Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

“Innovation Doesn't Strike—It Grows. Innovation doesn't reject the past; on the contrary, it relies heavily on the past and comes most readily to those who've mastered the domain as it exists.” I bought the book after reading Malcolm Gladwell books, his theories on training practice and the 10,000 hours theory and finding reference to peak (a great book also), where I was introduced to the deliberate practice. The theory intrigued me, the book has a slow start with general talk and no concrete information, it is general references, such as “a metanalysis study on sales people”, etc., there are no facts or references to refer to know, study further, understand the facts. Another example is on page 43 gambling. The book starts gaining pace and coming into life with valuable information, studies and references. It starts with discussing IQ and Memory (a proof that it is a skill that can be acquired is the book “moonwalking with Einstein”) As in Peak Colvin refers to the Laszlo polgar case, one of the most important live case study in the domain of practice. He also refers to blink, the first book I read for Malcom and got me to read all his books. Noting that in my modest opinion the three books Peak, Blink and Talent is Overrated complete each other. Another reference in the book to an EXCLLENT book Sam Walton, Wal Mart! A myriad of important discoveries are referred to on the importance, and reason of success. Success is never innate but due to hard work. Traits of accomplishers are mentioned in chapter 4: they perceive more, they see indicators that average performers don’t see, they look further ahead, know more from seeing less, have finer discrimination, know more (knowledge through domain expertise is a key), and remember more. I particularly loved the straightforward and extremely simple example he gave on page 99 to explain the short-term memory tasks of remembering in chunks. The essence of the book is the deliberate practice theory, a great example on applying it is Benjamin Franklin. Th age old example of how he used the spectator to improve his English, vocabulary and style page106-107. I cannot remember how many times I came across this example in many books, including Benjamin Franklin’s own autobiography. The author comes to another important set skill self-observation or Metacognition and many other sets of theories and skills that make this short book an essential read. It ends with the Flow and Multiplier effect. A reference from another important book by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. From there we move to the multiplier effect, which can be defined as “A very small advantage in some field can spark a series of events that produce far larger advantages.” The importance of the theory stems from the fact that a small success or complaint creates a drive that leads to higher efforts leading to higher achievements. In the end to sum it all up, the willingness to go the extra mile the willingness to try and fail is the first step, many other factors, internal or external, intrinsic or extrinsic. But it all boils down to the will and motivation. The will to sacrifice for a goal stem from the importance of the goal to us. Deliberate practice is HARD there is no easy way!

"Talent is overrated" is about how YOU can become a superstar in your chosen field. To be more precise it is about how others have made it! Filled with interesting facts, this is the map for those who already visualize a high standard goal. Based on scientific research, you can rest assure that you will find the whole truth about what it really takes to achieve greatness. The basic premise is that those who started earlier in life have a greater chance of becoming the next superstars in their fields. The right kind of practice, not talent, is what sets super-achievers apart from the rest. You will find examples of people who were able to go beyond average performance. Of course the strongest point the research suggests is that you need not have special talents. Isn't that great! Isn't that a great relief! No matter who you are, no matter if you have no talent at all, still you can become great! The most fascinating example in this book is that of the Polgar's sisters. Polgar was an European scientist that decided to conduct an experiment on his children. He wrote a book about how anyone can become a genius and he decided to prove his theory with his daughters -hence the Polgar's sisters. After many years of very specific training the sisters went on to become the first women to hold chess grand master titles in the history of humanity! So, with this book you can become a great achiever! The keys to stardom in any field are right here! The secrets are right here! Or are they not? Let's move on to... Be aware that the book will be of special interests to those who are already on the path to greatness. The research suggests that unless you started very early in life practicing what you want to become great for, then you are pretty much in a huge disadvantage since you would have to practice a great more deal than most professionals practice. Only to catch up! But professionals have been doing the activity for so long that they are trained to practice a great deal. An amateur is very unlikely to sustain that level of practice with out reaching exhaustion very quickly. If your interest is to become better at what you do there are other books you could use that are more targeted to the average person. Two examples would be "One small step can Change Your life - the Kaizen way" or "Mastery". Both books can help just about anyone without the extreme demands of super-achievers. By the way, in my opinion both books have a more positive approach to self improvement than what I read in this book. I really don't want to become great, I just want to enjoy the process and constantly improve my performance. It might not show but there is a slight difference between wanting to become great just for the sake of it, and wanting to improve because you actually love your activity. Why be obsessed on becoming great? Why not just do what you like and devote your time and effort to it because you love it. The point I'm trying to make here is that this book might not be beneficial to people with low self-esteem. Life has much more to offer than just becoming "great". You don't need that kind of success to be valuable. Only passion should drive your art. To sum up: This book might be good for you if you are already in love with what you do and you do it to the exhaustion and you want to learn how to train better, and if you have very specific goals and if you are relatively young and if you are willing to sacrifice or devote most of your time and energy to achieving that goal. This book is not for you if you don't care about becoming "great". If you understand the differences between being successful and be greatly acknowledged in one field. Successful people are "complete" people. They have balance in their life, they have good relationships, healthy eating habits, exercise, they enjoy an evening in nature or in art and they enjoy their profession, their practice. They are not completely obsesed with one goal, and certainly not with greatness. In a certain way it makes sense, people that devote their entire life to become "famous" or "great" or "champions" or "superachievers" very often don't build healthy relationship, don't devote time to their spirit. In reality, they are not successful, because they are not really happy and because they don't have real balance in their life. Now, that doesn't mean super-achievers are not complete. I think many superstars are actually very complete persons. They have plentiful lives. But they didn't strive for greatness. They became great because of their love for their activity, their respect for their activity and their self respect. Just enjoy your profession or sport or art! Practice, practice, practice! But for the love of it! Practice not because of what you can get from your practice, but to try to give your best to your practice! Life is too short! Live plentifully! If you are to become great, good, if not, good as well! That's an area the author could have developed a great more deal. He could have written about the social and psychological consequences of working to become a super-achiever. If you have more important things to do or if you don't have much time to devote to an activity or if you are not relatively young then you might not benefit from this book. My advice is that you go first to Kaizen and Mastery. If after that you still feel the need to take your performance to a greater level then get this book or search for the original research articles online. Another great book is "Way of the peaceful warrior" and its movie "Peaceful warrior" It is just about how to take out all that "success" trash that limits us instead of helping us improve. If you are interested in this subjects, I think you might very well enjoy the movie. It is based on a true story. One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives

In this book the author makes constant reference to a selection of high-profile fields ; among those, piano playing. Thus numerous examples are used from the instrumental practice to make a number of points. For a classically trained, young-age starter professional pianist with extra long studies in a handful of musical domains at the highest level, the book hits home grand style. In fact, reading it took me through a journey of staring in the mirror. I literally grew up transcending every one of the myths presented here, gradually learning to separate hard truth from alleged misconceptions. So here's a personal testimony in this sense, based on my own hard truth. The following may seem subjective ; indeed I believe it is. But think of it as the exact counterpart to support the findings in the book with actual life experience from someone who's ever been there (and will no doubt forever be). My journey started at age 4 as the 3rd generation of professional musicians - grandfather and both parents. Therefore I can wholeheartedly support Mr. Colvin's assertions regarding long-term professional building : they're all true and I've known them all. The supporting family with a naturally oriented bias towards a given field : music ; the constant availability of all forms of material therein : records, scores, training at home by both parents, answers available to any question, guidance and follow-up ; the long years of "drought" as I labeled them - during which one continues to practice an instrument not by pure personal choice but rather because it's so normal, so ingrained in family values that nobody even thinks it could be otherwise (drought means you get almost no pleasure in so doing, it's a constraint. Pleasure comes years later) ; the constant help and feedback from trained, sensitive and, may I add, unforgiving ears ; the double peer pressure - at home as stated and in musical school, where most of the others also are early go-getters in permanent competition for attention, rewards and so on. So how do you do it ? Here are a few answers. Dig within yourself to find the patience needed to pour in the long hours when no or so little juicy pleasure comes out of them. Try to believe your elders when they keep assuring you that the base you are currently building will forever serve you and place you among the highest achievers in music. Accept to forfeit football games with friends, Sunday mountain excursions, prolonged breaks in week-ends and many of childhood's perks. As the author writes, it may seem barbarous. But reinforce yourself every Monday morning in school, seeing all the other ambitious youngsters around striving likewise towards the same goals. Try to inhale the positive of competitiveness and let it drive you to do more and better. As you finally grow to understand what you're in, you will distinguish your advantages : your advance compared to some others, your self-assurance in performing, your emerging image as a local heavyweight, your future options. Around 14 or 15 things start to be exciting. Instinct tells you you're on the right path. Go on like that for years and yes, you do become a different person as Colvin states. He says the 10 year rule is nothing great comes before that. I would add this : no real pleasure in the meantime either. But I believe the most important is this : the flow concept discussed in the book. That's where the bulk of it all hit me in the stomach. The day some hidden door opens in your brain and you suddenly witness yourself playing AS YOU WANTED, doing exactly what you hoped for and matching reality with dreams - that day you will never forget. That day I guarantee you will be happy. You will cry with happiness as you play the music, fly on its wings and forget yourself in the process. forget about time, about the noise you make, about the neighbors, even about your teacher's advice etc. When you flow with it, you'll know it. There's no description to match. Flow is the ultimate motivator ; your first-ever flow, a defining experience. Once you taste it, it all will have been worthwile : 10 years of drought, 4 to 6 daily hours of work and concentration on the instrument AND other subjects ; sacrificed week-ends and terrorizing from unforgiving teachers. Mozart did it, Woods did it, they all did it. And whether history acknowledges you or not, if you've got it you actually don't care. Of course glory is not an achievement ; it's meant to convince others about something. When you really have it, convincing becomes irrelevant. It's so good to have it all written in words. To me this is more than a book ; it is the chronicle of my story. Thank you Mr Colvin. PAUL C. STAICU

This book is profoundly important because it provides detailed research-based insight into how and why certain people attain excellence in all fields of endeavor. The short answer is that one must work and practice quite hard for many years, ideally starting from a young age, in a deliberate way which involves continually stretching oneself. The effort is usually difficult and therefore often not fun, and so the motivation to push on must be fueled by a strong inner drive, perhaps aided by extrinsic factors such as encouragement, coaching, rewards, etc. Talent, intelligence, good memory, and other innate gifts may help, but they're not as vital as people commonly believe. But don't let my short answer suffice, or steer you to skip reading the book. The book is rich with important details and examples which are vital to take on board - this is not one of those books where a single basic idea has unnecessarily been expanded into book length. This topic deserves book-length treatment, and Colvin has done justice to the topic. I expect to read the book again, and this time I plan to take detailed notes and write up an action plan based on the book. Allow me to add that Colvin's writing quality is absolutely top notch; I don't really see how it could be any better. More specifically, the book is very well organized, precisely written but without excessive formality, and overall very easy to read. I finished it in about two days, and it was hard to put down. I emphatically recommend this book. Its insights apply to every domain of life, making this book a must read for parents, teachers, students, business owners, managers, employees, artists, scientists, technical professionals, athletes, coaches - in other words, everyone! Buy it and read it without hesitation. I plan to give this book as a gift to many people during this holiday season and beyond. Amendment: This book overlaps with, and complements, Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell. Please see my December 30, 2008 review of that book, where I compare a few books in this genre.

This book may over-emphasize the importance of "deliberate practice," but I think it is very important to bring this topic back into the general discussion. As a humorous note: they say a distinguished European conductor spent a year or two trying to bring the Thai Symphony up a little closer to international standards, but abandoned that quest and flew home, saying, "After all, it is necessary to PRACTICE!" In the case of performing musicians, that seems beyond debate. I have known two in my lifetime (Eugene Fodor and a pianist) and they both practiced intensely. Fodor in particular was using "deliberate practice," which involves finding your weakest points and then working on them mercilessly. This same model seems to extend to chess players without effort, and it seems to become universal. One of the hallmarks of "deliberate practice" is that it is not fun. It is not enjoyable. And yet, people who want to become world-class performers need to do this for 4-5 hours a day. Frankly, I was never a candidate for this sort of stuff. I had no desire to be a "world-class" anything, which means that I had very little ambition. People who are ambitious need to read this book, however. At least, they will remember (or encounter) Benjamin Franklin practicing his writing skills mercilessly, or Thomas Edison running through a thousand candidates for his electric light filament before he got to the right one, tungsten. The world is a very competitive place, and if you expect to show up on (say) Wall Street and say, "Hi, I have a high IQ so make me a millionaire" you are naive beyond belief. You would do much better to get a copy of Steve Wozniak's iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It and learn to appreciate how he spent his entire childhood and adolescence in "deliberate practice," which finally enabled him to design the world's first personal computer single-handedly. Very interesting reading in this book. You may hate it if you find out you're a slacker, or you think that the world owes you a living.

If you're interested in the research and want a pretty easy read, I'd recommend Colvin's book, Talent is Overrated.Most of the relevant research on excellence was covered and he explained it in terms that didn't immediately put the reader to sleep. His examples from the real world were varied and interesting, and although they were leaned towards business heavyweights, there were examples from comedian Chris Rock, football player Jerry Rice and golfer Tiger Woods. One the things about this book I most appreciated is that Colvin was able to speak directly with Professor K. Anders Ericsson, one of the leaders in the research on excellence for the last 30 years. Colvin's strength in writing about the business world is also a source of one of the book's weaknesses. The text is specifically geared towards a business audience, likely by design, because it's an audience that almost guarantees robust sales for a book, and with Colvin's notoriety in this realm, it's no surprise that this was a specific strategy. Nothing wrong with this, of course, but I found many of the attempts to connect the literature on excellence to the business world to be strained and the connections themselves tenuous at best. This relates to another shortcoming of the book, which is that it's long on theory and short on practice, as many books about a topic this complex tend to be. We hear a lot about what excellence is, and get anecdotes and vignettes that help us imagine how excellence is embodied in the world, but when the rubber hits the road, when we need to know what to do if we want excellence for our very own, we don't get much help. Colvin makes many vaguely helpful suggestions, but most are general and abstract and not particularly helpful. It felt like some adult telling a kid, "Just do your best." Good advice, but not very specific. The final slice of meat in this criticism sandwich is that we never hear an alternative viewpoint about the "talent" concept in the expertise literature. If you're out to prove a belief and are using research to back it up, you should also provide the research that points to the alternative hypothesis, namely that innate ability (talent) does matter. One key piece of writing on this is by Simonton in his piece (in a book edited by Ericsson) entitled "The Hidden Cost of Expertise." The Road To Excellence: the Acquisition of Expert Performance in the Arts and Sciences, Sports, and Games , or The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology) . The fact that this opposing viewpoint was omitted entirely is perhaps the most significant criticism of the book. I would have liked to have seen more of his references throughout the book. Granted, this wasn't a piece of scholarly work in which every reference must be catalogued and clearly cited, so it might be a little unfair to demand this, but for those who want to either read the source material or want to learn more about a particular topic and/or ancecdote, there were many gaps. Finally, I found I struggled with the tone of the book from the moment I read the sub-title: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. This implies an exclusionary bent, which seems to say that experts are somehow fundamentally different from the rest of us, and much of the writing throughout reinforces this approach. It's my firm belief, which is supported by some of the same research in addition to other research, that experts are normal, everyday people who simply have spent the time and energy in ways that earn them the title of expert. There is no separation involved other than the behavior that anyone can learn to do. The trick is always finding the passion that will sustain the behavior. If you're interested in expertise, this book does a fairly decent job of reporting on the research and Colvin brings in a wide array of examples from the real world, from disciplines other than business. The writing style is journalistic, so it's clear and concise and "just the facts, ma'am," so don't expect to be captivated by this writing as you might with Malcolm Gladwell, who has written a vaguely similar, though more entertaining book, Outliers: The Story of Success .

Colvins main argument in this book, which goes against most people's beliefs, is that becoming great at something is not dependent on natural talents, but rather many hours of deliberate practice over decades. Deliberate practice is focused practice designed to improve specific needs. It “can be repeated a lot; feedback on results is continuously available, and it is highly demanding mentally” (66). The book showcases countless examples of how high achievers train and work on their craft. Many of the examples of people who have achieved success are well-known individuals. Colvin explains that even “child geniuses” that are renowned for their incredible achievements from a young age, such as Mozart and Tiger Woods, were not born doing these things. The subjects used as examples range from the 1700s to today, and from the fields of sports to music to business. The wide range of evidence helps to prove how universal the need for deliberate practice is, and certainly helps his other claims. The people cited in this paper are inspirational to many, and appeal to different reader’s interests. For example, as someone interested in financial investing, learning about Warren Buffett's interests and work ethic is very intriguing to me. Colvin explains the long process that Buffett went through to achieve success and his ventures along the way. Buffett learned as much as he could about the field of investing and eventually was able to “accumulate a world-class record for performance” (35). It is proven that general abilities such as intelligence or memory are not great indicators of success, which is an assumption that many make. This delves even more into the idea that talent is unimportant. As far as the structure goes, the reader can flip to any chapter and get an explanation about an aspect of great performance or an application of it. The writing can be bland at times, but flows well and is easy to read, as the prose showcases the author’s vocabulary without making his explanations difficult to understand. This book still certainly has its fair share of issues. Colvin does not talk about the importance of environment much at all, and doesn’t recognize that many people don’t have access to good mentors and coaches or are able to get feedback on their work. He fails to realize that having a lucky break or good connections often have a huge influence on people’s success. Overall, the book brings a new perspective to a widely accepted view that is prevalent in every one of our lives. Colvin explains and helps people understand how some are able to achieve great success at what they do. The book is very valuable, and can help anyone to become better and more efficient at what they do for a living. It shows you that is never too late to push yourself and work on becoming extraordinary.

I read this book several months ago, and have had time to digest it's message, which is essentially what the title says. I agree with it on many fronts that dedicated hard work leads to excellence. However, I do believe that "talent" does exist, and cannot be duplicated simply with hard work. For example, my singing voice is awful. If I dedicated my whole life to singing, it might go from awful to tolerable, or perhaps a bit better, but I'd always be the nitwit on the X Factor who goes on and the judges make a face like they just drank a shot of lemon juice while I'm crooning away. And likewise, I ran spring track in high school, and one year in college. And I've more or less jogged 2-3 times a week for a few miles at 10 min pace since (I'm now 34). However, when I lace up my shoes at a local 5K, I can still crank out 5:45ish miles and soundly beat many people who have cumulatively trained much harder for much longer than I have,even if I haven't run a sub 6 min mile in over a year. Not that I am the best in the world, because I'm not, but that is talent. That is something that most people cannot do if their lives were dedicated to it. Let's face it that dedicated hard work will produce top results. I agree with that. However, if you take two people, one with a natural aptitude towards something, and another without that aptitude, if both people put in the same exact dedicated hard work, the one with the natural aptitude will always do better. It's just a fact. So my bottom line review of the book is that it will make you think, and realize that dedicated hard work is what all people do who excel in a particular endeavor. However, it's not fair or accurate to say that we can all be great at anything other than the obvious would preclude us from (a 6'10" person trying to be a gymnast, or a 4'10" person trying to be in the NBA). I think a better title for the book would be "Talent Will Only Get You So Far". Yet, with that said, it is a book worth reading, as it will make you realize that people who are good at something are good because they have paid dues beyond what the average person is inclined to do.

Malcolm GladwellのOutlierを読んで、この書籍にたどり着きました。全ての偉業は、一つひとつのトレーニングの積み重ねである、ということに気付かされます。単なる自己啓発ではなく、リサーチに基づいたファクトをベースに書かれていることも評価できます。ポジティブな力と、具体的なHowを教えてくれる書籍です。

I do not agree entirely with the underlying premise but that does not mean that the book's message is in error. Success can be achieved by working hard and being disciplined. If you have a natural talent that will help you do better than others who may have a similar talent level. But by being disciplined even someone who lacks the natural talent can outperform those who do. The examples in the book are great and the argument is good enough to help people to overachieve. The book deserves attention and its advice needs a great deal of consideration.

Muito bom livro, chegou dentro do prazo. Apenas alguns desgastes na capa/contracapa mas nada que prejudique a leitura.

Lovely

Il libro è motivante