SCIENCE OF SUCCESS PART I
...the singlemost important article for scientifically tying success with effort - not luck or talent. I have provided my cliff-notes below the link, or you can read the full-article from the link.
Why talent is overrated : The conventional wisdom about "natural" talent is a myth. The real path to great performance is a matter of choice.
So if specific, inborn talent doesn't explain high achievement, what does? Researchers have converged on an answer. It's something they call "deliberate practice," but watch out - it isn't what most of us think of as practice, nor does it boil down to a simplistic practice-makes-perfect explanation.
1) Deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance. The key word is "designed." Deliberate practice requires that one identify certain sharply defined elements of performance that need to be improved, and then work intently on them.
2) High repetition is the most important difference between deliberate practice of a task and performing the task for real, when it counts.
3) Feedback on results should be continuously available. [and encouraged, even when negative]
4) Deliberate practice is above all an effort of focus and concentration. Continually seeking exactly those elements of performance that are unsatisfactory and then trying one's hardest to make them better places enormous strains on anyone's mental abilities.
5) It's hard. If it seems a bit depressing that the most important thing you can do to improve performance is no fun, take consolation in this fact: It must be so. If the activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, then everyone would do them and no one could distinguish the best from the rest.
6) A well-established method for practicing in the work itself is self-regulation. To be most effective, it must be something you do before, during, and after the work activity itself. Self-regulation begins with setting goals, immediate goals for what you're going to be doing today. With a goal set, the next step is planning how to reach it. The best performers make the most specific, technique-oriented plans. They're thinking exactly, not vaguely, of how to get where they're going.
7) The most important self-regulatory skill that top performers in every field use during their work is self-observation. Even in purely mental work, the best performers observe themselves closely. They are able to monitor what is happening in their own minds and ask how it's going. Researchers call this metacognition - knowledge about your own knowledge, thinking about your own thinking. Metacognition is important because situations change as they play out. Apart from its role in finding opportunities for practice, it plays a valuable part in helping top performers adapt to changing conditions. An excellent businessperson can pause mentally and observe his own mental processes as if from outside.
8) Excellent performers judge themselves differently than most people do. They're more specific, just as they are when they set goals and strategies. The best performers judge themselves against a standard that's relevant for what they're trying to achieve. Excellent performers respond by adapting the way they act, while average performers respond by avoiding those situations in the future.
9) Motivation and Discipline come from two questions: What do you really want? And what do you really believe? What you want - really, deeply want - is fundamental because deliberate practice is an investment: The costs come now, the benefits later. The more you want something, the easier it will be for you to sustain the needed effort until the payoff starts to arrive. What do you really believe? Do you believe that you have a choice in this matter? Do you believe that if you do the work, and do it with intense focus for years on end, your performance will eventually reach the highest levels? If you believe that, then there's a chance you will do the work and achieve great performance.
Why talent is overrated : The conventional wisdom about "natural" talent is a myth. The real path to great performance is a matter of choice.
So if specific, inborn talent doesn't explain high achievement, what does? Researchers have converged on an answer. It's something they call "deliberate practice," but watch out - it isn't what most of us think of as practice, nor does it boil down to a simplistic practice-makes-perfect explanation.
1) Deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance. The key word is "designed." Deliberate practice requires that one identify certain sharply defined elements of performance that need to be improved, and then work intently on them.
2) High repetition is the most important difference between deliberate practice of a task and performing the task for real, when it counts.
3) Feedback on results should be continuously available. [and encouraged, even when negative]
4) Deliberate practice is above all an effort of focus and concentration. Continually seeking exactly those elements of performance that are unsatisfactory and then trying one's hardest to make them better places enormous strains on anyone's mental abilities.
5) It's hard. If it seems a bit depressing that the most important thing you can do to improve performance is no fun, take consolation in this fact: It must be so. If the activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, then everyone would do them and no one could distinguish the best from the rest.
6) A well-established method for practicing in the work itself is self-regulation. To be most effective, it must be something you do before, during, and after the work activity itself. Self-regulation begins with setting goals, immediate goals for what you're going to be doing today. With a goal set, the next step is planning how to reach it. The best performers make the most specific, technique-oriented plans. They're thinking exactly, not vaguely, of how to get where they're going.
7) The most important self-regulatory skill that top performers in every field use during their work is self-observation. Even in purely mental work, the best performers observe themselves closely. They are able to monitor what is happening in their own minds and ask how it's going. Researchers call this metacognition - knowledge about your own knowledge, thinking about your own thinking. Metacognition is important because situations change as they play out. Apart from its role in finding opportunities for practice, it plays a valuable part in helping top performers adapt to changing conditions. An excellent businessperson can pause mentally and observe his own mental processes as if from outside.
8) Excellent performers judge themselves differently than most people do. They're more specific, just as they are when they set goals and strategies. The best performers judge themselves against a standard that's relevant for what they're trying to achieve. Excellent performers respond by adapting the way they act, while average performers respond by avoiding those situations in the future.
9) Motivation and Discipline come from two questions: What do you really want? And what do you really believe? What you want - really, deeply want - is fundamental because deliberate practice is an investment: The costs come now, the benefits later. The more you want something, the easier it will be for you to sustain the needed effort until the payoff starts to arrive. What do you really believe? Do you believe that you have a choice in this matter? Do you believe that if you do the work, and do it with intense focus for years on end, your performance will eventually reach the highest levels? If you believe that, then there's a chance you will do the work and achieve great performance.