------ Talent is Overrated ------
Alberto Pose recommended the book to me.
I read the book in 9th and 10th month of
2022. I captured these notes on paper
just before returning the book to the
library. Transposed to AlphaSmart 3000
on Saturday November 19th, 2022. Posted
to dirtyrig's gopher site on SDF.
--- Basics ---
-- No innate gift --
Even masters like Mozart and Tiger
Woods worked hard.
--- It isn't about intelligence ---
-- So what is it about? --
--- Deliberate Practice ---
See also: 'The Making of an Expert'
(Harvard Business Review)
Anders Ericsson, et al
Deliberate practice is:
- hard
- not fun
- boring
- repetitive
It needs to be designed to improve
performance. Deliberate practice may
frequently require a teacher's help.
It pushes just beyond but not way
beyond the practitioner's limits.
It can be repeated a lot and feedback
is continuously available. Deliberate
practice is highly demanding mentally
and isn't much fun.
-- Making deliberate practice work ---
..in my life
You need to know where you want to go.
Try to incorporate practice in work
(book argues that most workplaces are
not engineered to promote deliberate
practice). Feedback can come from meta
cognition (thinking about your
thinking) and use of an after action
report. Consider pursuing deep domain
knowledge (again not typically native
to many workplaces). Deliberate
practice bolsters the practitioner's
mental model. The mental model is a
powerful attribute of a knowledge
worker.
--- Making deliberate practice ---
--- a thing in my organization ---
The org needs to invest in people.
Many orgs use stretch job assignments.
Feedback is important for workers.
You can't force compliance. Motivation
must be intrinsic. For teams to grow
and develop they need to have trust.
Agendas must synchronize. Unresolved
conflict will disable the team. If
their is an unwillingness to face the
real issues the growth will not happen.
Innovation requires deep domain
knowledge. Innovation actually grows
slowly and is built on other creation.
--- Passion Develops ---
Intrinsic Motivation vs. Extrinsic
If you hit a state of flow deliberate
practice transforms from boring and
painful to fun and addictive.
The people who do become top-level
achievers are rarely childhood
prodigees. But, putting the time in
is easier to do if you start young.
The multiplier effect begins with some
small advantage. An advantage can be
something like early success. Maybe a
big fish in a small pond. It reinforces
drive so they will work hard even when
they become a medium fish in a big pond.
--- Anders Ericsson writes, ---
"The research frontier is parenting.
Push children too hard and they respond
with anger. You have to develop an
independent individual who has chosen
to be involved in this activity.
It's how you as a parent can make
individuals feel freed to reach these
levels and aware that this is going to
be a long process."
