Achieving Excellence Takes Talent AND Hard Work
Posted November 4th, 2013
Achieving excellence at anything is never easy, whether it is in your chosen field of work or some other endeavor. It’s no secret that it takes a lot of effort, and, many believe, innate ability as well.
But the latest research has shown that what we call talent or innate ability really plays a very small role in achieving excellence. It turns out that achievement depends a lot more on practice, in the same way you develop a muscle through exercise. It’s not so much what kind of ability you are born with, but rather how hard you are willing to work.
The takeaway is that to really achieve excellence, you have to really push yourself, to endure a lot of struggle and hardship, and deal as well with failures and setbacks.
To help you through this, experts offer some advice:
The first thing is to do what your truly enjoy, because this is the best way to motivate yourself to work at it. If you really enjoy doing something, you are willing to put in the hours it takes to become good at it, and you are better able to absorb setbacks while doing it.
Get the most difficult work out of the way first. Those who excel typically do their most grueling work first thing in the morning, when they have the most energy.
When you do work, do it with intensity, but for no longer than 90 minutes. Research has shown that this is the longest that we can go at an activity with all of our focus and energy. Beyond that amount of time, we tend to coast. Other research has shown that great performers practice for no longer than 4.5 hours a day.
Get advice from those more experienced than you about your work. But don’t do it too often. If the advice is delivered in small, easy to digest doses, it is much easier to make adjustments; too much advice all at once tends to overwhelm us rather than help.
You also need to take time to rest and relax. This is time to recover and build up strength for the work that will follow. It also allows time for what knowledge and skill you have gained to take hold and assimilate into your consciousness.
Try to make your practice habitual – set up a routine that is the same every day. This will help to make sure that you do it.
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