Achiever's Path
This Is Why Most People Fail, Even After Learning Great Skills
Understand this 20% — 80% rule of mastery
It was a Saturday morning, and my son was set to do the very first activity that he usually does on Saturday and Sunday mornings i.e. to play piano.
I must say he is really gifted. He listens to the song, tries some keys on a piano and he gets the notes of the song correct on it. That is great, and I am really proud of him for that, but talent is not enough (from the book Mindset). He lacks the vital thing i.e. practice. What problem he faces without proper practice is, that he knows the notes on the piano but it doesn’t come flawless without practice. Every time he has to try keys here and there to find that perfect note.
The problem with him is, that once he gets the song right, he thinks, he is all set. And in this overconfidence, he goes to show his new set song to his friends. But without practice what output he gets is not soothing. He has to try many keys at many places in the song before he gets it correct again in front of his friends.
I wanted to point out this mistake. To explain to him that, I told him, “Mastery in anything, has 2 phases. One is learning, it is 20%. The second is practice and it consists of 80%. The learning phase (20%) is exciting. But the practice phase (80%) is boring and tedious. Almost all can pass this 20% of the learning phase. But very few can keep their enthusiasm intact for 80% of the practice phase and can cross it.”
I added, “What you need to cross this practice phase, is focus and patience. If you are able to cross this practice phase, then you are in the top 1% of people who are really a master at their craft”.
He understood the point and practiced the song very well. He did justice to his 80% of practice time with focus and patience.
Hope this story can be of your help. And you can also pass this 80% practice phase with focus and consistency.
I am working on an e-book called Achiever’s Path, which can help you create a proper road map to achieve anything you want. With this e-book, you will have the understanding to make a strategy to conquer your internal demons and external hurdles in the task you want to achieve (it can be a dream of becoming a good writer, cracking a freelancing gig, or scoring high in the exam. Proper roadmap is a sure way to achieve it). Click here and join the waitlist for the same. Once the e-book is out you will be the first to be notified for it.
This story contains affiliate links.
Follow me (Poonam Bhatt) for more such stories on writing, copywriting, consistency, daily routine, time management, goal setting, self-improvement, reading, and non-fiction books.
Subscribe to my stories to get email notifications whenever I publish on Medium.
If you like my stories, support my writing by buying me a coffee here.
