The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Malcolm Gladwell’

I received a complimentary copy of the Skinny on Success: why not you? If you are new to this blog, I reviewed a copy of The Skinny on Time Management on Monday (four days ago).

Reviewing the interview responses for my book Tales of People Who Get It, to become successful requires focus, passion and continuous learning. Most of us are looking for “the formula” for success, so we are always on the hunt.

The author of the Skinny on Success: why not you? Jim Randel states the goal for the Skinny On books as, “to do the reading for you, cull out what is important, distill the key points, and present in a book that is both instructive and fun to read.”

This book does not give you a formula for success, but gives you many explanations on why some people succeed and others don’t. It’s not going to tell you how to attain personal and professional success, so if that’s what you are looking for, this isn’t the book that will deliver.

The book is very inspirational, and if you do not know the stories of  many well known successful people, you’d be surprised to discover the hard work they put in to attain success. You seldom find overnight successes, you find more overnight successes, that were 10 years or more in the making. After you read about the deliberate practice and persistence of some of these people, you’ll realize that you too can achieve success if you’re willing to put in the hard work.

Randel looks closely at many books on success, and gives a bit more focus on Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success, Geoff Colvin’s Talent is Overrated and Daniel Coyne’s The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Talent isn’t enough to become successful, persistent practice is essential. (Click here to see my article, “Creating Your Signature – Journey to Becoming a Master, which includes the steps to take to become an expert.”)

He mentions research by Professor K. Anders Ericsson referenced in Outliers that states that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, which equates to 10 years. To support that figure, Michael Masterson, an uber successful entrepreneur, internet marketer and copywriter suggests that, “To achieve mastery, you will have to continue to practice that skill for a total of 5,000 hours. Virtuosity is extremely rare. You can’t get it simply by practicing. You must also have a natural gift. Even then, you must practice at least 10,000 hours to achieve it.”

Five Great Ideas

1. The key to success is deliberate practice and repetition
2. The potential for greatness lives inside all of us
3. Every successful person has experienced setbacks
4. People, even the ones who love you, have their own dreams so you have to go after the life you want, with passion
5. The more you persist, the better you get

Characteristics of Successful People

1. Willingness to act
2. Prepare for adversity
3. Take steps to maximize probability of success
4. Take action
5. Combat fear of failure
6. Develop mental strength
7. Optimistic – see the glass as half full
8. Hardworking
9. Persistent
10. Believe in right and wrong

When I read the title of the book, The Skinny on Success: Why not you? I wasn’t sure of what to expect. Having written a book that includes information on success, I could relate to the information in the book. One of the questions that I asked the 34 interviewees for my book Tales of People Who Get It, was, “In your opinion, what is the formula for success?” And for the interviews for this blog I also ask for the definition of success.

I recommend The Skinny on Success: Why not you? and I suggest that you also review some of the interviews on this blog, and focus on the responses to the questions about success, including the one about the steps people took to arrive at success in their careers. How do the responses relate to the information in the book. Remember, do not ever read in a vacuum, connect what you’re reading to what you already know.

I also wanted to mention that I appreciated all the books that Jim Randel referenced to write this book because I learn about some books that I otherwise would not know about.

Books Mentioned

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live, Martha Beck

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, Ken Robinson

Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham

The Road Less Traveled, 25th Anniversary Edition : A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth, Scott Peck

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck

Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else, Geoff Colvin

The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How., Daniel Coyne

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey

Losing My Virginity, Richard Branson

Life You Imagine: Life Lessons For Achieving Your Dreams, Derek Jeter

The Creative Habit, Twyla Tharp

The Principles of Psychology, William James

Wake Up and Live, Dorothea Brande

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

For your research and writing needs, consider my firm Ambeck Enterprise for white papers, articles, fact sheets, anniversary booklets, you name it. Since I am the best kept secret you may not know this, but I have over 15 years research and writing experience. I KNOW content. And if you cannot figure out which books to read for professional development, I am your WOMAN, I can assist you with that too.

Note: All book links are Amazon Affiliate

Photo Credit: via Apture

This  post was inspired by a fascinating story I read in The Skinny On Success: Why Not You? by Jim Randel. The author relates a story in Geoff Covin’s book, Talent is Overrated. In the book, Hungarian psychologist Laszlo Polgar wanted to test if talent was born or made. He ran an ad for a wife, but the twist is that their children would be raised to be champions in a field unrelated to their parents’, that neither had an aptitude for.

Schoolteacher Klara responded to the ad and agreed to the terms. Laszlo and Klara decided they would attempt to create chess champions since neither were accomplished in the game. They had three girls, Zsuzsa, Zsófia, and Judit and at that time it was the general belief that women didn’t  have what it took to excel at chess. The couple home schooled their daughters,  immersing them in intensive chess training.

In no time, the girls were competing in the game. The first daughter became the first chess grand master ever. The second daughter became the youngest grand master ever, male or female. And the third daughter is currently the number 1 ranked female player. According to Wikipedia, “Only 11 out of the world’s about 950 grandmasters [are female].”

Is this conclusive evidence that talent is made, not born? What are your thoughts? Is talent overrated?

Here is an excerpt from Did Malcolm Gladwell Rip Me Off? By Michael Masterson in Early to Rise Ezine.

“There are four levels of proficiency in any valuable skill – incompetence, competence, mastery, and virtuosity.

• To get past incompetence, you must spend about 1,000 hours practicing the skill you eventually want to master.
• After putting in about 1,000 hours, you will be competent. To achieve mastery, you will have to continue to practice that skill for a total of 5,000 hours.
• Virtuosity is extremely rare. You can’t get it simply by practicing. You must also have a natural gift. Even then, you must practice at least 10,000 hours to achieve it.

Michael Jordan was a virtuoso basketball player. Mozart was a virtuoso composer. Warren Buffett has been a virtuoso investor. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you must become a virtuoso. You can achieve greatness and make a fortune by becoming a master of your chosen skill.”

If talent is made and not born, what are the implications for you? Are you interested in mastering a skill? Are you prepared to practice deliberately? Please chime in by commenting. Keep the conversation flowing. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

For your research and writing needs, consider my firm Ambeck Enterprise for white papers, articles, fact sheets, anniversary booklets, you name it. Since I am the best kept secret you may not know this, but I have over 15 years research and writing experience. I KNOW content. And if you cannot figure out which books to read for professional development, I am your WOMAN, I can assist you with that too.

Related Articles

The Grandmaster Experiment

Home-Grown Grandmasters; Laszlo Polgar’s Daughters Were Pawns in an Experiment That Changed the Chess World

Book links are affiliate links

Photo Credit:  Flickr via Apture