Talent is Overrated

3/9/24

Hey you all. I hope you are enjoying the warm March weather. It is my spring break right now, which means I have a shit ton of time on my hands. And what, may you ask, am I doing with that time? I'm reading. My goal is to finish a book called "Talent is Overrated" by a gentleman named Geoff Colvin.

You may be thinking, "Simren, I don't think talent is overrated" and that's fine, but just hear me out. This book is definetely not a light read, it's something you really have to dive deep into. Yes, there is some repetitiveness, but what's a book without some reinforcement. Today I will be sharing with you some goldmines that I found when reading this book, that I had written down.

Deliberate Practice

This was the main point of the book. That, no one has talent in a specific area, it's the deliberate practice that they've put in that makes them good at something. According to the book, deliberate practice involves high repetition, available feedback on results, identifying the learning zone, and self-regulation. It's knowing how to understand the significance of indicators that other performers don't notice.

The opportunities to practice deliberately fall into 2 categories.

1. The opportunity to practice directly, apart from the use of the skill or ability.
2. The opportunity to practice as part of the work itself.

A Mental Model

The book talks about creating a mental model, a strong one, to keep your practice purposeful and deliberate. This can be done through the metacognition process. A mental model will form the framework on which you hang your growing knowledge of your domain, whatever that may be. It also helps you distinguish relevant info from irrelevant info. Lastly, it enables you to project what will happen next.

So a mental model could be a process chart in your head, it could be a daily routine of practicing the piano, it could be reading a book for 10 minutes every hour to finish it in 3 days. As long as the mental model helps you reach your goal through...you got it, deliberate practice.

Book Recommendations

Throughout the book, the author had mentioned 10-15 books, and out of those there were two I felt would be worth reading.

1. Strunk and White's "The element of style"
2. Graham and Dodd's "Security Analysis"

Here's my Goodreads where you can check out what I'm reading!

That's it! I thought that this book was a 7/10. A good read, but a tough one. I suggest you put the time into this book, and put the methods into practice...deliberate practice. Have a great rest of your week, see you next time. Ciao!