Saad Gul
Pablo Picasso, the famous Spanish artist, could produce prodigious work in moments. As mind-boggling as this is, one wonders whether he was born gifted or did he have to develop this ability through deliberate, consistent and rigorous practice?
While walking through the market one day, a woman approached Picasso. A fan of his work, she stopped him, pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and requested the artist to do a quick drawing for her.
The artist cheerfully but quickly drew something small yet exquisite for her. “That will be one million dollars”, he commented while handing the paper back to her.
Perplexed, the woman exclaimed, “But Mr. Picasso it only took you thirty seconds to draw this little masterpiece.”
“It took me thirty years to draw that masterpiece in thirty seconds”, Picasso calmly replied.
Whether in arts, sports, music, golf, chess or medicine, all elite performers like Picasso, practiced for thousands of hours before becoming ‘overnight successes’.
According to the Harvard Business Review, in 1985, Benjamin Bloom, a professor of education at the University of Chicago, studied the childhoods of 120 elite performers who had won international competitions or awards in fields ranging from arts to mathematics and neurology.
The results of his study: invariably and overwhelmingly, the evidence showed that experts are always made, not born. True mastery is a byproduct of intense and ‘good quality’ practice carried out on a long enough time line. Truly world class results take time – a very long time. Years, and in some cases, decades.
The journey to world class is uneasy and monotonous. It requires practicing a craft for hours, daily, even if one doesn’t feel up to the task some time. Despite a night of interrupted sleep or lack of motivation that day, you have to say no to distractions. It requires a long term obsessive focus to be able to say no to distractions in the short term. This eventually turns into the default operating system. It is easier to set boundaries so that all energy, attention and focus can be directed towards execution of the long term goal.
The journey to excellence is not for the half hearted, inattentive, short tempered, unprincipled or the dissolute. It is for the persevering, diligent, mindful, deliberate, tireless and tenacious human beings.
Reaching mastery in a craft requires not only industriousness but being smart and deliberate about what and how to practice. Working smart becomes as important as working hard. It requires flexibility of strategy, willingness to endure and the resolvie to overcome pain that is associated with. Legendary performance demands open mindedness and sheer will power – an ability to adapt, learn, unlearn, improve, recommit, endure and persevere.
Modern culture is built around quick dopamine generation. This age of quick fixes and instant gratification has left many chasing short term addictions like video games, binge watching Netlflix or aimlessly scrolling through social media feeds. All of these are the anti-thesis to mastery – which requires sacrifice i.e. giving up something valuable now so that something more valuable might be obtained in the future. How does one reach world class relationships, excel in career and make good money?
Just after a few weeks of working out at the gym, we wonder why we’re not packing on muscle – a process that takes months of eating well, training hard and recovering intelligently. Often when results aren’t evident, we throw in the towel. We give up just before things are about to start working in our favour, particularly when all we had to do was to show up and focus on the day ahead.
Unable to articulate clearly what we want from a relationship with a partner, family member or co-worker, we play the victim card by shifting blame to other people and situations. This further diminishes our confidence, makes us weaker, more resentful and lonelier. We just lack communication skills, negotiation tactics and , or, the courage to stand in the face of conflict.
World class demands that every time we run into a wall, we have a choice to make: continue going over, around, under or through the obstacle or give up. My advice: continue flying, running, marching or crawling forward in the direction of your dreams. Just don’t stop. Therein lies the key to progress which is the ultimate way to success and happiness.
Stay committed when results aren’t evident. Get back up when you fall and remember that you control the amount of effort you put into anything. Change your perspective when you run out of solutions – zoom out to see the bigger picture. Be a perpetual student of life. Don’t wait till you feel ready. Create your future instead of leaving it to chance.
