Practice like a physical genius
Do you have a talent for cricket?
There is a growing theory that natural ability may not be as important as you think.
Talent, they say, is merely your desire to pursue your goals with single minded dedication.
That's certainly one of the messages from this article on what makes a physical genius by Malcolm Gladwell. It really does deserve reading all the way through, but to summarise, we can put physical skills down to certain factors:
- Genetic physical ability (how fast you can bowl etc.)
- Coordination
- Experience
- Imagination
- Single minded practice
So although you will be limited by your own neurological and physical limits, you can certainly adopt an attitude that makes the best of yourself by gaining experience, practicing as much as possible and taking the time to review your successes and your mistakes.
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Comments
I would like to add two more qualifiers in this list - Commitment and Conviction.
That Gladwell site's great - first time I've seen it. Thanks.
CrickBlogs - Commitment is vital I agree without the desire to keep practicing when everyone else has gone home you are lacking a vital quality. By conviction do you mean self-belief? If so I'm right behind you!
Scott - interesting stuff innit? His book - The Tipping Point is also an fascinating read (if not very sport/fitness based)
[...] Gladwell wrote about how people who are considered genius in their field always have years of deliberate practice behind them. In theory, anyone could achieve a high level of competence just through regular, consistent [...]
"In fact, even in sports, where we tend to think that successful athletes have not only natural abilities, but also superior physical skills, Ward's research on top soccer players has shown that mental processes are a much better predictor of performance than physical attributes. Elite players not only make better decisions than less-skilled players, they do it by more accurately perceiving and analyzing cues around them and anticipating consequences of their actions. "These are skills that are intangible," says Ward, "because you can’t touch or feel them but they result in a difference in your performance."
Ericsson and Ward have used techniques like this to compare thousands of experts with novices in fields from music, sports, medicine and law enforcement. They've found no evidence that experts are born with any more natural "talent" than other people. "We have yet to find any compelling evidence that any talent matters," says Ericsson.'
As I always believed, It is not talent that matters, but desire to pursue your goals with single minded dedication.
gadwell's newer book, outliers is also very good and they take sportsmen as example multiple times in that too.
good one. have a look here for another great article on a similar principal - the importance of practice over talent.