How to not be second tier:

Posted by will | Filed under Nice, Quotes, Thoughts

Digital ProTalk has a great article on “What it takes to be great” referencing the Science of Experience article in Time magazine. If you don’t have the time to read all 8 paragraphs of both articles, just read this quote from Time and their response to it, especially the last sentence:

“”Take figure-skating as an example. For the 2003 book Expert Performance in Sports, researchers Janice Deakin and Stephen Cobley observed 24 figure skaters as they practiced. Deakin and Cobley asked the skaters to complete diaries about their practice habits. The researchers found that élite skaters spent 68% of their sessions practicing jumps which is one of the riskiest and most demanding parts of figure-skating routines. Skaters in the second tier, who were just as experienced in terms of years, spent only 48% of their time on jumps, and they rested or took breaks more often. As Deakin and her colleagues write in the Cambridge Handbook, “All skaters spent considerably more time practicing jumps that already existed in their repertoire and less time on jumps they were attempting to learn.” In other words, we like to practice what we know, stretching out in the warm bath of familiarity rather than stretching our skills. Those who overcome that tendency are the real high performers.”

Folks, I think this little tidbit of information gives a good insight into what it takes to be great in whatever we want to achieve in our lives. Practice the hard stuff, it’s the second tier performers that spend too much time practicing the easy or routine stuff, within their comfort zone, that they are already good at achieving.”"

Permalink | June 12th, 2008

One Response to “How to not be second tier:”

  1. Steven Grey Says:
    June 12th, 2008 at 6:02 pm

    so true. That just motivates me to blaze a different trail

Leave a Reply