Zhanara Rakhmetova told Steppe about how talent actually appears.
There is an opinion that talent is an innate quality. If a person plays a musical instrument masterfully or breaks records in sports, as a rule, they say that he has a natural gift. Is this really true?
In the first episode of his podcast One Percent (1%) Daniyar Abenov dotted all the i's, saying that science and facts tell a different story - in most cases, talented people are not born, but become. Daniyar took as a basis the books “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle, as well as the books “Maximum” by Anders Ericsson.
The Mozart phenomenon
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a great Austrian composer of the classical era. From early childhood, Mozart demonstrated a natural gift for music. From the age of 6, he composed music and performed in European royal courts, being already a serious performer on keyboards and violin.
Here is another story about Mozart, based on real historical data. Mozart's father, Leopold, was himself a good, although less famous, composer. Moreover, Leopold was one of the first people to promote the idea of teaching children music from early childhood.
He even wrote a practical guide for teaching children music. Leopold first honed his teaching skills on Wolfgang's older sister. And later he became closely involved in the musical education of little Mozart, who was then only 4 years old.
Based on records from those years, many historians believe that by the age of 6, Mozart had spent about 3,500 hours studying music. Surviving records show that Mozart began writing music at a very early age; his first compositions were not particularly original, but resembled the work of other composers of the time.
This is quite understandable, because he was still learning. Mozart composed his first serious compositions when he was already 15-16 years old, that is, by that time more than ten years had passed since the beginning of his studies. It turns out that in fact Mozart was by no means born a brilliant musician. He became one thanks to his father.
Laszlo Polgar's experiment
In the 1960s, Hungarian psychologist Laszlo Polgar studied hundreds of people who were considered geniuses in various fields. Based on his research, Polgar came to the conclusion that any child is capable of becoming a genius in any field with some support and training. Laszlo decided to prove this with his own children.
Through a marriage advertisement in a newspaper, Laszlo found the mother of his future children who agreed to his bold experiment. The Polgar couple had three daughters. For their experiment, the parents chose chess. All Polgar girls' education took place at home.
What were the results of this experiment?
Already at the age of 4, the eldest daughter, Zsuzsa, won her first chess tournament - the Budapest Championship for girls under 11 years old. At the age of 15, Zhuzha became the first in the world ranking of female chess players. Zsuzsa also became the first woman to achieve the men's International Master Grandmaster standard. With all this, Zhuzha was not the most titled chess player in the family.
The middle daughter, Sofia, at the age of 14, won the men's international chess tournament in Rome, demonstrating a phenomenal result - 8.5 points out of 9 possible. Sofia managed to reach 6th place in the ranking of the strongest female chess players in the world. But despite all these achievements, Sofia was considered a slacker in the Polgar family.
The youngest daughter, Judith, became the most successful among the sisters. And this is not surprising - after all, by the time of her birth, Polgar’s parents had already accumulated experience in raising 2 chess champions. Among Judit's many achievements is the title of International Grandmaster at the age of 15. At that time, Judit was the youngest player, both among women and among men, who was able to achieve this title. Judit remained the strongest female chess player in the world rankings for 25 years, namely until she retired from the sport.
The results of the Polgar family's experiment clearly demonstrated that with enough training, any child can turn into a child prodigy. Since this experiment, other studies have been conducted showing that genes do not predict talent. In particular, not a single combination of genes has been discovered that would be responsible for a person’s success in a particular area.
At the same time, a large number of experiments and studies have been conducted that clearly demonstrate that anyone can become a first-class master in any field, given enough effort and time. So how does this process work? How does talent develop?
With the development of new technologies, scientists have the opportunity to look under the cortex of the brain and understand what happens in our heads as we develop skills and gain knowledge. Since 2005, many studies have shown that there is a directly proportional relationship between training and skill development, as well as the density and structure of white matter in the human brain.
For example, a connection has been proven between the amount of time pianists spent practicing and the density of white matter in their heads. In other words, the more practice, the denser the white matter in the pianists' brains.
White matter provides pathways that are covered with myelin, a white fatty tissue. Myelin's job is to allow the electrical signal to travel through the neuron without allowing the signal to lose its strength.
It is myelin that is responsible for the development of neural networks in the brain. It is he who helps us acquire and improve skills by improving the functioning of neural networks.
The longer you develop a skill, the denser the myelin coating becomes. And the denser the myelin coating around the pathways, the stronger the skill. Be it sports, dancing, singing, playing a musical instrument or any intellectual skill such as speed reading. All this can be learned by “winding” enough myelin.
However, not every activity or training can lead to talent. To develop talent, you need deliberate and focused practice, multiplied by several thousand hours.
What is “deliberate and deliberate practice”? Experts agree on several elements of this practice. Of these, 5 main ones can be distinguished:
First- It is very important to work with an experienced teacher, instructor or trainer. It is advisable that your mentor already has success in your chosen activity. It is also important that your mentor has experience teaching others - ideally someone of a similar age and level to you.
Second element- this is complete concentration on the process. You need to be constantly turned on during classes, that is, the learning process should be conscious and not automatic. Maintaining a high level of attention continuously is quite difficult. Therefore, experts advise starting with shorter sessions and increasing their duration gradually.
Third element deliberate practice aims to break down the skill being studied into its component parts and work on these components one at a time. Experts also advise training such components at different speeds, slower or faster.
Fourth element- this is repetition. It is necessary to exercise as often as possible, especially as you age. If you do not train often, at some point this will cause the layer of white fatty tissue (myelin) to become thinner and a high level of skill will be lost.
And finally fifth element- this is motivation. Conscious, goal-oriented activities are very labor-intensive. Therefore, it is important to stay motivated in order to maintain such an intense regimen. To do this, it is useful to remember your goal all the time, try to enjoy the process, and rejoice in small victories.
The fact that talent is not given by nature, but that you can create it yourself, is very encouraging. In fact, anyone, regardless of age, can develop any skill with enough effort and patience.
And perhaps you don’t want to become a grandmaster or virtuoso of violin playing, devoting thousands of hours to this, but just, for example, want to “pull up” an existing skill or learn something new, for example, to sing well in karaoke or play the piano. guitar.
Once you try these 5 key elements, you will see how effectively they will lead you to your goal. Not everything will work out at first, but with each conscious and focused practice, the results will surprise you.
Why do some achieve exceptional success while others are content with very average results? What determines success: talent, intelligence, education, ambition, or a combination of all of the above plus a bit of luck? , a senior editor and regular contributor to Fortune magazine, draws on numerous research studies to argue that world-class results are within the reach of nearly everyone, and the key to achieving them is deliberate practice.
It's not about talent
The most common explanation for extraordinary success is natural gift. Plus, as Jeff Colvin writes, the best part about this explanation is that we can legitimately put the idea of doing a great job out of our heads. After all, if we had some kind of natural gift, we would already know about it, but since we don’t have it, then we shouldn’t bother. The author proposes to reconsider the role of innate talents, emphasizing the fact that “talents themselves are much less significant than we used to think,” and if innate abilities exist, and some scientists doubt this, then success is not created by them. General abilities, such as intelligence and memory, also turned out to be not so important. “Research shows that in many fields there is little or no relationship between intelligence and job performance,” writes Jeff Colvin. “People with low IQs perform brilliantly, but those with high IQs sometimes fail to rise above mediocrity.”
According to the author, innate, unchangeable limits are of cardinal importance for achieving success. A person 150 cm tall is unlikely to become a famous basketball player, or his voice, for example, can be developed as desired, but the range is limited - a tenor will not be able to sing in bass. Everything that lies outside the physical framework turns out to be controversial, writes Colvin. Clear evidence that nonphysical limits exist has not yet been found.
Deliberate Practice
“In general, deliberate practice is about pushing ourselves beyond what we can usually do,” says Jeff Colvin. It's not easy and not very pleasant. But if everything were easy and pleasant, then everyone would achieve success.
The success of using deliberate practice depends on the answers to two questions, the author believes. What do you really want? And what do you believe in? To answer the first, you need to understand your own true desires - only those who are driven by a strong desire and are ready for dedication and self-sacrifice will achieve success. As for faith, there is a chance for those who believe that if they do properly planned work for several hours a day for many years, they will be able to begin to perform significantly better and even achieve outstanding success. “If you feel that the quality of your work is forever limited by your lack of a special natural gift or lack of general ability at the level you have defined for yourself, then you have no chance of success,” writes Jeff Colvin.
Detailing how to develop and implement a mindful practice , Jeff Colvin also pays attention to organizations - they also want to be successful. “The best organizations assign people to work generally in the same way that sports coaches or music teachers choose exercises for their students,” he writes. “By trying to push them beyond their capabilities and encouraging them to develop the most important skills.” Applying the principles of successful operation is not easy, but companies that want to survive have no choice.
So, the price of great success is extremely high, but “the most amazing and inspiring news that the facts present to us is this: success is not only for the elite. It is available to everyone."
Jeff Colvin Outstanding results. Talent has nothing to do with it! - M. .
Abilities and talents - these words seem similar in meaning, but they also have deep differences. For many years we have heard that talent is only a small part of success, the rest depends on hard work and perseverance. But is this really so, and most importantly, how do you know in what area you are really talented?
The question is far from idle, because only by doing “his” business can a person achieve unprecedented heights in professional activity and get great pleasure from it, living in complete harmony with himself. Together with the site, we will learn to identify hidden talents or develop abilities.
Talents and abilities: what's the difference?
Before we start searching for the most competent approach to personal development and the components of success, let’s try to decide on the main concepts with which we will operate. Remember how they sometimes say about a budding artist: “he is not just capable, he is truly talented!” Talent, in this case, is referred to as a certain maximum measure of ability. What do scientists think about this?
An ability is considered to be a skill or skill that a person acquires during the learning process and makes it possible to successfully cope with a particular type of activity. So, a master who can determine in a matter of seconds what happened to your car (computer or vacuum cleaner) is most likely not a genius, although he has plenty of ability and opportunities for learning, that is, practice. What then is talent?
We are used to poeticizing this concept, calling it a gift from above, but scientists are sure: it’s all about genetics! They define talent as an innate, genetically determined ability to perform certain tasks.
Is it so important to be talented?
So, the originality of someone’s data is determined by set of genes, inherited by a person from his parents. But what about the statement that only hard work will lead to victory, and talent, without proper effort, will achieve nothing?
To identify the influence of talent on achieving results, scientists conducted an experiment on a control group of athletes. Not only the level of initial training was the same, but also the conditions, as well as the intensity of the load.
As one would expect, the subjects showed completely different results: some significantly improved their initial performance, while others achieved almost no success. At the same time, participants in the experiment who had similar biological data demonstrated approximately the same achievements.
It turns out that work, even very hard work, is not enough, and you need to have innate abilities inherited from your parents? But perhaps such abilities are needed only by athletes, and other laws apply in the field of intellectual activity?
Scientists have studied this issue in detail, examining the relationship between the intensity of practical training among musicians and chess players and the results they demonstrated. It turned out that the level of skill depends only 30% on practice, and the rest is determined by innate abilities!
The theory of 10,000 hours: still work
Perhaps you have heard about the theory of 10,000 hours of work? Its author, M. Gladwell, claims that it is ten thousand hours of hard practice that allow a person to master perfectly a certain skill, regardless of the ratio of a person’s talents and abilities.
In the group of subjects (these were students learning to play the violin), outstanding results were achieved only by those who spent exactly the same number of hours studying. Violinists who spent 8,000 hours practicing showed good results. Those who limited themselves to 4,000 hours of training received a very mediocre level of training.
Does this mean that by devoting a strictly defined time to honing a certain skill, you will become an unsurpassed professional in your chosen field of activity?
Indeed, the intensive efforts that you make when mastering this or that type of activity will contribute to a specific restructuring of your brain, and therefore will make you very effective in your chosen field.
What is more important: talent or hard work?
So, we have every reason to believe that talent is very important if you are not going to be satisfied with average performance and have a firm intention to conquer the peaks and top the ratings, to become a brilliant professional.
It is your talent and abilities that will allow you to easily and naturally cope with tasks that others can only achieve at the cost of considerable effort. But, of course, talent alone is not enough if, having achieved your first successes, you do not apply the due diligence. It is work that polishes the edges of talent and makes it reveal itself to the fullest.
What if you’re unlucky with talent? In this case, the 10,000 hours of hard work spent will also not be in vain; they will allow a capable “average” person to become an excellent professional.
What to do if you are not very talented
So, what to do if you are sure that you were unlucky with your talents and, unlike those who always shone at the Olympics, famously scored goals or produced divine sounds, easily running their fingers over the keys, you modestly drew caricatures in the margins of your notebook and Did you take home a report card with C grades?
Probably, you were simply unlucky with teachers who did not take the trouble to discern your talents and abilities. Because talent can manifest itself in something completely ordinary, to which even you yourself have not paid much attention.
Remember and analyze what exactly comes easier to you than others, and at the same time brings great pleasure? It is in this area of activity that you have undoubted abilities that are worth developing and improving!
We begin to look for deeply hidden talents
Urging you not to go with the flow and urgently figure out your (still hidden) talents and abilities, we bring to your attention several questions that will give you the opportunity to discover what exactly you are strong in:
1. What is the opinion of your loved ones about your talents and abilities? Ask this question to everyone who has known you well for a long time, perhaps they will point out one or another of your strengths that you simply did not attach much importance to. Be sure to analyze everything you hear from a certain position.
2. Think about which of the things listed by your acquaintances and friends is easy for you, but the result exceeds your wildest expectations? Remember not only school lessons, but any episodes in which you shone. Make a list to think about the information in more detail.
3. Now try to answer which of the above is not only easy and good for you, but also brings you pleasure. Found it? Most likely this is your talent, which you have diligently tried to “bury” for many years.
You may be asking why do you need all this? You are already a good professional, so why and who needs this search for talent? Alas, life, consisting exclusively of everyday routine, becomes monotonous and boring. That's why we often get irritated for no reason, grumble and even We plunge into depression. Very often, considering ourselves not very talented, we do not realize the need for self-expression and deprive ourselves of the most fascinating moments of inspired creativity that are so familiar to talented people.
Read even more about how to know yourself and better understand others at estet-portal.com.
Zhanara Rakhmetova told Steppe about how talent actually appears.
There is an opinion that talent is an innate quality. If a person plays a musical instrument masterfully or breaks records in sports, as a rule, they say that he has a natural gift. Is this really true?
In the first episode of his podcast One Percent (1%) Daniyar Abenov dotted all the i's, saying that science and facts tell a different story - in most cases, talented people are not born, but become. Daniyar took as a basis the books “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle, as well as the books “Maximum” by Anders Ericsson.
The Mozart phenomenon
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a great Austrian composer of the classical era. From early childhood, Mozart demonstrated a natural gift for music. From the age of 6, he composed music and performed in European royal courts, being already a serious performer on keyboards and violin.
Here is another story about Mozart, based on real historical data. Mozart's father, Leopold, was himself a good, although less famous, composer. Moreover, Leopold was one of the first people to promote the idea of teaching children music from early childhood.
He even wrote a practical guide for teaching children music. Leopold first honed his teaching skills on Wolfgang's older sister. And later he became closely involved in the musical education of little Mozart, who was then only 4 years old.
Based on records from those years, many historians believe that by the age of 6, Mozart had spent about 3,500 hours studying music. Surviving records show that Mozart began writing music at a very early age; his first compositions were not particularly original, but resembled the work of other composers of the time.
This is quite understandable, because he was still learning. Mozart composed his first serious compositions when he was already 15-16 years old, that is, by that time more than ten years had passed since the beginning of his studies. It turns out that in fact Mozart was by no means born a brilliant musician. He became one thanks to his father.
Laszlo Polgar's experiment
In the 1960s, Hungarian psychologist Laszlo Polgar studied hundreds of people who were considered geniuses in various fields. Based on his research, Polgar came to the conclusion that any child is capable of becoming a genius in any field with some support and training. Laszlo decided to prove this with his own children.
Through a marriage advertisement in a newspaper, Laszlo found the mother of his future children who agreed to his bold experiment. The Polgar couple had three daughters. For their experiment, the parents chose chess. All Polgar girls' education took place at home.
What were the results of this experiment?
Already at the age of 4, the eldest daughter, Zsuzsa, won her first chess tournament - the Budapest Championship for girls under 11 years old. At the age of 15, Zhuzha became the first in the world ranking of female chess players. Zsuzsa also became the first woman to achieve the men's International Master Grandmaster standard. With all this, Zhuzha was not the most titled chess player in the family.
The middle daughter, Sofia, at the age of 14, won the men's international chess tournament in Rome, demonstrating a phenomenal result - 8.5 points out of 9 possible. Sofia managed to reach 6th place in the ranking of the strongest female chess players in the world. But despite all these achievements, Sofia was considered a slacker in the Polgar family.
The youngest daughter, Judith, became the most successful among the sisters. And this is not surprising - after all, by the time of her birth, Polgar’s parents had already accumulated experience in raising 2 chess champions. Among Judit's many achievements is the title of International Grandmaster at the age of 15. At that time, Judit was the youngest player, both among women and among men, who was able to achieve this title. Judit remained the strongest female chess player in the world rankings for 25 years, namely until she retired from the sport.
The results of the Polgar family's experiment clearly demonstrated that with enough training, any child can turn into a child prodigy. Since this experiment, other studies have been conducted showing that genes do not predict talent. In particular, not a single combination of genes has been discovered that would be responsible for a person’s success in a particular area.
At the same time, a large number of experiments and studies have been conducted that clearly demonstrate that anyone can become a first-class master in any field, given enough effort and time. So how does this process work? How does talent develop?
With the development of new technologies, scientists have the opportunity to look under the cortex of the brain and understand what happens in our heads as we develop skills and gain knowledge. Since 2005, many studies have shown that there is a directly proportional relationship between training and skill development, as well as the density and structure of white matter in the human brain.
For example, a connection has been proven between the amount of time pianists spent practicing and the density of white matter in their heads. In other words, the more practice, the denser the white matter in the pianists' brains.
White matter provides pathways that are covered with myelin, a white fatty tissue. Myelin's job is to allow the electrical signal to travel through the neuron without allowing the signal to lose its strength.
It is myelin that is responsible for the development of neural networks in the brain. It is he who helps us acquire and improve skills by improving the functioning of neural networks.
The longer you develop a skill, the denser the myelin coating becomes. And the denser the myelin coating around the pathways, the stronger the skill. Be it sports, dancing, singing, playing a musical instrument or any intellectual skill such as speed reading. All this can be learned by “winding” enough myelin.
However, not every activity or training can lead to talent. To develop talent, you need deliberate and focused practice, multiplied by several thousand hours.
What is “deliberate and deliberate practice”? Experts agree on several elements of this practice. Of these, 5 main ones can be distinguished:
First- It is very important to work with an experienced teacher, instructor or trainer. It is advisable that your mentor already has success in your chosen activity. It is also important that your mentor has experience teaching others - ideally someone of a similar age and level to you.
Second element- this is complete concentration on the process. You need to be constantly turned on during classes, that is, the learning process should be conscious and not automatic. Maintaining a high level of attention continuously is quite difficult. Therefore, experts advise starting with shorter sessions and increasing their duration gradually.
Third element deliberate practice aims to break down the skill being studied into its component parts and work on these components one at a time. Experts also advise training such components at different speeds, slower or faster.
Fourth element- this is repetition. It is necessary to exercise as often as possible, especially as you age. If you do not train often, at some point this will cause the layer of white fatty tissue (myelin) to become thinner and a high level of skill will be lost.
And finally fifth element- this is motivation. Conscious, goal-oriented activities are very labor-intensive. Therefore, it is important to stay motivated in order to maintain such an intense regimen. To do this, it is useful to remember your goal all the time, try to enjoy the process, and rejoice in small victories.
The fact that talent is not given by nature, but that you can create it yourself, is very encouraging. In fact, anyone, regardless of age, can develop any skill with enough effort and patience.
And perhaps you don’t want to become a grandmaster or virtuoso of violin playing, devoting thousands of hours to this, but just, for example, want to “pull up” an existing skill or learn something new, for example, to sing well in karaoke or play the piano. guitar.
Once you try these 5 key elements, you will see how effectively they will lead you to your goal. Not everything will work out at first, but with each conscious and focused practice, the results will surprise you.
Who achieves more success, fame, money? Someone who has great talent or someone who is extremely hard-working?
Talent is great. This is Mozart.
Salieri, of course, is inferior to him. Too predictable.
But... Due to my profession, I have seen many artists, musicians, fashion designers, poets, and writers.
I saw how people who did not shine with outstanding talent (although they undoubtedly had abilities!) achieved much greater professional success in life than the Mozarts. They received membership in unions, exhibitions, and titles. They had many orders and achieved an excellent financial situation.
Why are they successful? Yes because they are reliable. Anyone wants to do business with them.
Such an author will not let you down. He will take the order, conclude the contract, fulfill all the conditions, and submit the manuscript on time. He will work harmoniously with the editor and will not “split off numbers.” What he cannot achieve with talent, he will achieve with perseverance, hard work, and professionalism.
To compensate for the lack of talent, you definitely need a good school and serious preparation. This is a very important condition.
Therefore, if you have ambitions, hard work, a desire to improve your professional level, hone your skills, and the ability to listen to the people with whom you collaborate, then you have good prospects.
Publishers and editors will work with you because you are reliable, responsible, and will not let you down.
But I repeat: you must have abilities! It is impossible without this. If a bear has really gotten into a person’s ear from the point of view of literary hearing, then it’s unlikely that anything will help.
By the way, Salieri was also a very capable musician, although because of Pushkin’s little tragedies he was criticized for nothing. In fact, he left behind a lot of excellent compositions that are still performed today.
True, there was no breath of God in him, like Mozart...
In short, to achieve success, it is not at all necessary to think about yourself: “I am a great talent! I am this, I am that!” Let your readers evaluate the level of your talent; they know best.
It is better to think of yourself as a good professional who strives to become even better and is ready to constantly grow. Then the profession will definitely obey you, because it respects persistent, hardworking people.
And talents that are from God sometimes do not reach the finish line. They leave the race too early, I’ve seen this more than once.
High expectations, intoxication with one's own talent, being chosen, inability to overcome difficulties, stress, alcoholism... The result is unfulfillment.
____________________________________
The post was written following a conversation with friend Galina Vrublevskaya