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3614567 Steam google Turkey Gift Card Code FOR TURKEY ACCOUN https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3589468 стим игры дешевле чем в русском аккаунте)https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3589468 Новый Стим аккаунт ( Турция/Полный доступ) PayPaLhttps://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3296415 League Of Legends 850 LoL RP - ТУРЦИЯ https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3296427 Valorant 740 VP or 1050 Riot Points - ТОЛЬКО ТУРЦИЯ https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3331571 PUBG Mobile 325 UC Unknown Cashhttps://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3430858 Playstation Network (PSN) 10$(USA)https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3466036 Steam gift card USD(пополнение кошелька) https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3465075 iTUNES GIFT CARD - (TURKEY/USD) https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3622021 Adguard Premium 1ПК((лучший блокировщик рекламы.спама, всплывающие окна ) https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3046307 Netflix Турция Подарочный код TL??(VPN постоянно) Netflix PlansBasic 26,99 TL Standard 40,99 TL Premium 54,99 TL дешевле чем в других аккаунтах https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/2983253 Blizzard Gift Card USD ?BATTLE.NET https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3025661 RAZER GOLD GIFT CARD (USD) Global Pin https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3051315 Nintendo подписка 3 месяца гифт карты +https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3296413 PSN аккаунт Турция https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3473640 EA PLAY XBOX 1 месяц https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3296413 Amazon gift card USD(покупка на Amazon)https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3203865 xbox gift card(покупка игр в зарубежном аккаунте XBOX)https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/2974252 Xbox Gift Card https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3540172 Skype аккаунты с балансом для звонковhttps://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3205694 ChatGpt-исскуственный интелект(заработок в сети)https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3225209 НЕДОРОГИЕ игры XBOX ONE Windows 10/11 Pro 32/64 bit Лицензия https://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3221892 ОПЛАТА ENOT (12 способов оплаты) 0% при оплате (покупайте без процентов выгоднее) игры +на xbox +one купить дешевоhttps://bysel.ru/goods/mafia-definitive-edition-xbox-one-series-xs-klyuch-??-2/ Автопополнение моментально Steam(вы зачисляете свои средства на свой стим аккаунт,пишите логин) https://digiseller.market/asp2/pay_options.asp?id_d=3582748 xbox купить игру лицензиюhttps://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3036392 игры +на xbox +one купить дешевоhttps://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3162963 купить игры +на xbox +onehttps://ggsel.net/catalog/product/3036392 google gift card купить+https://bysel.ru/goods/roblox-gift-card-10-usd-800-robux-global??bez-komissii/ Недорогой качественный хостинг от 85р. https://webhost1.ru/?r=133178 Хочешь добиться чего нибудь, получи кредит в Альфа Банке https://clck.ru/33Pzfy октрывай свой бизнес, работай на себя(напиши бизнес план)получи дебетную карту https://clck.ru/33Pzd8 Недорогой хостинг от 85р, при переносе с другого домена 2 месяца бесплатноhttps://webhost1.ru/?r=133178