Practice Makes Perfect
Being great isn’t just about the quantity of work, he asserts, but also about the workers themselves. In reviewing different studies about the role of practice in music, games, sports, education, and professional success, Hambrick found that rehearsal time accounted for only about one-quarter of any disparity in skill level. Other factors—like age, intelligence, and natural gifts—all played big roles in setting apart the better from the best.
–here
It’s about that ‘10,000 hours practice’ thing, which everyone knew was hokum from the get-go.
Have you ever thought of the staggering scope of God’s ambition for you? No offense, but you don’t seem like a natural at divinity. I wouldn’t even describe you as a gifted amateur.
On the plus side of the ledger, you have godly tutelage, and infinite practice time. 10,000 hours is nothing.
Talkingbuffalo
June 30, 2020
That “10,000 rule” has always struck me as just another trite phrase in a long list of oversimplified truths that has been simplified to the point that context and nuance has been removed. Perhaps a more accurate rendering of the phrase would be something like this: if you spend time doing a task, you will almost certainly improve. Or perhaps more succinctly: improvement requires practice.
Many years ago, I had a youth leader who used to correct that phrase to “practice makes permanent”, which I think illustrates another truth: it matters what you practice. One can’t become better at holiness by practicing wickedness.
IAW
June 30, 2020
I’m pretty good, but not great, at playing acoustic guitar. The thing is, I started out as anti-talent (not just untalented, but somewhere in the negative numbers). However, I had a burning desire to learn music. I’ve likely surpassed 10,000 hours, but I am far from a genius. All I have comes solely from work – I recognize I will likely never be a virtuoso genius talent; I don’t have the inherent abilities.
People tell me I am talented, but I think it’s better to say I am somewhat skilled, as I have no real inherent talent, and in fact it took fighting and overcoming my “natural man” state for years to even get to the point where I could be competent.
My father was likely right when he said “you don’t seem to have a natural talent for anything, except hard work and determination.”
So, while I will likely never excel in anything, I have found that if I put my mind to it, I can be pretty good at lots of things.
E.C.
June 30, 2020
I’ve heard of ‘practice makes permanent’. I even agree with it. But I also like ‘perfect practice makes perfect’. Sometimes one has to practice one thing at a time perfectly before moving on to the next thing to fix.
I have this piano student (or did, before the coronavirus hit), who had an apparently natural antipathy for rhythm. She Just. Couldn’t. Keep. Time. But she really wanted to play. Like, REALLY. And she practiced diligently. And you know what? At the last Christmas recital, she played a piece she’d been working on for a year and half – and it sounded musical. We humans have an innate ability to persist for things we really want. I don’t think I remember that enough.
bruce charlton
June 30, 2020
I would say that music, along with mathematics, shows a wider differential in aptitude than almost anything else.
Someone with apitutude can learn so fast, and reach a level so far, far beyond what a normal person could ever do, that it seems almost psychotic to deny it.
A highly ‘musical’ person (such as a really good conductor) can also hear *so much* more of what is happening inside music – that again the difference is qualitative.
Even among the very best musicians, there is often a gulf between the best and the second best.
Such differences are more likely to be acknowledged by those of the greatest aptitude than among those of moderate (or low) ability and attainment. Among the very best in a field such as music or mathematics; there is often a clear and explict hierarchy, which is all-but unanimous.
Karl Marx
July 2, 2020
“Being great isn’t just about the quantity of work”
So he rejects my theory of value? Bloody capitalist.