Review: Coyle, Daniel (2009). The Talent Code. New York: Random House (Extract from Chapter 1- The Sweet Spot)
“Greatness isn’t born. It’s grown” (Coyle, 2009). Here starts Daniel Coyle’s bestselling book “The Talent Code”, which includes the article in review: “The Sweet Spot”.
Its paper has the argument that the “Talent Code” is formed by three different kind of elements, the first of all is based on deep practice, which involves not only having a talent or practicing a skill but also accepting that is good to make mistakes due to the fact that it lead us to another level, developing both of our abilities and connection with the environment, society and ourselves, forming a cycle that guide us almost to perfection.
From examples such as visits to talents hotbeds people and countries , quotes from books and college researches he introduces his theme. Furthermore, he brings out educators, writers and researchers opinions about the deep practice method, telling the story of Edwin Link and the U.S Air Force, coacher Clifford and the Brazilian Futsal/Soccer games . Holding up on this, the author shows his thesis: that no matter how many hours or money you spend, it will be worthless unless you go deep into the subject.
To prove his argument Coyle uses keywords like: deep practice; skills; talent and paradox, showing through this that talent means nothing without the experience of developing it. In other words, “it's all about finding the sweet spot ” (Coyle,2009.p.19), you have to capture the essence of the task, what makes that thing so important that you and other people might renounce your time to learn the previously mentioned exercise.
While you are searching the “sweet spot”, you are confronted with questions such: How far would you go to develop this activity?; Are you really willing to do this?; Are you a quitter?; If two people are using the same method, in this case deep practice, why just one person become successful?; What about the distinctions between human beings?. Those doubts defy our mental and physical capacity, revealing our aptitudes, desires, fears and needs.
Nevertheless, when the writer exposes his opinion, he enters into questions about personality, fate and natural abilities due to it can’t be denied that some people have predisposition to do a couple of activities and that sometimes you just have to be in the right place, in the right time to your dreams come true.
Introduction- In order to succeed in life, you have to be open to trying new experiences, even if you know you might fail. If you do fail, you have to persevere and try again if you want to reach your goal. To become better than you are, you must be exposed to new ideas and moments of failure and doubt.
Within his book he uses results from a study that surveyed a group of violinist from a music schools. The study concluded that the violinist who practiced for 10,000 hours or more would play professionally, and the violinist who only had 5,000 hours of practice would become school music teachers. Malcolm Gladwell also uses hockey players as a source of evidence stating that the younger they start playing with the all-star teams the more practices they will gain adding up to the minimum of 10,000 hours that they need to become successful and play in professional level. To sum up his claim of 10,000 hours he states “And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder,” (39) meaning that those who are at the highest point of success are there because they have practiced harder to get there than anyone else around them. However looking back to what Sonia Alleyne wrote about Frans Johnson’s book, areas such as music and sports are areas where rules never change. Thus deliberate practice and reaching the magical number of 10,000 hours would make a violinist or hockey player successful. Along with the result of David Z. Hambrick’s study even if 10,000 hours of deliberate practice is the ideal goal of individuals trying to reach the highest point of success, consideration must be taken that there are some individuals who have innate talent and skill with the ability to reach this point of success requiring less deliberate
Everyone wants to get better at something, but some want it more than others. In “How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium”, the narrator wants to get better at basketball, so he wakes up everyday at 4:30 to go with his dad to his work. Everyday, the narrator would wait 3 hours in his dad’s car until the gym opened, only to sit on the bench and watch the other men play basketball. Finally, one of the best players, Dante, tells the narrator he can play but he’ll get “smoked”. However, the narrator proved him wrong. The narrator learns that if you persevere, work hard, and have confidence, your dreams may come true. In How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place
Ralph Waldo Emerson, A well known author , wrote a quote stating " Unless you try to do something beyond what you have mastered , you will never grow ". This statement speaks true volume because you are not challenging yourself to improve the skill sets that you have and your are limiting yourself to what you can actually achieve. His quote should be used as an inspirational guideline to help encourage others to go beyond what they have already accomplished. Getting involved in certain activities or even trying something new can allow people to explore their potential in ways they would have never done prior. In order for someone to challenge themselves they should figure out new ways to improve their overall demeanor.
11. Gyatso, Tenzin. “How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life” New York: Atria. 2002, pp 71.
I learned a lot from interviewing the Coach Maldonado. The main thing I got out of this interview was something I was taught growing up. The outcome depends on how much work you put into doing a task. It’s not something I really learned from Coach Maldonado but it reenforces the idea. I like this idea because if you 're not going work hard for something then why should you expect great results as an outcome. The harder you work for something the more rewarding it becomes at the end. Now a days if you want to become great, it takes a lot of work and time. Professionals didn 't screw around in college and expect to be professional over night, no they worked hard to get at the level they 're at.
2)Ginsberg and Super’s Theories of Career Development assert that there are several predictive stages of career development, based moreover on the developmental stages of life. Under this theory, as a child I was in the fantasy period; I saw myself becoming a famous model/dancer/actress or presti...
First, Gladwell’s claims are impressively effective as a direct result of his use of professional expertise. Perhaps one of the most important aspects in chapter two, entitled The 10,000-Hour Rule, is the inclusion of professional neurologist, Daniel Levitin, who absolutely supports Gladwell’s main argument. “Ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert – in anything,” writes Levitin (40). Equally important to the arguments made in chapter two, psychologist K. Anders Ericsson provides professional insight into the world of the “gifted.” In addition, Gladwell makes use of the findings of professional psychologist, Michael Howe, and renowned music critic, Harold Schonberg, regarding the length of time it took Mozart to produce “his greatest works” (41). By including these experts, Levitin and Howe, within his argument, Gladwell strengthens his claim that success frequently depends on how...
According to Driscoll (2000), there are three processes when reflecting on one’s practice. They are: ‘What?’, ‘so what?’ and ‘Now what?’ Using Driscoll’s reflective cycle will enable me to link theory to practice.
The theory that the more one practices the better one becomes. To follow the dream of excellence you must practice your assignment for a total of 10,000 hours or more. “The students who would end up the best in their class began to practice more than everyone else: six hours a week by age nine, eight hours a week by age twelve, sixteen hours by age fourteen, and up and up, until the age of twenty they were practicing well over thirty hours a week” (39) in a sense this excerpt confirms what society has told people for years, that practice makes perfect. Of course some people are born with raw talent, however how does one expect to improve their abilities if they do not rehearse. Anyone can be mediocre without practice, but in order to make it in the big shots one must give their one hundred and ten percent to beat out the competition. It’s all about how one distinguishes themself from another and the only way to do that is to show off that skill that has been practiced repeatedly. Preferably 10,000 hours
During practice optimal motivation and excitement need to be given to players to not only insure they progress in their skill aptitude, but also to make the environment fun, creative, and innovative for all athletes involved. Martens specifically describes the “flow experience” as an “optimal” time where players aren’t too anxious or under motivated to perform (Martens, 108). Coaches can heed this advice by planning light, medium, and intense exercise drills, changing the modes of exercise, changing the environment, or through utilizing the teaching principle called the “games approach” (Martens, 154). If the “games approach” is used then the monotony of training will decrease because fun tactical activities based around in game situations will be used instead of repetitive technique drills that often bore players and inspire them to quit a sport early in season. Shaping of play with different teammates or rules, focusing of play through freeze play drills, and enhancing play through different techniques are all effective ways to utilize the games approach to improve tactical sport awareness (Martens, 156). For instance, instead of practicing soccer free kicks repeatedly, the players could do 3 on 3 games utilizing half of the field, they could limit the game to midfield and freeze at times to see whoever gets the most
21.The disposition of some bodies toward the exercise of artistic talent and others toward talent in
Mastering one’s self is essential in reaching one’s full potential. In this paper I will attempt to articulate what it means to achieve personal mastery. I will first provide my own personal portrayal of personal mastery. Following, I will illustrate examples from my life, and what personal mastery means to me.
“Children and youth with outstanding talent perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment.
Throughout my life, my strengths and weaknesses tend to gain more clarity, as I grow older. When I was younger, I did not focus too much on this part of myself. I was interested in child things. I must now use my strengths to improve my weaknesses to strengthen my faults. Several of my strengths are centered on my profession because the majority of my time is spent there. Some of my qualities are beneficial to different situations, while the other qualities hinder. Although we describe our strengths as positive attributes and our weaknesses as negative attributes, they make us who and what we are as individuals. Because of these qualities, each of us is unique in different ways. It is imp...