How Using the Power of Routine Can Make You a Top Performer

In the early 1990s, a very rigorous scientific study was done in Berlin on music.  The study’s objective was to understand why certain violinists were more talented than others were.  This study is related in a fascinating book by Geoff Colvin called Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World Class Performers from Everybody Else. In order to do the study, the researchers created three groups of violinists–best, above average and good.  Each of these three groups were spending the same amount of their time involved in music-related activities. One of the most interesting things going into the study was that the violinist all seemed to know what particular activity mattered most in order to make them better at the violin: Practicing alone.  In fact, all of the violinist seemed to know this but, of course, they all did not do it.  The researchers quickly discovered that the amount of time the various groups spent practicing alone varied dramatically. The study discovered that the advantages of consistent practice built-up over time.  All of the test subjects were asked to estimate how much they had practiced.  The results were significant

• Best Violinists-By the age of 18 these violinists has accumulated 7,410 hours of lifetime practice on average as a group.
• Above Average Violinists-By the age of 18 these violinists had accumulated 5,301 hours of lifetime practice on average.
• Good Violinists-By the age of 18 these violinists had accumulated on average of 3,420 hours of practice on average.

The study concluded that

The differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a lifetime period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain.

The reason this study is so significant is due to the fact that it flies in the face of the idea of innate talent.  While many people work hard, this study also shows that the people who work [Read more]

The Pygmalion Effect and Setting Incredible Expectations for Your Career and Life

In your life, have you ever been around people who set either extremely high or extremely low expectations for you?  It is important that you surround yourself with people who believe in you and what you can achieve.  It is equally important that you distance yourself from people who do not believe that, for whatever reason, you are not capable of achieving much. In your career and personal life you are going to be around both sets of people: People who believe in you and those who do not.  What is so striking is just how much [Read more]

Improve When Others Are Not

One of the more interesting experiences of my life occurred when I was about 13 years old and I was on an airplane headed to Spain to study for the summer with a group of high school students. The airplane had literally been held up about 20 minutes because of me. I was so much younger than the other travelers that no one was too interested in spending much time with me. Consequently, I had mostly been left to my own devices up to that point in the trip.  We were traveling from Detroit to New York and I was almost left [Read more]