Thanks for all the great comments.
Mike, I would say that the theory of 10,000 hours has a lot of merit. I consider myself far from being a master when I compare my work to many others, such as Malcolm Tibbetts, Ray Allen, etc. But hours of practice does improve anyone's skill level. I usually average 40-50 hours a week in my shop so that calculates out to 20,000-25,000 hours during the past 10 years. I can see a vast improvement in my work from my first 19 piece turning to some with as many as 6000+ pieces. Time required to complete a project has been greatly reduced. I would guess by as much as 50%, if I was to do the same turning today that I did years ago.
If I keep practicing long enough I may get it right someday. Lol.