A friend passed along a piece by Jim Citrin on Geoff Colvin’s book Talent is Overrated. His key point, and it’s been made by others, is that people who achieve at super high levels don’t get there on talent. Some have freakish talent–Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are usually put into that category. But most if not all high performers get there through practice, something that’s absolutely true of Jordan and Woods.
A couple of snips . . .
Contrary to popular belief, what makes certain people great is not inborn talent. Rather, it is something called “deliberate practice,” a sustained, often life-long, period of purposeful effort designed to improve performance in a specific domain. This turns out to be just as true in business as it is in sports, music, medicine, chess, science, and mathematics.
Deliberate practice is characterized by several elements: It is an activity designed specifically to improve performance, often with a teacher’s help; it can be repeated a lot; feedback on results is continuously available; and it’s highly demanding mentally. It is far different than the general notion of “practice makes perfect.” Instead of repeating a task over and over again in your comfort zone, deliberate practice requires that you identify certain sharply defined elements of performance that need to be advanced and then work intently on them.
Once a highly specific capability is improved, whether it’s mastering a passage from a demanding music composition, delivering an investment recommendation in a staff meeting, or answering a key question in a job interview, then it’s on to the next step. Top performers get the help of coaches or mentors to select and design the best practice activity, repeat them to a stultifying degree, adjust their techniques based on objective feedback, and concentrate so intensely on their efforts that it strains their mental abilities.
And from Colvin himself . . .
In my interview with Colvin, he said “The heart of the matter is that this is demanding stuff. To excel, you have to pursue these activities at length and with intensity.” He added that it’s difficult to sustain the effort in something if you’re continually doing a cost-benefit analysis. “You need to look deeply into yourself and select something you will find rewarding for its own sake to which to devote yourself.” Of course, it’s relatively straightforward to do this if you have a deep passion for an activity; but how do you discover it when it’s not obvious? “You may not have the passion a priori,” Colvin said, “but as you pursue an endeavor with focus it will often develop.”
Colvin is hardly the first to write on this topic. One of my favorites, and I think it has probably reached classic status, is George Leonard’s lovely and little book called Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment.
His five keys to mastery . . .
1. Surrender to Passion
2. Practice, Practice, Practice
3. Get a Guide
4. Visualize the Outcome
5. Play the Edge
I remember reading the book the first time (yes, I’ve read it more than once) and being struck by his thoughts on practice. I’m not quoting here, but the gist of it was that you have to learn to love practice, because you’re going to spend most of your pursuit of excellence on what he calls “the plateau.” That’s where you keep working and working and working at something without any obvious progress or improvement, and then all of a sudden, you’re at a new level. Except it really wasn’t all of a sudden. So in his mind, what separates out the high performers from all the rest is that they can live with, and ultimately transmute, the frustration and pain that goes along with the plateau.
Good to think about.
Tags: GeoffColvin, Talent is Overrated, George Leonard, Practice, The Plateau, Decision Making
