Little Miss Talent

I'm uploading my sister's picture just because she looks so cute with her costume and she has displayed an unbelievable new talent that she just learned in 5 days!

Which leads me to the question - Is talent born or made?

No one would disagree when I say that practice is an important component of achieving exceptional levels of performance in arts, sports or any other activities.  Michael Phelps is not simply talented.  He practiced consistently for hours every single day.

I stumbled upon a the study conducted by a guy named Ericsson and some of his colleagues. Ericsson studied young pianists and violinists in their early 20s at the Music Academy in Germany. He asked the music professors to nominate the best young musicians, those who they thought had the potential for careers.  Ericsson found that those rated as best musicians simply practiced more than the rest.

Take this quote from award winning playwright, author and the brain behind the pioneering knot and graph theory in mathematics, John Mighton:

“People with expert abilities are generally made, not born and often their abilities arise out of a great deal of repetitive practice and imitation and copying of other peoples’ styles and ideas”

It is also said that positive emotions influence motivation and achievement.  Simply put - If you enjoy doing it, you will do it, if you do it a lot, you will be good at it.

The book Genius Explained states that Mozart, at a young age displayed all the characteristics of a child prodigy. He successfully transcribed music after hearing it only once. But this young musician also compulsively practiced. By his sixth birthday, Mozart had practiced 3,500 hours of music under the guidance of his mentor father.

Good to know that even without inborn talent, one can certainly perform exceptionally through hard work and constant practice.

Hmmm, I think I should practice sleeping then :-)