There is a famous idea often called “the 10,000-hour rule.”
It suggests that reaching the highest professional level in any field requires roughly 10,000 hours of practice, study, and deliberate effort.
Some people hear that and feel inspired:
“If I put in enough time, maybe I can become great too.”
Others hear it and immediately give up:
“There’s no way I could ever do that.”
But what if extraordinary skills could simply be handed to you like a gift from heaven?
What if greatness required no struggle at all?
Shohei Ohtani has devoted his life almost entirely to baseball since seriously beginning the sport in the second grade. By now, he has unquestionably spent far more than 10,000 hours refining his craft, which is one reason he is regarded as one of the greatest baseball players in the world.
And yet, from Ohtani’s perspective, there are still countless things he cannot do well enough.
There are still pitches to master.
Still swings to refine.
Still techniques to uncover.
When asked about abilities he still wishes he had, Ohtani gave a deeply revealing answer:
“There are still so many things I want to become capable of in baseball, but when it comes to technical skills, I’d rather discover them myself than receive them as a gift.”
That mindset says everything about how Ohtani approaches greatness.
He does not simply want results.
He values the process of exploration itself.
Throughout his career, Ohtani has improved by thinking independently, experimenting constantly, and discovering answers through repetition and experience. To him, the joy of baseball is not only in succeeding, but also in searching.
If a “baseball god” simply handed him every answer, something important would disappear.
The challenge.
The curiosity.
The satisfaction of discovery.
For Ohtani, growth only has meaning when it is earned.
And perhaps that is one reason his ceiling still feels limitless.
Source
This quote comes from a Japanese source published in Japan and is not currently available in English.
Number 1111 p.23