THE MAKING OF GENIUS

            Are geniuses born or made? Certainly successful people have innate gifts, but peak performance probably more to do with hard work than with genetic endowments. Commitment and motivation precede outstanding performance. Dedication, drive, and determination appear to be more important factors than innate ability in developing expertise. Here are some examples:

           TIGER WOODS. When he was twenty-one, Tiger Woods became the youngest person to win the Masters Golf Championship. He was one of the most accomplished amateur golfers in history, winning six USGA national championships, an NCAA title, and an unprecedented three consecutive U.S. Amateur Championships. As a child, Woods demonstrated mouth-dropping accomplishments. He putted against Bob Hope on the Mike Douglas Show at the improbable age of two, shot a score of forty-eight for nine holes at age three, and was featured in Golf Digest at age five.

            Tiger Woods has been learning the game of golf since he was six months old. When he was less than a year old, he would watch his father, Earl, hit golf balls. Soon he was imitating his swing. From the time he could walk, Tiger was on the golf course. He said, “My body is a little bit sore from all of the practicing and playing and training, and your mind gets a little tired of it, too. You're going to go years where you just don't win. That's okay, as long as you keep trying to improve."

            MICHAEL JORDAN. Michael Jordan, perhaps the best basketball player of all time, was no child prodigy. He failed to make his high school basketball team when he was a high school sophomore. Jordan certainly wouldn’t have been a basketball player if he didn’t have height, leaping ability, quickness, and agility, but his phenomenal success probably had more to do with practice than inborn talent. In the well-recognized Nike ad Michael Jordan said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot— and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

            MOZART. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played the keyboard when he was four years old, began composing when he was five, and at six was playing before the Austrian empress. Early musical exposure and training had as much to do with his success as innate ability. Mozart’s sister, Maria Anna, six years his senior, was considered a musical wonder-child. Mozart’s father, Leopold, a gifted violinist, and keyboardist was a music pedagogue who devoted his life to developing the musical skills of his children. He taught them “to wear the iron shirt" of discipline. Leopold believed musical skill came from grueling work.

            PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS. A study of professional soccer players suggests that they owe their success more to training than to talent. A significant number of professional soccer players were born in the first quarter after the cutoff date for youth soccer leagues. Because these players were older than their teammates when they joined the leagues, they enjoyed advantages in size and strength allowing them to perform better. Their success in early years motivated them to keep improving, thus explaining their disproportionate numbers in the professional leagues.

            CHESS GRANDMASTERS. Chess grandmasters rely on a vast store of knowledge of game positions. Through years of practice, skilled players learn to recognize chessboard information that can be retrieved from long-term memory and they use this information to determine the best move for each situation. To develop their phenomenal memory for different outcomes based on the board position of each chess piece, grandmasters engage in years of exhausting study.

            ORDINARY PEOPLE. Even the average performer engages in strenuous effortful initially. Once ordinary people reach an acceptable level of performance, they relax and stop developing their talents. Average students tend develop friendships with other average students. Golfers congregate with golfers who perform at their level. Ditto for musicians, artists, mathematicians, writers, and business professionals. For the masses, ease trumps expertise.       

            THE MOTIVATED FEW. In contrast to ordinary people, prodigies continue to undertake challenges that lie just beyond their competence. Top performers relish challenges. They consider mistakes a natural part of learning, and bounce back for failure with new strategies. Success builds on success because each accomplishment strengthens motivation. Furthermore, top performers are far more likely to enjoy the developmental process than average performers.