Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Personalities of US regions

This article offers interesting theory that humans can be sorted by 5 attributes: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience. And that these attributes naturally cluster by different US regions.

"Greater Chicago is a center for extroverts and also a leading center for sales professionals. The Midwest, long a center for the manufacturing industry, has a prevalence of conscientious types who work well in a structured, rule-driven environment. The South, and particularly the I-75 corridor, where so much Japanese and German car manufacturing is located, is dominated by agreeable and conscientious types who are both dutiful and work well in teams.
The Northeast corridor, including Greater Boston, as well as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Austin, are home to concentrations of open-to-experience types who are drawn to creative endeavor, innovation, and entrepreneurial start-up companies."

See more at: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/05/04/where_do_all_the_neurotics_live/

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

It takes 10,000 hours to be a master

I read recently that it takes 10,000 hours to master anything. Piano, acting, sports, whatever, you have to train you mind and muscle memory to perfection.

This sounds daunting, but it equates to about 10 years of dedication at about 3 hours per day and it matches well with the "mentorship" model throughout history of taking 12 years olds and dedicating them to the skilled profession of the times for about a decade.

It also sparks an interesting question -- what are you a master at (e.g. have spent 10,000 hours on)?!