Improving by Leaps and Bounds

By James M. Jackson

I recently had an operation to stabilize abdominal aortic and iliac artery aneurysms. Part of the solution to that problem resulted in blocking the artery that provides much of the blood flow to my right buttock and hip. Fortunately, blood also flows to these areas from other places. The result is activity that uses those muscles (like walking—don’t even think about running) leaves those muscles screaming for more oxygen. Pain is what we call that screaming for O2.

Over the years, many people have told me I was a pain in the butt. Turns out they were prescient.

While researching how to improve my situation, I realized there are many similarities between revascularization (the process of bringing new blood vessels to supply the oxygen-deprived muscles) and learning new skills.

The purported “10,000-hour rule” for mastering a skill suggests that to excel, we must spend 10,000 hours working on that skill. That makes for great headlines but is too simplistic to benefit us in practice. First, the 10,000 hours was an average. Some people became extraordinary with many fewer hours, and others took considerably longer.

Second, it obscures the factors that determine how and at what rate we improve. What you do matters as much or more than how long you do it. Consider practicing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on the piano for 10,000 hours. Assuming you are still sane, that practice may make you a master of that piece, but it doesn’t make you a concert pianist.

For tasks that require pure muscle memory (shooting basketball free throws, carving perfect figures in Olympic skating competitions (in olden days), or keyboarding without looking), repeating the same task over and over again can develop it—provided we receive periodic feedback to spot problems with our form. We need to practice the correct move, not master a flawed technique.

The most efficient way to natural revascularization of my butt muscles is to exercise hard enough to be quite painful, but not so much that the muscles cramp. Then allow the muscles a brief rest and subject them to another period of stress. Repeat for at least 30 minutes, preferably more. After each session, allow the muscles to rest and recover. If there are no residual problems the next day, do it all again. If the exercise  becomes “too easy” to elicit the pain response, increase the interval stressors.

While that process results in gradual progress, from time-to-time the training results make a significant improvement jump. In revascularization, the steady process is evidence of the muscles becoming more efficient at dealing with their decreased oxygen supplies. The leaps and bounds occur when new and improved artery systems deliver more blood to the muscles.

If my butt muscles were a city, the steady improvement would result from the civil engineers figuring out better traffic light timing, replacing some traffic lights with roundabouts, thereby allowing cars to more easily move from A to B. The leap occurs when a new interstate comes online, replacing clogged two-lane roads with four lanes and higher speed limits.

A similar process occurs while we master a complex skill, like writing novels. Continuing to write the same types of stories may incrementally improve our skills. To make significant leaps, however, we must purposefully stress ourselves with new challenges and give ourselves recuperation time to allow our bodies and brains to recover. Then one day, we realize we have grown to a new level of expertise.

Has that been your experience when learning new complex skills?

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James M. Jackson authors the Niki Undercover Thriller and Seamus McCree series. Full of mystery and suspense, these thrillers explore financial crimes, family relationships, and what happens when they mix. To learn more information about Jim and his books, check out his website, https://jamesmjackson.com. You can sign up for his newsletter (and get to read a free Seamus McCree short story).

September 16 is the release date for Niki Undercover.