Deliberate Practice does it.

Why Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin
The Role of Deliberate Practice in the acquisition of Expert Performance

"People believe that because expert performance is qualita-
tively different from normal performancethe expert performer
must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from
those of normal adults. This view has discouraged scien-
tists from systematically examiningexpert performers and ac-
counting for their performance in terms of the laws and princi-
ples of general psychology. Weagree that expert performanceis
qualitatively different from normal performance and even that
expert performers have characteristics and abilities that are
qualitatively different from or at least outside the range of those
of normal adults. However, we deny that these differences are
immutable, that is, due to innate talent. Only a fewexceptions,
most notably height, are genetically prescribed. Instead, we
argue that the differences between expert performers and nor-
mal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to im-
prove performance in a specific domain.
Most of our scientific knowledge about improvement and
change comes from laboratory studies of training and practice
that lasted hours, days, and occasionally weeks and months. In
addition, there is a growing body of data on the heritabilities of
various abilities and characteristics estimated for twins and
parents and their offspring sampled from the general popula-
tion (Plomin et al., 1990). Although behavioral geneticists care-
fully point out that their heritability estimates are valid onlyfor
the limited range of practice and skill in the normal environ-
ment of the adults studied, it isoften incorrectlyassumed bylay
people that these estimates can be directly extended to extreme
manipulations of environmental conditions, such as extended
deliberate practice. Most important, the effects of short-term
training cannot be readily extended to the effects of orders of
magnitude more practice.
A promising direction for research on the effects of extended
activities is to identify activities relevant to some goal and to
assess the amount of time individualsallocate to these activi-
ties. Recent research hasshown that the amount oftimeindivid-
uals spend reading as assessed by diaries is related to memory
for prose even when education and vocabulary are partialed out
(Rice, Meyer, & Miller, 1988). The estimated amount of read-
ing is also related to reading ability and, most interestingly,
increases in reading ability (R. C. Anderson, Wilson, & Field-
ing, 1988). Research on physical fitness has a long tradition of
measuring daily physical activity and exercise, and we have
cited the study in which Fagard et al. (1991) assessed the influ-
ence of both genetic factors and regular activity on aerobic and
anaerobic abilities. It would be ideal to plot the interaction of
genetic and environmental factors in longitudinal studies
across the entire life span (Rutter, 1989). Within this context,
we view the study of elite performers as particularly interesting
because from early ages their lives appear to maximize the
influence of environmental activities (deliberate practice) im-
proving a specific type of performance. In a rare study
Schneider, Bos, and Rieder (1993) included environmental fac-
tors along with physical characteristics and motivational char-
acteristics of individuals in a longitudinal study of elite tennis
players. Consistent with our framework they found that tennis
performance at ages 11 and 17 was primarily determined by
parental support and in particular motivation and tennis-speci-
fic skills, wherethe level of these skills in turnare mainlyattrib-
utable to assessed levelsof motivation and concentration.
We view elite performance as the product of a decade or more
of maximal efforts to improve performance in a domain
through an optimal distribution of deliberate practice. This
view provides us with uniqueinsights into the potential for and
limits to modifying the human body and mind. Manyanatomi-
cal characteristics, traditionally believed to be fixed, can adapt
and change in response to intense practice sustained for years.
Substantial change and learning can occur even during child-
hood, whensomechanges, such as in certain perceptual-motor
abilities, might be even easier to attain than duringadulthood.
Untrained adults can overcome limitson speed and processing
capacity byacquiring newcognitive skills that circumvent these
limits by qualitatively different processes. Further research on
the capacities and characteristics of expert performance will
give us a much deeper understanding of the full rangeof possi-
ble adaptations and methods forcircumventing limits (Ericsson
& Smith, 199la).
It does not follow from the rejection of innate limits on ac-
quired performance that everyone can easily attain high levels
of skill. Contemporary elite performers have overcome a num-
ber of constraints. They have obtained early access to instruc-
tors, maintained high levels of deliberate practice throughout
development, received continued parental and environmental
support, and avoided disease and injury. When one considers in
addition the prerequisite motivation necessary to engage in de-
liberate practice every day for years and decades, when most
children and adolescents of similar ages engage in play and
leisure, the real constraints on the acquisition of expert perfor-
mance become apparent. The commitment to deliberate prac-
tice distinguishesthe expert performer from the vast majority
of children and adults who seem to have remarkable difficulty
meeting the much lower demands on practice in schools, adult
education, and in physicalexercise programs.
We believe that a more careful analysis of the lives of future
elite performers will tell us how motivation is promoted and
sustained. It is also entirely plausible that such a detailed analy-
sis will reveal environmental conditions as well as heritable
individual differences that predispose individuals to engage in
deliberate practice during extended periods and facilitate moti-
vating them. Our empirical studies have already shown that
experts carefully scheduledeliberate practice and limit itsdura-
tion to avoid exhaustionand burnout. By viewing expert per-
formers not simply as domain-specific experts but as experts in
maintaining high levels of practice and improving perfor-
mance, we are likely to uncovervaluableinformation about the
optimal conditions for learning and education."