Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

I inhaled this book. The informal plan was to read it over a few short weeks. Instead I plowed through it in maybe three days. For those teetering on the edge of greatness -- or thinking about really going for the gusto, in whatever field or endeavor that has captured their spirit -- this book is an invitation to walk among the gods. For those who have soured on their dreams and bitterly written them off, however, this book will be painful. It might even read like a damning indictment, and thus incite a hostile emotional response. And finally, this book also has the potential to be terrifying. For those who feel the pull of greatness but also wrestle with a deep-seated fear of failure, the starkness of the choice will be revealed to them in these pages. Why? Because Colvin's deeper message, beyond the powerful insights into "Deliberate Practice" and what it can do, is that there is no excuse. Whatever it is you like (or love) to do, the fact that you don't hate it means you probably have the basic tools -- and so there's no reason you can't get better, maybe a lot better. And so, at the end of the day, there is simply no real excuse for not being great. Only the classic Bartleby the Scrivener response: "I prefer not to." Greatness requires dedication and sacrifice, period. Being good at something requires a fair amount... being great requires a huge amount. If you truly desire greatness -- or simply to be great at what you do -- then much sacrifice is required. But I fudge slightly. The book does leave room for one excuse of sorts, but not a very satisfying one. In some cases of highly competitive endeavor, wunderkinds (like Mozart and Tiger Woods) have built up a nearly insurmountable "time in the saddle" advantage via taking up the hard work of Deliberate Practice (which I shall from here on out refer to as DP) at an astonishingly young age. Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps has analogized his hard training to putting credits in the bank. DP is like a disciplined investing program -- the longer you do it, the more compounding you see, and it takes many years up front to get to a point of real momentum. This makes it all but impossible in certain prodigy-dominated arenas to come to the game late and try to catch someone who has been continuously working their butt off from, say, age twelve. (Or in Tiger and Mozart's case, age three.) My personal experience with DP -- which I practice in the world of trading and investing -- is that it's a lot like running. The brain is like a muscle, or rather a group of muscles, that has to be built up, like legs and heart and lungs for the runner, if a rigorous DP program is to be sustained. This is another reason why getting into DP is so hard for the average individual. People don't intuitively grasp the concept that the brain is like a muscle... that you have to strengthen your cognitive control and tighten up your executive functions before you can become a powerhouse. Nobody starts out

Last fall my friend Ron gave me a copy of Geoff Colvin's Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else, which is far and away my favorite business book of the past year. (And, yes, I read more than one.) Why do some hardworking people remain in a job for many years without increasing the quality of their work? Why do they fail to make the transition from average to outstanding performers? Too quickly we assume that the difference lies in innate abilities, those natural talents and gifts bestowed upon us at birth. Not so, argues the author. What distinguishes top producers from others is hard work, and not just any kind of work, but work that has at its foundation the specific concept of "deliberate practice." What is deliberate practice? Deliberate practice is characterized by five basic elements: (1) it is designed specifically to improve performance, (2) if can be repeated a lot, (3) feedback is continuously available, (4) it is highly demanding mentally, and (5) it isn't much fun. (66-78) You've heard the saying, "Practice makes perfect." No, it doesn't. Only perfect practice makes perfect. If I go to a batting cage daily and flail away at hundreds of pitched balls, month after month, I will probably show modest improvement in my hitting. But my untutored approach won't be disciplined or consistent, and the progress of my improvement will soon level off. In fact, the more I hit the more I will reinforce bad habits. Without an instructor's help and feedback, I'll waste a whole lot of time. Hours of hard work with little benefit. What's more frustrating than to work hard but produce little? What I need is deliberate practice, which requires a teacher who gives me not only instruction but also immediate feedback. Marked improvement will follow as he instructs me in the mechanics of hitting, and then watches me practice, reinforcing what's right about my batting stroke, correcting what's wrong, and working with me over many months, even years. Hitting will never become automatic, because as I reach each new level of proficiency in striking the ball, additional areas of improvement will become clear to my instructor, first, and, and then to me. Obviously, deliberate practice takes time. After evaluating top performers in a variety of fields, Colvin concludes, "not one, not even the most `talented' performers, became great without at least ten years of very hard preparation." (61-62) Others have called this the "Ten Thousand Hour Rule" - approximately 10,000 hours of deliberate practice is required to become first-rate in any profession. Deliberate practice requires such sustained concentration that four or five hours a day is about the upper limit. (71) To put this in perspective, to reach 10,000 hours of deliberate practice requires a commitment of four hours a day, five days a week, for ten years. It's easy to see why so few make the transition from average to great. Also clear is the threat of constan

Good news...Geoff Colvin provides evidence that great performance is not reserved for a pre-ordained few. Bad news...It is available to you and everyone...if you are willing to pay the price. "What do you really believe? Do you believe you have a choice in the matter? Do you believe if you do the work, properly designed with intense focus for hours a day and years on end, your performance will grow dramatically better and eventually reach the highest levels?" One of the fundamental questions to ask yourself is: What do I really, deeply want? This question is crucial, because deliberate practice requires a substantial investment. Colvin suggests that deliberate practice contains the following components: It is designed specifically to improve performance It can be repeated a lot Feedback on results is continuously available It is highly demanding mentally It isn't much fun Everyone who has achieved exceptional performance has faced tremendous challenges...there are no exceptions. Top performers make knowledge a direct objective and set goals to be an expert in their chosen field. Colvin suggest that the 10 year rule...10 years of consistent, deliberate effort... is required to be outstanding in your field. The book provides a snapshot of the preparation time for: Jerry Rice, Tiger Woods, Mozart, world-class violinists and chess players to give you a sense for the commitment of these performers. Clearly, the time they invest is extraordinary and not for the faint of heart. Perhaps, it is easy for us to dismiss their greatness with genetic predisposition, yet their effort transcends that notion. Their investment of time and effort allows them to develop deep domain knowledge in their fields which allows them to make finer distinctions. Their knowledge becomes integrated and connected to higher level principles, thus they know more from seeing less. Now we have some additional evidence for what it takes to perform at the higher levels, so now we cannot easily excuse our life away...we just have to make a decision to claim our destiny! As you accept that Talent is Overrated...the questions for you are: What beliefs have guided your life to the present moment? Is this what you want to achieve? What beliefs do you need to perform at your desired level? What do you really, really, really want? When will you commit to taking action now?

I have always held that talent is a multiplier of work rather than the decisive factor in accomplishment and success. By this I mean that someone whose has a high level of talent, say a 10, and an average level of work, a 5, is going to accomplish at a level of 50. While a person of a level 7 talent who works very hard, a level 10, will outperform them at a level of 70. I have seen this borne out again and again in my life. Geoff Colvin says that it isn't talent or hard work that are the deciding factors in achieving great performance, but a specific kind of focus when developing and practicing your skills. He calls it deliberate practice. Highly successful people not only practice a lot and work very hard at it, but they also have the ability to focus on what it is that must be practiced and how to work at it. And they can do this even though it is not particularly enjoyable and can, in fact, be painful. Colvin argues that what we often point to as talent, say, for playing a musical instrument or any specific skill really doesn't exist. When high performers are examined there is little consistent evidence that being a prodigy is a strong predictor of later success. Even Mozart and Tiger Woods, were less about a Divine Spark and more about who their father's were, the focused training they received, and the immense amount of deliberate practice they put in. The author shows us how Jerry Rice worked six days per week during the off season to develop his abilities. Rice identified areas that mattered to his success and developed them systematically. He worked on developing his cardiovascular strength in the mornings, weight training in the afternoons, and those who joined him to see what is was like ended up feeling sick. These people tried to jump into a practice regimen that Rice had built up over years. No wonder they couldn't keep up! Deliberate practice requires building up abilities through repetition after repetition after repetition regardless of how you feel about doing it at any given time. This repetition provides you with a level of familiarity and insight that others will not possess. While it may appear to be talent or luck, it is really based on becoming so familiar with the tasks involved and knowing at every moment what is going on. The book also takes you through how to apply it to your own life and in your business. The multiplier idea I have long held is discussed on page 198 in very similar terms to my own. I also agree with him when he says, "What you really believe about the source of great performance thus becomes the foundation for all you will ever achieve." Colvin is honest that great achievement has a high price, a price most people are not willing to pay. However, even if you aren't aiming at greatness, you can still use these ideas to improve and accomplish more. I think this is right. However, can I note that I think that insight to know what the right practice is and the capacity for

Colvin set out to answer this question: "What does great performance require?" In this volume, he shares several insights generated by hundreds of research studies whose major conclusions offer what seem to be several counterintuitive perspectives on what is frequently referred to as "talent." (See Pages 6-7.) In this context, I am reminded of Thomas Edison's observation that "vision without execution is hallucination." If Colvin were asked to paraphrase that to indicate his own purposes in this book, my guess (only a guess) is that his response would be, "Talent without deliberate practice is latent" and agrees with Darrell Royal that "potential" means "you ain't done it yet." In other words, there would be no great performances in any field (e.g. business, theatre, dance, symphonic music, athletics, science, mathematics, entertainment, exploration) without those who have, through deliberate practice developed the requisite abilities. It occurs to me that, however different they may be in almost all other respects, athletes such as Cynthia Cooper, Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Lorena Ochoa, Candace Parker, Michael Phelps, Vijay Singh, and Tiger Woods "make it look so easy" in competition because their preparation is so focused, rigorous, and thorough. Obviously, they do not win every game, match, tournament, etc. Colvin's point (and I agree) is that all great performers "make it look so easy" because of their commitment to deliberate practice, often for several years before their first victory. In fact, Colvin cites a "ten-year rule" widely endorsed in chess circles (attributed to Herbert Simon and William Chase) that "no one seemed to reach the top ranks of chess players without a decade or so of intensive study, and some required much more time." The same could also be said of "overnight sensations" who struggled for years to prepare for their "big break" on Broadway or in Hollywood. Colvin duly acknowledges that deliberate practice "is a large concept, and to say that it explains everything would be simplistic and reductive." Colvin goes on to say, "Critical questions immediately present themselves: What exactly needs to be practiced? Precisely how? Which specific skills or other assets must be acquired? The research has revealed answers that generalize quite well across a wide range of fields." Even after committing all of my time and attention to several years of deliberate practice, under the direct supervision of the best instructor (e.g. Hank Haney, Butch Harman, or David Leadbetter) I probably could not reduce my handicap to zero but I could lower it under those conditions. Colvin's insights offer a reassurance that almost anyone's performance can be improved, sometimes substantially, even if it isn't world-class. Talent is overrated if it is perceived to be the most important factor. It isn't. In fact, talent does not exist unless and until it is developed...and the only way to develop it is (you guessed it