Last night I broke my own record for how quickly I could read one volume of manga in Japanese (the delightful とつくにの少女), finishing in about an hour. As exciting as this was, it quickly dawned on me that I was only able to reach this level (and of course, I have much further to go) due to dedicated daily study for almost four years. One hour of reading is propped up by thousands of hours of practice.

How did the Beatles manage to find such immediate success when they burst onto the scene in 1962?
By toiling for years ahead of time without ever being noticed.

How many strokes does it take to fell a tree?
One. But also a hundred.