Book Review : Talent is Overrated

                It's been a few weeks now, since the last time I wrote a post here. There are good reasons for it. One, I was very busy with my 9-6 job, work spilling over to weekends, and two, I was reading a book in my limited free time. The book I read is titled 'Talent is Overrated" and the subtitle is "What really separates world-class performers from everybody else". It is written by Geoff Colvin, Senior Editor at large, Fortune magazine. I will present here the main ideas of the book and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be good at what they do.

Being good at whatever we want to do is the deepest source of fulfillment we will ever know. was it talent ? was it brains? is it a god(if exists) given gift? was it mountains of hard work? The author explains why it is none of the above contradicting reasons. He wonders, why even after all those hours & all those years, most people are just okay at what they do. Just enough to not get fired from a job or Just enough to have fun from a hobby without any traces of great performance.

He reasons great performance is due to 'deliberate practice' by citing numerous researches and examples of hundreds of real-life great performers proving his point. For e.g, Tiger woods, Jack Welch, Mozart, etc. These great performers in their respective fields had one thing in common and it is 'deliberate practice' of thousands of hours. Beyond physical constraints( e.g., height for a basketball player), inborn abilities do not matter. IQ or memory matters for few beginning years in a job and later it plays no big role in a great performance. If anything else matters, it is sheer luck. For e.g., Tigerwood or Mozart had a father who was a teacher.

Noble prize winner Herbert Simon & William Chase proposed a "Ten-year rule" which states that the difference between expert performers & normal adults reflects a life-long period of a deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain. In one study of the top 3 groups of violin players in a famous school, it was noted that the difference among them is an average number of total practice hours. It was 7410 hrs, 5301 hrs, and 3420 hrs respectively. This is very similar to the concept of 10,000 hrs which Malcolm Gladwell mentions in this book 'Outliers'.

The authors clarify what are the characteristics of deliberate practice. It is as follows:

• It is specifically designed to improve a particular performance. It follows a particular program.
• It is about doing just beyond what we currently do. In other words, it is about being in the 'learning' zone instead of in the 'comfort' or 'panic' zone. It is not inherently enjoyable. It involves high repetition and it is mentally demanding. It involves conscious and controlled effort, unlike normal everyday driving which is very automatic in nature.
• It is guided by a teacher or mentor who knows the body of knowledge. The teacher provides a better perspective and feedback if it is not available to the learner him/herself.

Deliberate practice helps us to perceive more, know more, and remember more. The authors offer some good suggestions on applying the principles to individuals, such as: working over & over on specific aspects that need improvement, setting up a practice program and its order of steps, getting feedback from video/mentor, studying case studies, conditioning the fundamentals, etc. Some suggestions to organizations are, to make sure each person is not just doing his/her job but stretched, investing time, money & effort in developing people, identifying promising performers, etc.

The author argues that deliberate practice is also applicable to creative innovations. Innovation does not just spring out of nothing but it is in fact grown out of long past preparations. Any story to the contrary is a myth. Starting at an early age certainly helps since at this moment of history, every field is so advanced. As a parent, it is also important to provide a supportive environment to children.

The best chapter in this book is the last chapter titled "Where does the passion comes from ? ". Author questions, why anyone would go through such pain for an uncertain reward that is many years away.  He gives an example of 2006 winter Olympics figure skating gold medal winner Shizuka Asakawa who must have literally fallen around twenty thousand times on her butt practicing. Is it intrinsic and/or extrinsic motivation? Irrespective of either, most of the deliberate practice activities are not inherently enjoyable since it involves doing what you have not done before. The author thinks the theory of the multiplier effect comes close to explaining the root cause of this passion. A small early advantage leads to series of greater advantages. The small advantage motivates them to perform better which in turn improves the skills. This improved skills again in turn improves motivation. The theory fits the evidence reported by others. In virtually every field, beginners can't manage more than an hour of practice per day, and sometimes much less. But by the time they become top performers, they've built themselves up to handling four to five hours a day. The process is circular in nature and it does not matter how the advantage originates in the first place. It can be due to sheer luck of genes(e.g, better eye-hand coordination), supporting environment or parent praising/pushing the child even if initial performance is not so great.  My biggest takeaway from this book is, this cycle of motivation and skill needs to be kept in constant motion.

Again, I highly recommend this book to everyone. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.

4 things men stopped carrying

In this post, I am going to mention four things, men of my generation stopped carrying and going to suggest, why we should carry it and maintain the tradition.

1. Handkerchief

Papers towels and tissues is killing the tradition of men carrying a handkerchief. What men need to understand is, unlike ladies we do not carry purse/bag everywhere we go, to keep the stock of paper napkins. Think of all situations when you have to run to the restroom or cafeteria to get some paper. Instead of scrounging around for a tissue, I would suggest keeping a hankie in your pants pocket. It does not have to be fancy, just a plain white one will do. But a man should take a clean handkerchief each day, and launder them weekly. And for god's(if exists) sake, please stop using those ladies' perfumed tissue packs. And still, if you are waiting for some convincing practical reasons for carrying handkerchiefs, here's some.

- Men need to wipe their sweat and dirt off his face. More so, in hot climates and polluted cities. He does not have/need the luxury of 15 mins at the restroom for makeup and chat sessions like ladies.

- You've got snot running out of your nose.

- Use and throw paper tissues is not environmentally friendly.

- When a gal starts tearing up. You should probably tell her that, your's is clean when you hand it over, as to allay any fears she might have about what’s lurking in its folds. And a gentleman never asks for his handkerchief back.

Nowadays, everyone is germ-phobic. Haven't you noticed, people, wiping shopping carts in a supermarket!! Really, are they, so sensitive to germs? They should probably have their blood tested in a clinic.

2. Wrist Watch:

The cell phone is killing the tradition of men wearing wristwatches. And if someone is using today's smartphone to check the time, I am sure they might have realized how much of a distraction, they are. 

Here I am going to present some convincing reasons and pointers to wear a wristwatch.

- It is inconvenient and distracting to always consult a phone to check the time. In business meetings, formal social settings, classrooms, etc., It's considered inappropriate to pull out a phone. It's much easier to subtly check a wristwatch. 

- They are fashion accessory for men. It is much better than wearing those stupid rubber/plastic bands.

- Nostalgia is also a factor. Wristwatches now have a retro, vintage appeal, evoking memories of childhood or older relatives. 

Learn the difference between Mechanical Manual Wind, Automatic, and Quartz types of wristwatches. Know what does a perpetual calendar means. Note that, it does not always have to be an expensive one. What matters is good quality and design which suits the occasion. A $50 reliable Timex dress watch will do too. If you are OK to spare more, Check out the $500 Tissot visodate(Image below). The backside of this watch looks as good as the front side. These are gorgeous. 

3. Pocket Knife

My Grandfather had a pocket knife, a jackknife to be precise, which would scar any light-hearted ones by just looking at it. The beautiful cover enclosing the blade used to open up in the middle and become handle with the lock at the end, exposing the dangerously looking blade. I loved it. How many times have you been in a situation where you've said to yourself, “Damn, a knife would be really handy now!”.

TSA security(ass holes lacking common sense) at the airport does not allow pocket knife but allow the hostess to give butter knife inside the flight !! Yet these minor obstacles are not sufficient reason to give up carrying a knife completely. The carrying of a pocket knife is a men's tradition that should be continued. If not the jackknife, at least a multi-purpose knife.

Here's my Victorinox Swiss Army Climber II Pocket Knife(Image below), which I always carry in my laptop bag. In addition to the knife blade, it has few tools that come in handy. But don't buy which has too many extra features compromising main blade quality, those are too bulky/annoying.

Here are some reasons to carry a pocket knife.

- Opening a package you received against online order.
- Cutting rope, tags, and strings.
- Cutting the fruits for a late afternoon snack.
- Camping/Picnics.
- Weapon. Not the most effective, but it’s better than nothing.

The best reason to carry a knife, however, is the one you don't see coming. Having a knife makes you prepared, and while you can't always tell what you'll end up using your knife for, it's a sure bet you will end up using it for something. You never know when you’re going to have to MacGyver your way out of a crisis.

4. Pen (or Fountain Pen)

Honestly, I don't know what made men stopped carrying pens in their pockets. Maybe it's 20 cents BIC ballpoint pens lying around everywhere or smart phones where you can store notes. But nothing like sketching creative ideas on paper when it comes at odd moments. How many times we have seen men looking desperately for a pen when he should be carrying it in his pocket, in the first place. 

I would suggest every man carry a fountain pen in his shirt pocket. You may ask, why particularly fountain pen? why not ballpoint? The ballpoint pen is good compared to not carrying a pen at all. But the fountain pen offers many technical advantages over a ballpoint pen. The convenience of the ballpoint pen is an overrated, compromising lot of good things about a pen. Here are some valid reasons to carry a fountain pen.

-  The fountain pen comes in sizes that are a perfect fit for shirt pocket size. Nowadays, I am carrying a TWSBI mini which offers great value for money. Sailor Sapporo, Pelikan M200, or M400(Image above) are some of my recommendations for their quality and pocket carrying size.

- Writing in a fountain pen is effortless. Unlike ballpoint pens which require more pressure, with fountain pens you can write for long without cramping.

- Fountain pen offers line (width) variations and subtle shading of ink which is cool. 

- Fountain pen can last for a lifetime. It is more Eco-friendly than your usual disposable ballpoint pens.

- There is also more variety when it comes to fountain pens. 

  You will get various cool filling systems, various materials besides cheap plastic, various nib sizes to suit your handwriting style, and hundreds of ink colors to choose from.

- The novelty of using a fountain pen is a great conversation since unfortunately many have never seen it or used it.

Just a couple of cautions with using fountain pens.

- While carrying fountain pens on airplanes keep it in an upright position, and do not use it while taking off- landing since air pressure change will cause the ink to leak. If you are carrying more pens, empty the ink and carry a small bottle of ink instead.

- With fountain pens, your paper quality should be good. If you use cheap laser printer copy paper, you can only use one side of it, since they are too thin for fountain pen inks.

These are small inconveniences compared to the pleasure of writing in a fountain pen. Try it once at least as an experiment. You may fall in love with it! More importantly, please carry a pen. Don't ask someone for it or walk around looking for it.

Please leave your comments and let me know your opinion.