
The Helsinki Bus Station Theory (2006) - sturza
http://www.fotocommunity.com/info/Helsinki_Bus_Station_Theory
======
burlesona
TLDR; For a professional craft, the first few years down any path are well-
trod by many other people, and you'll have a hard time separating yourself
from the rest of the pack. Rather than be discouraged, abandon that expertise,
and try to find a new path, "stay on the bus." As time goes on you'll find
your path has fanned out from all the others and become quite distinct. In
other words, your expertise will become clear and visible but only if you
stick with it for a long time.

This seems like a different spin on the "ten thousand hours" idea, or any
number of other aphorisms that encourage individual professionals to stick
with the grind for the long haul in order to reap the rewards which come only
after a long time invested in a particular field.

~~~
beering
The 10k hours idea, to me, feels like it's more about the distribution of
competitors' skills. By the time you reach 10k hours, you're way on the right-
hand side of the bell curve and there are very few more-experienced
competitors.

I'm guessing that staying on the bus line doesn't hold up for directly
competitive things like sports, where fanning out from the field doesn't
matter if it doesn't increase your win rate.

------
dang
A thread from 2017:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14728495](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14728495)

2015:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10764682](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10764682)

(Links for the curious. Reposts are ok after a year:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html))

------
pachico
How come a website so obviously devoted to visual perception doesn't have a
mobile version of it? :(

