One of those pronouncements that are widely accepted despite a murky link to facts or origin concerns proficiency. “They” say it takes repeating a task 1,000 times before you become an expert. I guess I can understand why they might take this position. Clearly, repetition fixes memory. But I’m trying to think of things I’ve repeated that many times, and it’s a short list.

Recently I heard a master sushi chef interviewed about his apprenticeship program in Japan. An aspiring chef must study with him for a minimum of 10 years. The apprentice must not marry, must live at the school, and must work for free during his apprenticeship. The jaded New Yorker in me thinks that this master chef has developed a great source of cheap and extremely dedicated labor. Others will look at this model and point to it with Zen-like certainty that this is how excellence must be cultivated.

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