Talent Is Overrated

Colvin looks deeply at why some people perform head and shoulders above the rest. He spends some amount of time explaining that it has very little to do with any in born talent, and then goes on to show how many of history's stars are really the product of deliberate practice. The book may sounds like Gladwell's 'Outliers'; however, the difference is that Colvin gives a prescription for how to spend your 10,000 hours.

Deliberate practice comes in three flavors, Music, Chess, and Sports.

• The Music model is about repeatedly playing the difficult bits of a song until you have it right. This model aims to improve your weakest link.
• The Chess model is about studying case-studies. This model builds the mental model of your domain.
• The Sports model is to master the basics and practice scenarios that are critical but occur infrequently. This model wants to make sure you are ready for anything all the time.

He asks one question at the end, what makes somebody want to go down the painful route of becoming a star? He knows the 'how', he's not sure about the 'why'. He proposes two answers. Either you are born with the drive, or you're not. If you believe that the stars were born with it, you will never become a star. If you believe that even the motivation can be developed, you still have a shot :-P

Good stuff, for sure.

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