Talent
Outwork Book Club on “Talent is Overrated”
Geoff Colvin dispels the myth around talent and shows the true path to greatness.
The Outwork Book Club is a book review series that provides the main idea, summary, top quotes, and how to take action.
Main Idea
Where does great performance come from?
Many would say that great performers are gifted with “talent” — a form of innate skill possessed from childhood that enables these great performers to truly excel.
The talent myth is just that: a myth. Colvin’s work truly aims to dispel the lie about talent and instead charters a more realistic path to greatness. A path that involves a concept called deliberate practice and a lot of time spent working on a skill.
Many would also say that sheer experience is the answer. That someone is talented because they have a lot of exposure to a skill, job, or task. That is also not true. Don’t we all know people that are just mediocre at what they do despite years of being on the job?
There is a certain drop-off point where most careerists fail to get better. They just simply continue to do what is easy and comfortable, halting growth and progress altogether. This is a regular occurrence in all industries and can even be seen in high-level sports and business. Success, in a way, can also be a hindrance to the process of continuous self-improvement.
Summary
If it’s not innate talent granted to us by some divine blessing, and if it’s not sheer experience, then what exactly produces great performers and high-level abilities that seem to be accessible only to the world-class?
What I like most about Colvin’s research is that he proves great performance exists within everyone. Through the application of his research and ideas, anyone can rise to be seen as a “talented” individual, a fast mover, a pacemaker, and even an authority within their field.
“Great performance is in our hands far more than most of us ever suspected.” — Geoff Colvin
Where Does Talent Come From?
Most people won’t achieve greatness or even close, even if they put in lots and lots of time.
Top performers, those we consider to be excellent, gifted, or special, do not possess superhuman abilities. Despite our preconceived notions, research proves that there is no such thing as innate talent; people are not born with unique abilities, they acquire them.
Their skill comes from a simple explanation: deliberate practice.
The Key: Crave the Process
The often-used example of Mozart as a gifted prodigy has been overlooked. Instead, Mozart was a product of his upbringing, with his father immersing him in the study at the age of three. His father was also a well-studied musician with a passion for teaching. The environmental influences that created Mozart were unmatched, perhaps the best in all of history.
Many people revere Jerry Rice’s ability to catch footballs, but it was insanely intense work ethic gave him the endurance to outlast more physically gifted NFL players.
The difference is not innate talent, it is the willingness to do what others won’t. The edge of high performance is the ability to endure pain. The ability to put oneself in an uncomfortable situation continuously, so that performance can improve marginally. Great performers isolate specific aspects of what they do, and they work on that aspects relentlessly.
How to Take Action: Deliberate Practice
Deliberate practice is a carefully crafted type of practice that specifically aims to stretch an individual beyond their current abilities. It demands that a person intently works on sharpening an element of their performance — great performers isolate specific aspects of what they do and focus on just those things until they are improved.
“If activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, then everyone would do them, and they would not distinguish the best from the rest” — Geoff Colvin
Principles of Deliberate Practice
Deliberate practice is a type of repetitive training that is designed to improve performance:
1. High repetition is the most important difference-maker: top performers repeat their practice activities to an excruciating extent. The best activities are those that can be repeated at a high volume.
2. It is not fun: deliberate practice is often done solo since there are more available hours to practice alone. If practicing alone, relentlessly, and intensely focused on a single task does not appeal to you, then you are free from the burden of becoming world-class. Furthermore, the task that is being trained is something that we are not good at since it is the difficult activities that will make us better at what we do overall.
3. Teachers are a critical aspect: even the best in the world have teachers and coaches that help guide their practice, offering feedback when necessary.
4. Deliberate practice is an all-out effort of focus and concentration: this premise makes great performance mental over physical since the best are able to sustain the deliberate practice for several hours a day. Still, 2–3 sessions at 4–5 hours per day seem to be the upper limit for deliberate practice, regardless of activity (sport, music, business, etc.).
How to Become Great
Greatness is mostly mental due to the difficulty of deliberate practice. This is why great competitors are always mentally strong, they have developed the deep character traits necessary to do hard things over and over again.
The ability to do hard things consistently is becoming much rarer — and more valuable. Top organizations such as Google, Mobile, and Microsoft are limited by their human abilities and capacities. They have the capital for growth but can only expand at the pace of their people.
World Class used to be non-essential, but in today’s global, interconnected market, businesses and individuals must rise to compete against the world’s best at all times.
Traditional markers of excellence, such as IQ, are no longer relevant. It doesn’t show a person’s ability to work through tough problems, persist and endure deliberate practice.
IQ doesn’t measure critical thinking, social skills, honesty, tolerance, wisdom, work capacity, discipline, and EQ (self-control, zeal, and persistence).
“Best performers do extremely well with the ability to engage in cognitively complex forms of multivariate reasoning.”— Geoff Colvin
After many years of deliberate practice, the brain and body begin to change. This is where effortlessness emerges. It is when great performers are recognized as “special,” “talented,” or “superhuman.” What many do not see is the years of painstaking effort that went into the process.
No one ever sees or appreciates the process.
This is why great performers will always stand out. Remember, if it was easy, everyone would do it, and the best would be no different from the rest.
But it’s not easy. It is deliberate practice.
Read More on the Process:
- Why Your Lifestyle Matters for Success
- 10 Tips for Building Talent
- A Glimpse Into Mastery
- Learn to Love the Process
- Talent is Overrated on Amazon
This story was based on Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin, which you get using this link to Amazon. This story contains affiliate links which means I get a portion of what you pay at no extra cost. If you are new to Medium, you can join using my referral link below. For just $5, you’ll get full access to all of my stories and publication on living a high-performance lifestyle.
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