I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and am quite stimulated by how the author has substantiated the "10,000-hour rule" as being the key to achieving world-class expertise in a given skill; being "The Best At It" as Maulik Pancholy would put it. An early start and continued efforts pave the way for one to reach the pinnacle of success in their field, provided other factors are also favorable.
Source: Internet
In Outliers, Gladwell shows that there are several variables involved in an individual's success and that success does not depend solely on their "smarts, ambition, hustle and hard work".
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Incidentally, the next book I picked up was A Challenge for the Actor by Uta Hagen. It was a nice sunny day in San Francisco; ideal for a brisk walk (I walk really fast) to the Public Library to trade the books and back to my apartment in the "Design District". Why the quotation marks you wonder? Because SF is a precious little city where precious people with their precious foods and clothes live. Anyway, back to the topic of discussion. In her book Uta mentions that art and creativity were the religion in the house she grew up in. After seeing a performance of Elizabeth Bergner's Saint Joan at the age of nine, she became determined to be an actress and started reading as many
actor's biographies as she could. Soon after, her mother taught her singing and steered her to the fine dance department. As a young teen, frequently traveling to and living in Europe (Scandinavia, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, France, England) gave her the opportunity to partake in different cultures, have vivid imaginations and role play. At 18, she was caste as Ophelia in Eva La Gallienne's production of Hamlet. At 19, the role of Nina in The Sea Gull launched her Broadway career. The rest is history. Just like Bill Gates, the Beatles, Joseph Flom, J. Robert Oppenheimer, it is not illogical to consider Uta yet another proof of Gladwell's 10,000-hour rule. This concept applies very well to Uta's context. Her Welsh-German father, the son of a violinist, had been an actor in his teens, a composer and a musicologist in his twenties, and later became a professor of art history. Oh well!
Since most of you don’t know me, you have no idea that I am a huge fan of Mindy Kaling’s. Huge enough to have visited the Dartmouth campus to visualize how life must have been for a brown girl in oh so White New Hampshire. Things I have done over and over again include (but are not limited to): watching the commencement speech that Ms. Kaling gave to the graduating class of 2013; reading both her books; crying when reading the chapter on BJ Novak and her scary flight in ominous weather to see her mother and how beautifully she incorporated that in The Mindy Project; watching and re-watching her interviews where she talks about the hardships she had to go through to build her career because there wasn’t anyone on TV and in the industry who looked like her, etc., etc. (said just as Morgan Tookers would say!). The reason I admire her so much is because her creating her own production company is a hope to so many people like her and me.
Ms. Kaling would find it comical that unknowingly, I started reading Uta's A Challenge for the Actor on the eve of the 2020 Academy Awards. Why, you wonder? Because the only thing I have ever extremely strongly desired, besides being in long-term fulfilling relationship, is to be a working actor.
Okay, an award winning actor.
Okay, maybe an Emmy or an Academy Award winning actor. Sure.
Source: Mindy Kaling's Twitter
Source: Internet
Have I spent 10,000 hours perfecting my acting skills?
Have I taken any classes?
Am I born in a family of performing artists?
Am I Priyanka Chopra's cousin?
The answer is No.
Is it time to reveal some background information? I think it is. And, since I am desperately trying to be America's next rags-to-riches story, a slight bit of pity-party is acceptable. So, bear with me.
Since graduating high school in 2008, I have constantly been on the run: from one city to another, from one job to another, from one country to another, trying to find who I am and what I am worth. For details, email/DM me or ask any young queer person (of color) who grew up in a middle-middle class family in a small town anywhere in the world, with no one to confide in or look up to for guidance. The stress gets compounded when the familial or societal pressure gives you only two career choices - becoming an engineer or a doctor. For me it was becoming an engineer because it didn't burn as big a hole in my parents' pockets as becoming a doctor would have. Having lived with anxiety for almost all my life, whenever I decided to take a step back and think about my actions and intent, about what I really wanted to be, I saw myself as being an actor. I visualized a time in the future, where I would have created my own show and would be telling my story just like Mindy Kaling has done. I realized that I have in me the willingness to reach a stage in life where I am able to create a platform to help others. To uplift people who are waiting for someone to take a chance on them.
I did act whenever I got a chance, in between finding myself and searching for a place that felt like home. I performed in community theater production and school plays (as a 6th grader), in a professional international production (while working full-time in India), University theater productions (in graduate school), and an independent short film (the summer of 2017 in North Carolina when I had nothing else to do and nowhere else to be). I bet none of this remotely adds to even 500 hours of skill development. I, for sure am, eagerly waiting to pounce on the next acting opportunity.
Talent and hard work shine, no matter what.
All privileged people - White, Black, Brown, Yellow - no matter the color of their skin are examples. I call them privileged because they had the means, the guidance, the right timing, among other factors to be able to dedicate 10,000 hours to honing their skills. According to Dr. Angela Duckworth, grit is one of the qualities that lead to outstanding achievement. She also substantiates the importance of developing grit in adolescents.
I spent a lot of my time growing up in solitude and then in running away, missing on the opportunity to develop my interest/passion for acting into a talent. The question I ask myself today is that if I start a clock now to count 10,000 hours of perfecting my acting/performing skills, will 2035 be my year to shine? i.e., if I live that long. Yes, depression has been sucking positive energy from my life like a parasite (which Mr. Trump hates BTW) since high school, just like it has for so many other people. At almost 30, my brain isn't as sharp now. Though, I have read enough self-help books to understand what it means to be committed and to work hard. In Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life, Gary John Bishop very rightly mentions, "I am not my thoughts; I am what I do". This is me putting it out there (on the Internet), with the hope that someone is listening and that someone understands and will be willing to take a chance on me. in the mean time, I will continue to work hard on my skills and look for an opportunity to shine.
That's all for now folks. Go to bed!
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