Can I become excellent? part 1

I read this article in fortune magazine writing about true excellence in any field. The article said that there is a myth that the people who are truly excellent in anything got there by being born with amazing natural abilities. Albert Einstein was born an ability to understand relativity, Warren Buffet was born with an innate ability to analyze companies, Tiger Woods was born with a one-in-a-million talent. But the truth is that all people who reach excellence usually have to work at it for at least ten years before they reach their potential.

The other truth that was so striking to me was that there are specific fields that each individual have the ability to achieve. No matter how much I practice at basketball, I could never make the NBA. But there are many fields, based on the talents and temperament I was born with, that I could reach the level of excellence in if I focused myself for ten years.

But it is not enough to just have experience. You have to be intentional and disciplined about your experience. The article gave the example of golf. Any golfer might hit three hundred balls a day, but someone building towards true excellence is much more focused. He or she would hit 300 balls with a specific club and try to hit them all 150 yards at a specific target. Then he would study to see how many were within 10 yards and try to narrow down what made a difference. Then he would come back the next day and using what he learned from the day before, try to get more of his 300 balls within 10 yards. It is this careful, intentional work with feedback that leads to success.

So this leads me to a series of big questions

1. Do I believe this could be true for me?

2. What field do I want to train toward excellence?

3. What are the components of my field that I could practice?

4. Am I willing to pay the price to get there?

Tell me your thoughts, and I will soon publish my next thoughts