“ talent ” is overrated: deliberate practice and the road to excellence
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“ Talent ” Is Overrated: Deliberate Practice and the Road to Excellence. The Mystery. What makes an elite athlete so great? Or a musician? Or a chess player? Natural talent? Genes? Hard work? Years of experience? Opportunities - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
“Talent” Is Overrated: Deliberate
Practice and the Road to
Excellence
The Mystery
What makes an elite athlete so great? Or a musician? Or a chess player?– Natural talent? Genes?– Hard work?– Years of experience?– Opportunities
Good news? Excellent performance is in our hands far more than most of us ever expected.
Classic article in the field
The biggest enemy of talent isn’t genes, or opportunity, or luck.
It’s poor practice.
Because poor practice wastes time, creates bad habits, and, worst of all, gives us the deceptive feeling we’ve accomplished something when, in fact, we haven’t.
-- Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code
Star performers and what they have in common
Tiger Woods– His father gave Tiger a putter when he was
seven months old.– Before he was two he and his father were on a
course practicing regularly.– Both father and son attribute Tiger’s success
not to talent but to “hard work.”
Star performers and what they have in common
1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
Star performers and what they have in common
“Many people say I'm the best women's soccer player in the world. I don't think so. And because of that, someday I just might be.”
Star performers and what they have in common
Owns virtually every significant receiving mark including receptions (1,549); receiving yards (22,895); most 1,000-yard receiving seasons (14) … st 1,000-yard receiving seasons (14) … Had record 208 total touchdowns; 23,546 combined net yards … Super Bowl XXIII MVP… Named first-team All-Pro 11 consecutive seasons … 13 Pro Bowls …
Research
In past 30 years, scientists have looked into top-level performance in a wide variety of fields. Summary of Findings:– Natural talent doesn’t explain top-level
performance – In fields such as chess, music, and sports,
there is a pattern of elite performance related to practice (in both years and in type of practice)
– Deliberate practice is the key.
Deliberate Practice
Design practice to work on specific skills.– Work to correct specific weaknesses.
Practice is cumulative.– Over the years it adds up.– And if you’re behind, it’s hard to catch up.– Ten years or 10,000 hours.
Elements of Deliberate Practice
Activity specifically designed to improve performance, often with a coach’s help.
Activity that can be repeated a lot – over and over and over again.
Careful monitoring of results. Rellentless focus on weaknesses: highly
demanding mentally.
Chess as sport
Examples of Deliberate Practicef.c. Barcelona Tiki-taka drills
Deliberate Practice and the Brain
Deliberate practice causes changes to the biochemical structure of the brain:– Increases myelin– Habits change from prefrontal cortex (where
we consciously think) to the basal ganglia– http://thetalentcode.com/myelin/
Deliberate Practice
Deliberate practice is difficult.– The chief constraint is mental.– The required concentration is so intense that it’s
exhausting. Why do some people have the passion to do
it?– To put themselves through it day after day, year
after year? But they do it, and as a result, performance
in all fields has improved dramatically in recent decades.
Deliberate Practice
Identify certain sharply defined elements of performance that need to be improved.
High repetition is the most important difference between regular practice and deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is an effort of focused concentration and is mentally draining.
It’s sometimes not fun because we do things we’re not good at so we can correct mistakes.
Applying the Principles
Know where you want to go (goal-setting). Practice, practice (deliberate practice):
– Lots of repetitions– Lots of feedback– Lots of focus and concentration– Continually evaluate and seek out next
weakness