At the same time, I often find it dispiriting to hear "it takes x amount of time", be that 10 years, 10,000 hours or a lifetime.
While I understand that it is important to have these metrics precisely to dispel the idea that anyone can learn c++ in any meaningful way in 24h, at the same time I find it harder to start something when I am constantly reminded of the fact that nothing I produce will be worth anything compared to those with a giant head start (yes, yes, never compare yourself to others, just to yourself from x time ago).
The 10 year thing means I can meaningfully learn, what, 70 thing in life if I am not spending the vast majority of my time at a full time job? So, that makes it 3-4 things?
How depressing.
Admittedly, I feel I have almost never studied deliberately. I happen to have learned about 3 things to reasonable expertise in my 30 ish years. All three just happened. It was effortless to learn, as it was interesting to learn.
I simply cannot imagine what it would mean to have to dedicate 10 years or 10,000 hours of practice to something I am not interested in. In my own experience I would go so far as to say that I either love something enough to want to do it 8h a day, or not at all.
I wonder if I'll ever find a 4th thing, later in life. I really want to learn more things, but the rule of x hours is discouraging to think about when I have 30 something years less left on this planet than when I started.