common personal growth and development barrier is believing talent
is the only key to success. Here's the belief-buster - talent is
irrelevant to great success.
Talent Is Irrelevant to Success
Don't believe me; believe British based researchers Howe, Davidson
and Sluboda. They conclude in a recent study "the evidence we have
surveyed. does not support that excelling is a consequence of possessing
Most people learn quickly at first, and then slowly and finally
stop developing completely. What are the key common traits that
successful people share?
Overnight Success Takes Ten Years
The first major conclusion is that nobody is great with out work.
There is no evidence of high level performance without experience
or practice, and some researchers have coined this the "ten year
rule". In many fields, elite performance takes 20 or 30 years before
reaching their prime.
So what about teen sensation Bobby Fischer, a chess grandmaster
at age 16? Turns out he had 9 years of intensive study. Tiger Woods
was introduced to golf at the tender age of 18 months, and had racked
up 15 years of experience when he became the youngest ever winner
of the US Amateur Championship, at age 18.
"Genius is 1% Inspiration and 99% Perspiration"
Thomas Edison, a prolific inventor, adds to his famous quote "accordingly,
a genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his
or her homework"
So your first step to greatness is hard work. Agreed. But not just
any old hard work, it needs to be focussed, deliberate practice.
Instead of doggedly doing the same thing over and over again, consider
activities that are explicitly intended to improve performance and
provide feedback on results.
Professor K Anders Ericsson of Florida State University notes "elite
performers in many diverse domains have been found to practice,
on the average, roughly the same amount every day, including weekends".
Ericsson studied many different people in different areas, and the
best averaged 10,000 hours of deliberate practice over their lives;
the next best 7,500 hours and the next 5,000.
To make this real, you need to commit 85 minutes every day for the
next ten years of your life to get the bronze - 2 hours and 45 minutes
if you want a chance at gold. That's commitment!
You've Either Got It - Or You Don't.. Or Do You?
Okay you could argue some important traits are inherited, such as
height or intelligence,
but that again doesn't hold in all cases. Ericsson found "some international
chess masters have IQ's
in their 90's." Michael Jordon, an esteemed basketball player, was
cut from his high school team, but practised intensely, beyond the
already punishing training schedules.
Some people are more motivated than others to put in the hard-graft.
Why? No-one seems to know, and the rub is we hate abandoning the
notion that we would coast to fame and riches if only we found our
talent. But a more liberating notion is that regular hard work,
deliberate practice and feedback
can enable us to achieve our dreams, utilise our talents and achieve
the greatness we desire.
Bust through that personal growth and development barrier and start
using your day to achieve the greatness that's available to us all.
Owner, Management for the Rest of Us
Citation Information: Swinton, Lyndsay. " Personal Growth and Development Barriers; What It Takes To Be Great." Mftrou.com. 26 May 2007. < http://www.mftrou.com/personal-growth-development-barriers.html >.