Can Talent be Predicted?

This morning I did something that I don’t do frequently enough. I keep saying I will do it, but I don’t.  I am here by making the commitment to do it more.  I went back through my hand written journal and looked at some of the notes that I took.

Last year I read The Two Second Advantage. Here is the link to the book http://www.amazon.com/Two-Second-Advantage-Succeed-Anticipating-Future–Just/dp/0307887650/

A solid read that I picked up really cheap in an airport. I took a lot of notes from the book, but here are just a few that I challenge you to think about today.

Predictiveness is the essence of talent.  Practice is the key to developing this predictiveness.  The practice has to be deliberate practice or deliberate performance, systematically strengthening the mental chunks associated with the skill through repetition while also incrementally adding new information and experiences.  Deliberate practice or performance also hones muscle memory.

Scientists claim a typical individual has to practice for about 10,000 hours over a period of years to acquire the predictiveness that makes someone an expert in a field.  Most of the worlds truly talented people got that way through determined focus and intense practice over a long period of time.  Scientists have discovered that there are no shortcuts to programming the brain.

No one is stuck with the skills, abilities, or the brain they have.  It’s possible to reconstruct a brain to overcome a physical disability or go into a new direction with deliberate practice and an intense focus.

So can talent be predicted?  Absolutely it can. Michael Jordan practiced free throws, Tiger Woods practices putts, Barack Obama has practiced his speeches. Each of them practiced so much that it became predictable that they would deliver.  But it requires work to do so.  It all really comes down to this.  Are you willing to do the work to become an expert in your chosen field.  That is the question for all of us.  Are you working to become an expert or are you just working?  Are you seeking to develop a talent or are you just seeing what you have to do to get a job done.

I challenge each of you with this question today, because it is the same challenge that I have. Do I want to be an expert in the field I am in, or would I like to be an expert in another field. We all have to make that decision. Once we make that decision we can get to work on the 10,000 hours needed to become the expert.  Time is a wasting, let’s get started.

To your success and your future.