On my other blog, at www.graceforlaw.com, I wrote today about the 10,000 Hour Rule. The Rule is based on the idea that we can only be really good at something if we have invested 10,000 hours in it. The principle is certainly true, we get better at what we are focused on. We become better teachers, preachers, lawyers, accountants, plumbers, machinists, parents, etc., by simply doing the job over and over.
So, how are you doing on being an Excellent Wife?
If the 10,000 Hour Rule has any value, then you need to think about whether being an Excellent Wife is really what you are spending time on. If your husband heads off to work, and you stay at home, what do you do when he is gone? Do you start to work on your home and children, or hit the computer? Are you planning dinner, or do you wait until he gets home and then "talk about" what to have for dinner? Are you working on being an Excellent Wife today?
For all that we learn from the 10,000 Rule, the real problem is that we don't want to work on ourselves in regard to relationships. We have been sold the idea that marriage is "natural" and that our relationship to our spouse has value because "we don't have to work on it." We enter marriage the same way a lot of people try to play golf. We don't take lessons. We don't practice. We don't work on it. We just show up and play.
Being married is not a hobby, it is your life. Being an Excellent Wife is not your second choice, it is your duty. You need to be investing a lot of time in being an Excellent Wife. You need to think about it, work on it, and keep working on it. You need to prepare meals and plan meals, not just cook meals.
Have you ever looked at what a professional athlete does? When I was young, I read that Pete Rose (the baseball player) spent an hour every day of the off-season hitting in a personal batting cage. This seemed crazy, but he was a great hitter. We have all read or heard of basketball players shooting 500 free throws every day or golfers playing 8 hours every day. We think this sounds crazy, but they are the ones who get to be great.
What are you doing? Are you doing anything that prepares you for being a wife the way free throws and batting cages and driving ranges prepare athletes?
Today is the day to begin, if you have not already begun. The 10,000 Hour Rule tells us that we need to work in order to improve, so let's get going.
So, how are you doing on being an Excellent Wife?
If the 10,000 Hour Rule has any value, then you need to think about whether being an Excellent Wife is really what you are spending time on. If your husband heads off to work, and you stay at home, what do you do when he is gone? Do you start to work on your home and children, or hit the computer? Are you planning dinner, or do you wait until he gets home and then "talk about" what to have for dinner? Are you working on being an Excellent Wife today?
For all that we learn from the 10,000 Rule, the real problem is that we don't want to work on ourselves in regard to relationships. We have been sold the idea that marriage is "natural" and that our relationship to our spouse has value because "we don't have to work on it." We enter marriage the same way a lot of people try to play golf. We don't take lessons. We don't practice. We don't work on it. We just show up and play.
Being married is not a hobby, it is your life. Being an Excellent Wife is not your second choice, it is your duty. You need to be investing a lot of time in being an Excellent Wife. You need to think about it, work on it, and keep working on it. You need to prepare meals and plan meals, not just cook meals.
Have you ever looked at what a professional athlete does? When I was young, I read that Pete Rose (the baseball player) spent an hour every day of the off-season hitting in a personal batting cage. This seemed crazy, but he was a great hitter. We have all read or heard of basketball players shooting 500 free throws every day or golfers playing 8 hours every day. We think this sounds crazy, but they are the ones who get to be great.
What are you doing? Are you doing anything that prepares you for being a wife the way free throws and batting cages and driving ranges prepare athletes?
Today is the day to begin, if you have not already begun. The 10,000 Hour Rule tells us that we need to work in order to improve, so let's get going.
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