A common thread shared among human endeavors.

I mean, if you can get to the top level without much talent and effort, you'll have many people to share the top with.

For what it's worth, in her book Haylee estimates that between the age of 5 and 16 (when she passed the pro exam) she put 21,000 hours into her go studies.

Average: 5.2 hrs/day, 7 days/week, 365.25 days/yr for 11 years.

Now 5+ hrs/day is pretty intense for a 5-yo ( in addition to regular school ).
So let's say 8 hrs/day just for the final 6 years ( no more regular school ; full time insei ). Then it's just under 2 hrs/day (7 days/week) from age 5 to 10, which is more reasonable.

Well, should be similar numbers for other pros ( tennis, golf, piano, ballet, etc. )

Whatever happened to the 10,000-hr experiment person for golf pro ?

Thanks for the breakdown! Yes you're right, if I remember correctly she spent more time on go during the last few years than at the beginning. I'll have to find back my copy to be more precise.

Even if comparisons are always hard, it should give OP an idea of the amount of work he'll have to put in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_McLaughlin_(golfer)

He got his handicap down to 5 and stalled there, then had some back issues and seems to have stopped. I don't play golf but it seems like he got to the equivalent of low dan level (quite high percentile among amateurs but in no danger of winning an open amateur tournament).

I also recall someone who was going to try to become world-class in table tennis in a year starting from scratch. It looks like he had similar results.

Dan, Thanks. So, to make pro level means to drop the handicap from 5 to zero.
Sounds remarkably similar to dropping from 5-stones to even.

She goes over it here, I believe; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXc9gFZHo5g

_________________
On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.

By the current rules of the Nihon Ki-in, foreign insei applicants must be at most 25 years of age at the time of application.

Foreign insei, once they have started as insei, can continue until they are 30 years of age (based on hearsay; I found no official document supporting this).

The biggest hurdle for prospective insei is in securing funds for the time of their studies. The visa that the Nihon Ki-in prepares for insei does not permit working in Japan. The monthly insei tuition fee is about 160 euro.

The required playing strength depends on the applicant's age, and each case is judged separately. A relatively younger applicant, say 16 years old, might get in if they are around 2–3 dan EGF. An applicant nearing the age limit of 25 years, on the other hand, has to be relatively close to pro level (around 6–7 dan EGF).

Source: https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/english/insei.htm

'In terms of becoming a pro, you could say go is easy: all you have to do is stare at an empty board until drops of blood begin to form on your forehead.'

—That group in atari you let die because a nine-dan was nonchalantly attacking your dragon in the centre via telekinesis.

_________________
On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.