The Talent Myth or Why BJ Penn is a Talentless Non-Prodigy

“The conventional wisdom about "natural" talent is a myth. The real path to great performance is a matter of choice,” says Geoff Colvin, senior editor Fortune Magazine.

I read an interesting article the other day that I thought really applied to Jiu-Jitsu. The article is entitled "Why Talent is Overrated" and is written by Geoff Colvin, an editor of Fortune Magazine.

Colvin's claim is interesting because according to him truly successful people, whether they are in business or athletics, are not more talented than anyone else. So the good news is that my Jiu-Jitsu talent level is on par with both the Nogueira brothers and the entire Gracie family. The bad news is that doesn’t mean that I am as good as they are at Jiu-Jitsu.

Confused? Well perhaps this excerpt from Colvin’s article will help. He writes, “A number of researchers now argue that talent means nothing like what we think it means, if indeed it means anything at all. A few contend that the very existence of talent is not, as they carefully put it, supported by evidence. Such findings do not prove that talent doesn't exist… But they do suggest an intriguing possibility: that if it does, it may be irrelevant.... All we can say for the moment is that no specific genes identifying particular talents have been found. It's possible that they will be; scientists could yet find the piano-playing gene or investing gene or accounting gene.”

Okay, so now you are probably wondering what separates the great ones form the rest of us. I mean why did it take BJ Penn roughly a week and a half to become a black belt while it takes many people a decade or more? Colvin’s answer lies in what he calls deliberate practice. He offers us an example of a famous violin player and his teacher. When the student asked how to become great he was told. "Practice with your fingers, and you need all day. Practice with your mind, and you will do as much in 1-1/2 hours." What do Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Jacare do differently from the rest of us? They engage their mind in this type of deliberative practice.

According to Colvin there are 8 aspects of deliberative practice that any of us can master to become great. So when you all become 10th degree black belts after reading this post, don’t forget to thank me.

1) Deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance. Here we have an advantage in having teachers like Conan and Shihan Roseberry who do not allow us to merely stick with what we are comfortable with.

2) Deliberate practice can be repeated a lot. Just as Shihan says you don’t really know a move until you have done it at least 3,000 times. I once tried that same line on a girlfriend of mine, needless to say this explains why I am still single.

3) Feedback on results is continuously available. “In many important situations, a teacher, coach, or mentor is vital for providing crucial feedback.” Often times this feedback comes in the form of an arm triangle, where by in my last moments of consciousness I realize that Conan is merely reminding me not to cross my arms.

4) It's highly demanding mentally. This statement makes me think of the way that Ron practices. Ron was at class yesterday and working with him reminded me the mentality that he brings to class. While it’s tempting to dismiss his skills as being the product of natural ability, Colvin would argue it’s the product of his mentality. A demanding mentality that forces him to try and execute each move as precisely as possible.

5) It's hard. In essence doing things we are good at is easy, so most of us stick to those things. Doing what we hate and are bad at is hard, so most of us shy away. For example, most NBA stars begin to deteriorate around the age of 30 when their natural athleticism begins to decline. During this time Michael Jordan remade himself from a guy who played above the rim, to a player with a killer fade away jump shot. Because he wasn’t content to stick with what he was good at, he allowed himself to still be winning championships while his peers were in decline.

6) Before the work. Star performers set goals. According to Covlin the worst performers set no goals, average performers set broad goals that are outcome oriented, and top performers set specific goals that are process oriented.

7) During the work. It's all about self-observation.

8) After the work. There must be self-evaluations. Only we can know fully what we were attempting or judge how it turned out.

Whether you believe all of Colvin’s claims about the nature of talent, I think it's an interesting argument. I mean come on, what are the odds that the entire Gracie family would be blessed with the Jiu-Jitsu gene? Isn’t it more likely that they became great through intense and challenging practice. This is by far my longest post, so I’ll close with this thought from Colvin.

“Why do certain people put themselves through the years of intensive daily work that eventually makes them world-class great? We've reached the point where we must proceed by looking in the only place we have left: within ourselves. The answers depend on your response to two basic questions: What do you really want? And what do you really believe?”