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

Deliberate Practice

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Last weekend’s team camp put me way out of my comfort zone. Camp began with meeting my twelve new teammates. Though everyone was very welcoming, I already felt out of my element. Some people shine at meeting new people and thrive in that environment. However, I feel shy and withdrawn in when asked to put myself out there. Just being around all those new people got my palms sweaty and my heart racing. This was nothing compared to what was to come on the bike in the next 36 hours.

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doorway of Kyoto hostel

 

We headed over to a local corporate park to practice drills and skills. As a ‘cross racer, I went into this with the expectation that the exercises would be easy, because my handling skills are reasonable and I am used to feeling the bike slide around. I was so wrong. While I can’t divulge our team secrets, it is enough to say that I was challenged. Almost immediately after we started, I began to feel nervous and slightly sick to my stomach. My thumb is still swollen and sore from cross and I thought that was the problem. I didn’t realize until later that I was feeling ill because I was being pushed mentally. There were women riding who were completing the drills with ease and excelling where I had failed. There was the chance that I could fall, which even at a slow speed was very scary after hitting the ground so hard last weekend. The worst part was that skills I thought I was good at I had to accept that I needed to improve. At one point, we were practicing bunny-hopping over rubber chickens, which is hilarious because they squeak when you land on them, and I couldn’t even do that. I was falling apart!

Then we started a drill where three of us were loosely joined together and had to negotiate a course with several turns. I was paired with my long-time bestie and another skilled, experienced cyclist. The first time we went through the course, I took one turn too wide and lost the connection. My teammates encouraged me and gave me some helpful advice and we tried again. This time, my turn was smooth and I stayed next to them the entire time. Success!! At this point I started to realize that I was benefiting and improving from being pushed. I remembered the concept of deliberate practice put forth by Geoff Colvin in his book Talent is Overrated. (read my take on it at the link on the bottom)

I had been engaging in deliberate practice! It wasn’t fun and it was very taxing. I was mentally exhausted for the rest of the day, and we had another ride scheduled in the afternoon. Loosing the connection to my teammates was the immediate feedback so important to improving. Have the ladies gently correct and assist me were the teachers passing on knowledge and observing me in ways I can’t see myself. It hurt, but it was good for me.

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The rest of the weekend continued to push me out of my zone. Which is another way of saying that I was learning. For the entire weekend, I was in my cycling zone of proximal development. Vygotsky, a familiar name in the education field, proposes that learning occurs in this zone, when attempting tasks that can only be accompanied with the help of an experienced teacher. This weekend showed me that I have plenty of room to grow and the support to get there. Thanks everyone.

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Why falling on your butt makes you better

/ audreycycling / 1 Comment

IMG_0936 This morning it was cold. Very cold. My garmin said 53 degrees. Which, for a Californian, is verging on Arctic temperatures. Last night it was raining. And dark. Both days I rode my bike. Part of the reason I was able to find this motivation is that I recently finished reading Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. This book has reinvigorated my drive to be a successful cyclist. While mainly directed toward business employees and managers, his concepts and ideas are applicable in pursuit of any passion. He supports his argument through research on the concept of deliberate practice. According to Colvin, deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance, is endlessly repeatable, highly demanding and not very much fun. This is much different from putting your headphones in and spinning down the bike path without regard for cadence, HR, power or anything else. Though he allows that enjoyment definitely helps to improve motivation. People that desire to be the absolute best in their field, world class even, engage in deliberate practice for hours. Colvin supports Malcolm Gladwell’s theory, proposed in Outliers, that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to achieve greatness in any field. I once did the calculations on this, and in order to ride 10,000 hours, averaging 10 hours a week (just to make the math easy 😉 I would become a very good cyclist by the time I am around 50 years old. So watch out masters categories. I’m getting ready now.
I chose to write about this book because of the final chapter. To conclude his book, Colvin asks, What do you want? And what do you really believe?
What do you want? And what are you willing to give up in order to achieve that goal? The title of this post is taken from an example in the book of a gold medalist ice skater. Her goal, her all-consuming passion, was to win a gold medal. And in order to reach that goal she had to fall. Many, many times. On ice that is not forgiving. She had to wake up early, skip going out with her friends, skip the pizza, skip the beer, and engage in thousands of hours of deliberate practice.  Colvin is clear, the path of deliberate practice is fraught with difficulties. Failed relationships, lonely evenings, isolation. Somehow, great performers find the motivation to persevere.
What do you really believe? Do you think that because you were not born with an innate gift, you cannot excel? After reading Colvin’s book, be ready to examine that belief.
So, while the book emphasizes world class performers that started their practice before the age of five, the ideas and lessons can be applied to any pursuit at any age. I found it inspiring. Though I may not be an exceptional cyclist for many more years, every time that I get on the bike I am pursuing my goal.