Read this book

The legendary 8th Dan Jacques Payet is one of the greatest foreign practitioners of aikido and one of the last to have lived and trained as a traditional uchideshi- a disciple-like student who lives in the dojo and gets a very much more rounded learning experience than simply doing classes. He went to Japan in 1980 in the first instance, when he was training under the founder of Yoshinkan Aikido, Gozo Shioda, and left in 1985. These five intense years studying a Japanese martial art, form his book UCHIDESHI. It is written by someone at the top of their game, and is of interest to anyone who wants to make progress in any art. As well as providing a fascinating look at a lost side of Japan it also provides great insight into the elarning process and how one actually achieves mastery. Payet Sensei did his 10,000 hours as an Uchideshi- but it is the manner of the training that counts in determining just much you progress rather than simply repeating errors. He identifies many helpful states of mind that allow openess and transparency when it comes to learning, something Western models of learning - which tend to be over systematised - miss. As I said, this book should be read by anyone who wants to make progress in some form art- be it martial or otherwise - you can obtain it here:

http://www.shindokanbooks.com/uchideshi.shtml