For some time I have wondered why some of the very talented people I grew up with never went anywhere. I saw a file on the internet that addressed the problem. Some children who are “gifted” find mastering certain skills quite easy, while their classmates struggle and work very hard to master the material. But as they progress in the field, there finally (usually in college) comes a time when they must work to move along in the area. Then, when faced with having to work in the area, for the first time, they simply stop and drop out. In the book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell argued that ten-thousand hours of practice is required to become truly world-class. (The original research was done by K. Anders Ericsson, just to give credit for all of his hours of work.)
I was frequently told as a child, “practice makes perfect.” In areas where knowledge and experience really count, such as in medicine or law, you can pay for the seasoned expert, or go with someone with less experience and take the risks associated with that choice. It seems that there are some “gifted” youth do not see the value in practice, or do not wish to dedicate their youth to the profession. There is also, of course, the “burnout” that comes with excessive practice. Sometimes doing something so much that it becomes boring and tedious, and the expert just breaks off from doing it ever again. Michelangelo Buonarroti, whose art we still find amazing after almost five-hundred years later said: “If people knew how hard I have worked to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”
Then there are those who weren’t child prodigies, but worked, some say slaved, over the skill until they had mastered it. I once saw an interview with Jerry Rice, a wide receiver of the San Francisco 49ers who holds the franchise record with 19,247 receiving yards and 176 touchdowns over 16 seasons. Jerry Rice said that he practiced every day, rain or shine, and that his season never ended, there were just some months where he didn’t have a game on Sunday. His result speak for themselves. If he was a child prodigy I cannot say.
There are only a few “world class” experts with ten-thousand hours of reading and practicing their profession. You now know what makes the difference. What it takes to separate the amateurs from the true professionals. Being naturally good at something is a gift, but that gift comes with strings attached. The true experts dedicate themselves to the profession. So if you always wondered what happened to that natural genius back when you were in school, you might have a clue. Their natural talent took them way ahead, but when the going got rough, they probably walked away. Perhaps now you don’t find them as impressive as they once were.
Mackay’s Moral: Some people dream about success, and others wake up and do something about it.
