Talent Isn’t Enough And that’s why I lost in the first round. After winning my elementary school spelling bee I went on to compete against other winners in Nassau County. My first word was “doorjamb” and I was not familiar with it. What I missed was that reading more than the average and having a good verbal memory did not equip me to compete against kids with the same assets and who studiously read the dictionary. Excellence requires effort. K. Anders Ericsson, a world-class researcher on the subject of excellence has reported that it takes a tremendous amount of time, roughly ten thousand hours, to develop mastery. Malcolm Gladwell popularized this idea in his absorbing book, Outliers, that shows how across many fields of endeavor this principle seems to hold true. If we wish to enjoy the pleasure of excellence we need to figure out what is we care enough about and get busy paying our dues. The Sages knew what they were talking about when they said, “If a person tells you ‘I toiled and I found’ – believe him. ‘I did not toil and I found’ – do not believe him.” While paying our dues, or toiling, may not sound that appealing, knowing what really engages us enough to want to spend that much time at is extremely valuable. Engagement or flow (getting lost in what we are doing, heightened focus) in our work is one of the most conducive elements to emotional wellbeing. So, although we may not yet achieve mastery until years from now, the road there has its own reward.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 12:02:12 +0000
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