One way to tell whether someone has truly trained to a high level is by looking at how they use the fragments of time in daily life.
Human attention is limited. In my experience, during self-practice, the most effective span of deep focus is about two to three minutes. That’s already elite. By the fourth or fifth minute, it becomes hard to stay fully attentive to the quality and details of your movements—you are mostly training willpower by then.
So, if you say you “train for two hours a day,” the actual effective practice time, after subtracting all the mental drift and repetitions done without focus, might be less than thirty minutes to an hour.
The true experts are those who are always practicing. They carry a constant, strong body awareness—knowing at any moment where their center of gravity lies, whether a posture is structurally sound, or how their body is aligned. That’s why the really skilled ones can’t tell you exactly “how many hours” they practice each day. Walking, they practice a little. Sitting and watching TV, they practice a little. They are always chipping away, and over time, those small pieces add up to astonishing results.
It’s like wealth: truly wealthy people often can’t tell you exactly how much they “earn per month.” If someone can give you a precise monthly income, that usually means they’re a salaried employee. Real wealth doesn’t fit neatly into that box.
So, don’t get stuck on the idea that you “must train two hours a day” or “must train ten hours a week.” The important thing is to keep practicing whenever you can. Every time you remember, practice a little. Every fragment accumulates. That consistency will take you further than waiting for the perfect two-hour block of free time that never comes.
This is how I look at training time.
