Grit and determination and a willingness to keep to trying
even when things are very hard.
Sometimes these factors are more important to making progress in life
than talent or intelligence. Because
even those who are talented and brilliant will encounter obstacles and if they
quit as soon as things get difficult, there is much that they will miss. We may have to change strategies, but it’s
important to keep trying!
Showing posts with label talent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label talent. Show all posts
Friday, April 4, 2014
Monday, December 16, 2013
Take A Listen To Phil Keaggy
Click here to play song!
It has
come to my attention that many of my on-line friends have never heard of Phil
Keaggy. I shake my head sadly when I
think about that because, if life was fair and the music business was based on
pure talent, he would be more known and appreciated than many, many, many much
more rich and famous singer/musicians.
(I won’t be mean-spirited and name names. But the list would be long.)
It has
come to my attention that many of my on-line friends have never heard of Phil
Keaggy. I shake my head sadly when I
think about that because, if life was fair and the music business was based on
pure talent, he would be more known and appreciated than many, many, many much
more rich and famous singer/musicians.
(I won’t be mean-spirited and name names. But the list would be long.)
Phil is
an extraordinarily gifted guitar player. I have seen him in concert numerous times and
watching him play is truly a thing of beauty. (I’m not kidding about that.)
The short
song by Phil, to which I have created a link, is titled, "Happy." It is mostly instrumental—although there are some brief vocals at the
end—and it gives a little taste of his wonderful musicianship.
*For the
musicians who really pay attention to this type of thing, the bass player on
the song is a man named Hadley Hockensmith.
What Hadley does on this song is worthy of quite a few “high fives,” too.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Want To Get Great? Better Get Busy.
Review of: The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle
How do people get good at something? Wait a minute, that’s the not the right question, how do people get great at something?
Well, frankly, there has been a significant amount of research on the matter of human performance and the development of skill/talent. Author, Daniel Coyle, has looked at the research and he also went on a road trip to what he calls “talent hotbeds”, places where great talent has been produced out of proportion to their size and perceived stature; for example, a Russian tennis club, a music school in Dallas, a soccer field in Brazil, and others.
Coyle shares what he learned in this excellent book, “The Talent Code”.
The Talent Code covers three basic areas:
1) Deep practice. Practice is important to world-class performance. I guess everyone knew that already, huh? Well, sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to remind of everyone of the obvious. What might be a little more helpful is the understanding of “how” to practice. What constitutes “deep practice”? This is the kind of practice that separates the great from the not-so-great.
The understanding of “deep practice” involves an understanding of a substance called “myelin”. Myelin is the insulation that wraps around nerve fibers. According to Coyle, myelin turns out to be a very big deal in the development of skill. Myelin is increased through deep practice and, in turn, increased myelin affects the signal strength, speed and accuracy of the electric signals traveling through nerve fibers. This increase of myelin and its effect on neurons has more to do with skill development than had previously been realized.
2) Ignition. If a person is going to invest the amount of time and passion and concentrated, difficult practice that produces high-level skill, that person will have to be deeply motivated. This is the aspect of skill development that Coyle refers to as “ignition”. Coyle writes, “Where deep practice is a cool, conscious act, ignition is a hot, mysterious burst, an awakening.” This deep passion is a necessary part of the attainment of great skill.
3) Master coaching. World class talent requires help and feedback and guidance from disciplined, committed, coaches. Think of this as the wise, older sage who can tell the student what he can’t tell himself. The development of great skill seems to require the help of people who have the ability to grow talent in others.
Much of the content of “The Talent Code” reminded me of the book, “Talent Is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin, they contain many of the same insights regarding the development of talent. I loved both of these books and they are both worth reading. One of the encouraging and motivating truths that these books reveal is that great skill can be attained by virtually anyone who is willing to sincerely and passionately make the necessary commitment to its development. But, as one of the lines in the book suggests . . . “Better get busy.”
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
www.VisitUsOnline.org
How do people get good at something? Wait a minute, that’s the not the right question, how do people get great at something?
Well, frankly, there has been a significant amount of research on the matter of human performance and the development of skill/talent. Author, Daniel Coyle, has looked at the research and he also went on a road trip to what he calls “talent hotbeds”, places where great talent has been produced out of proportion to their size and perceived stature; for example, a Russian tennis club, a music school in Dallas, a soccer field in Brazil, and others.
Coyle shares what he learned in this excellent book, “The Talent Code”.
The Talent Code covers three basic areas:
1) Deep practice. Practice is important to world-class performance. I guess everyone knew that already, huh? Well, sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to remind of everyone of the obvious. What might be a little more helpful is the understanding of “how” to practice. What constitutes “deep practice”? This is the kind of practice that separates the great from the not-so-great.
The understanding of “deep practice” involves an understanding of a substance called “myelin”. Myelin is the insulation that wraps around nerve fibers. According to Coyle, myelin turns out to be a very big deal in the development of skill. Myelin is increased through deep practice and, in turn, increased myelin affects the signal strength, speed and accuracy of the electric signals traveling through nerve fibers. This increase of myelin and its effect on neurons has more to do with skill development than had previously been realized.
2) Ignition. If a person is going to invest the amount of time and passion and concentrated, difficult practice that produces high-level skill, that person will have to be deeply motivated. This is the aspect of skill development that Coyle refers to as “ignition”. Coyle writes, “Where deep practice is a cool, conscious act, ignition is a hot, mysterious burst, an awakening.” This deep passion is a necessary part of the attainment of great skill.
3) Master coaching. World class talent requires help and feedback and guidance from disciplined, committed, coaches. Think of this as the wise, older sage who can tell the student what he can’t tell himself. The development of great skill seems to require the help of people who have the ability to grow talent in others.
Much of the content of “The Talent Code” reminded me of the book, “Talent Is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin, they contain many of the same insights regarding the development of talent. I loved both of these books and they are both worth reading. One of the encouraging and motivating truths that these books reveal is that great skill can be attained by virtually anyone who is willing to sincerely and passionately make the necessary commitment to its development. But, as one of the lines in the book suggests . . . “Better get busy.”
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
www.VisitUsOnline.org
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
How Do They Get So Good?
Review of: "Talent Is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin
Geoff Colvin deals with a fascinating and worthwhile subject: How do extraordinary, world-class performers get to be so good? This is an outstanding book!
The basic argument of the book is that high level skill is achieved primarily through tons and tons of hard work over a long period of time. (In other words, I’ll have to write a lot more book reviews in order to start getting more people to find my reviews “helpful”.) So, rather than innate skill or some kind of mysterious “giftedness” being the cause of exceptional performance, Colvin writes, “[t]he factor that seems to explain the most about great performance is something the researchers call deliberate practice.” The concept of “deliberate practice”—which is a little bit more rigorous and demanding than what might be thought of as “practice” in the more general sense—is explained with some detail in the book.
In addition to disputing the idea of some kind of special giftedness, Colvin disputes the idea of high IQ or special innate ability for memory as explanations for superior ability and achievement. In fact, his chapter that deals with the development of memory, among those who require it in their field of endeavor, was very enlightening.
“Talent Is Overrated” deals with the study of peak performance in a broad range of fields of including the arts, science, business, chess, music, writing and sports and provides interesting stories and examples of the world class achievers in the various disciplines. This is helpful because it is interesting to see that the principles of great performance apply—at least in a basic sense—in a pretty general way to all fields of endeavor.
Leaders will be interested to note that Colvin explains the application of some of the key concepts of exceptional performance to organizations rather than just looking at the matter as it applies to individuals.
Because the bottom line of great performance is identified as years of “deliberate practice”, Colvin states that the “deepest question about great performance” is this: “Where Does The Passion Come From?” It’s a fantastic question and I’m glad that he dealt with the issue. Why do the world class performers submit to the long, exhausting, difficult, often painful work that is required to achieve their level of mastery? Is the motivation intrinsic or extrinsic, or a little of both? That is the subject of the last chapter of the book.
I find the message of “Talent Is Overrated” to be extremely encouraging and motivating because it convincingly reports that you do not have to blessed at birth in some super-human way in order to develop exceptional skill in your field—I’m already out of luck if that’s the case. This means high-level performance is possible—with a lot of hard work—even for us mere mortals.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
Geoff Colvin deals with a fascinating and worthwhile subject: How do extraordinary, world-class performers get to be so good? This is an outstanding book!
The basic argument of the book is that high level skill is achieved primarily through tons and tons of hard work over a long period of time. (In other words, I’ll have to write a lot more book reviews in order to start getting more people to find my reviews “helpful”.) So, rather than innate skill or some kind of mysterious “giftedness” being the cause of exceptional performance, Colvin writes, “[t]he factor that seems to explain the most about great performance is something the researchers call deliberate practice.” The concept of “deliberate practice”—which is a little bit more rigorous and demanding than what might be thought of as “practice” in the more general sense—is explained with some detail in the book.
In addition to disputing the idea of some kind of special giftedness, Colvin disputes the idea of high IQ or special innate ability for memory as explanations for superior ability and achievement. In fact, his chapter that deals with the development of memory, among those who require it in their field of endeavor, was very enlightening.
“Talent Is Overrated” deals with the study of peak performance in a broad range of fields of including the arts, science, business, chess, music, writing and sports and provides interesting stories and examples of the world class achievers in the various disciplines. This is helpful because it is interesting to see that the principles of great performance apply—at least in a basic sense—in a pretty general way to all fields of endeavor.
Leaders will be interested to note that Colvin explains the application of some of the key concepts of exceptional performance to organizations rather than just looking at the matter as it applies to individuals.
Because the bottom line of great performance is identified as years of “deliberate practice”, Colvin states that the “deepest question about great performance” is this: “Where Does The Passion Come From?” It’s a fantastic question and I’m glad that he dealt with the issue. Why do the world class performers submit to the long, exhausting, difficult, often painful work that is required to achieve their level of mastery? Is the motivation intrinsic or extrinsic, or a little of both? That is the subject of the last chapter of the book.
I find the message of “Talent Is Overrated” to be extremely encouraging and motivating because it convincingly reports that you do not have to blessed at birth in some super-human way in order to develop exceptional skill in your field—I’m already out of luck if that’s the case. This means high-level performance is possible—with a lot of hard work—even for us mere mortals.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
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