Something struck me the other day as I watched a young Japanese girl pound away at the multi-colored keys of an arcade machine blaring loud techno music. On screen little colored blocks floated down to the beat in a steady stream, the goal being to push the right button at the exact moment it reached a certain point. The reward for banging at just the right second was encouraging phrases like, ‘Fantastic’ ‘Great’ ‘Marvelous’ and ludicrous amounts of points. I’m sure you’ve seen rhythm games like that on TV specials or in commercials, you know, DDR, Guitar Heroes, Rock Band. Now what the heck did I get from all this?
Well, I picked up many things but for today I’ll stick to one.
Imagine all the time it took, starting from those slow songs with one colored block every few seconds, the wait between each push of the button achingly long. Little by little getting faster, trying new and harder songs where things came faster and faster. Coins quickly slipping into the gaping slot labeled 100yen without a thought in the quest to get better. Hours upon hours of time invested in one song just to get the glorified ‘Perfect!’ The mind focused intently on a single goal almost to the exclusion of all else.
About now I’m hoping that you’ve all caught the metaphor I’m trying to pitch (with a Japanese twist). The point is not the video game but learning a skill (because we all know that pushing colored buttons for a living isn’t realistic). The time, money, effort, and focus that was necessary for them to achieve the level where everyone stood back and went, ‘wow!’
I don’t know about you but I would rather not stand day after day in a loud arcade putting coin after coin into a machine practicing the same song until the magical moment where it says ‘Perfect. A lot of people think that way and you know what, we are all idiots.
That is exactly what we have to do if we want to be good at anything. Learning takes time, money, effort and focus and those pounding flashing keys to funky techno beats know that well. You leave out one of those you’re sunk, no if ands or buts, and there are no shortcuts (sorry Neo, the Matrix is not the real world). Scientists have been throwing around a number around 10,000 hours before you have ‘mastered’ a skill, just to give you an idea.
Watching that young girl bopping happily to the music eyes focused intently on the screen with hands hovering tentatively over the buttons really drove that home for me. I used to make fun of those people but now I respect them, though not for their ‘mad skillz.’
So, if you wander into an arcade and happen to see me frantically smacking buttons to a crazy techno beat, remember it is because I’m practicing my learning skill.
