Explaining Genius, Attitude, Deliberate Practice & Power Of Dreams

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Potencia Education
September 25, 2024

The newsletter which curates & delivers the best mind hacks, mental health tips & high performance strategies to you every single week.

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'Geniuses Are Made, Not Born' (Debunking Popular Success Myths & Giving You Back Control Over Your Ability & Achievement!)

Have you ever wondered what makes someone a ā€˜geniusā€™, ā€˜masterfulā€™, or ā€˜extraordinaryā€™ at what they do?

Ask most people & the answers you'll hear back are not going to be pretty (or accurate!)ā€¦

The most common things that most people tend to use to explain away mastery & extraordinary ability are superior genes, innate talent, god-given abilities, natural intelligence & others like it...

This behavior (not the explanation!) does actually make sense...

If you're not world-class at something yourself, it is much easier (& feels much better) to explain away those who are by the fact that they are 'lucky' having won the genetic lottery, have been 'gifted' their abilities, or that they had environment & circumstances, than it is to admit our own inadequacies...

We can also get away with these explanations because they are partially true...

Indeed, genetics do play a role (it's next-to-impossible to become a basketball player if you're 5", or be a jockey if you're 6.7"), natural intelligence is also important & childhood circumstances are very important too (more on this in a moment)...

But all of these factors are actually not the most significant ones in most cases...

The more significant factors that much more accurately explain why (& how) some people become extraordinary at what they do, while most, unfortunately, do not are the quantity & quality of their training, which we'll explore in this section of this week's newsletter.

Let's dive in...

The year was 1993.

The place?

The Berlin Academy of Music...

It was here that the young psychologist Anders Ericsson & his research partners conducted a critical study that would help change our understanding of what creates extraordinary abilities, undoing old myths of talent or natural abilities & cementing new findings for those who strive to be the best they can be at what they do...

The study focused on violin students & as part of it, they were divided into 3 groups based on their skill level:

  • 1) the best violinists (those who could potentially become international soloists)

  • 2) good violinists

  • 3) those who were unlikely to play professionally but would become music teachers

The researchers surveyed these students about their practice habits since they started playing the violin for the first time & they uncovered that by the age of 20, the best violinists had accumulated an average of 10,000 hours of violin practice...

...which became the infamous '10,000-hour rule', later popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his hit book "Outliers".

Meanwhile, the good violinists had practiced for about 8,000 hours & the music teachers had accumulated around 4,000 hours of practice...

Put simply: the more they practice, the better they got!

(irrelevant of how much so-called 'musical talent' they had, this didnā€™t even matter.)

But it wasn't just that...

Ericson coined the term "deliberate practice" to make the distinction that it was about the quality, depth & intensity of their practice that matters, not just the quantity...

(similar to how it's not just about many hours you work, but the quality of that focus & work time...

After all, someone could sit 14 hours at their desk but still be highly unproductive if the quality of focus/work is poor of they are constantly distracted or doing tasks that are ultimately useless... this same principle applies to skill acquisition.)

'Deliberate practice' meaning, time when you're actually, intentionally, deliberating sitting down & training your skills with the specific goal of getting better (not just doing it for fun like a Sunday football kick around with some friends.)

This 'deliberate practice' is usually characterized by focused attention, targeted & rapid feedback speed, expert coaching, continuous refinement & more...

This study led to the conclusion that the amount of deliberate practice was strongly correlated with the level of skill attained... (which is also pretty logical if you think about it, you do more of something & you get better at it, who would have guessed?!)

A ton of research has further validated this idea that it's hours of training (& the quality of that training; deliberate practice) that is the most significant factor & not 'natural talent', genetics, or IQ, although these also play a role...

In his book 'Genius Explained', Michael Howe explains that while Mozart may have seemed to be a 'child prodigy' ā€” a kid just born with natural musical abilities ā€” the reality is that he simply training a lot more a lot earlier in his life...

It's estimated that by the young age of 6, Mozart had already completed 3500 hours of musical training 

(in main part because his father was also a keen musician & wanted his son to become a 'prodigy' / 'genius')...

(Similarly, LĆ”szlĆ³ PolgĆ”r wanted to raise child prodigies & did exactly that with 3 of his daughters becoming world-class chess players...)

So, what is that creates extraordinary ability ā€” be it music or sports or chess or ballet or business or anything ā€” & the success that usually follows?

Well, like anything, there are a number of key factors (just as there are many things that contribute to good health & fitness including nutrition, exercise, sleep quality, stress, etc)ā€¦ but the main ones are the quantity & quality of your training.

In other words:

ā

Putting in the hours & making those hours count.

This may sound like bad news as it means that you have to work hard at the things you want to be good at (instead of being lazy, looking for shortcuts or quick fixes to life's problems), but we prefer to take on another perspective...

We believe this is the best news possible as it puts you in control; in the driving seat of your own abilities & success in life, knowing that you can change your results if you just so choose (& you put in the work, of course!)

And if you'd like to learn more of the mindset shifts, as well as strategies to start learning faster, developing your skills up to 500% faster & becoming extraordinary at anything you set your mind to... then be sure to check out our book on the topic called:

Inside you'll learn how to start soaking in new information like a sponge & activate your brainā€™s full potential to achieve your goals faster & thrive in todayā€™s rapidly-changing new worldā€¦

(even if you think you're a "slow learner", have a "bad memory", "low IQ" or lack "natural talent")

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šŸ’­ QUOTE OF THE WEEK

ā

ā€œSuccess or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive resultsā€

William James

ā€Žā€šŸ’” ADVANCED INSIGHT

The Creative Power Of Dreams

Paul McCartney said he heard the melody for the song ā€œYesterdayā€ first in a dream...

Keith Richards said he came up with the lyrics & riff for the song ā€œSatisfactionā€ also in a dream...

ā€œI dream colors, I dream shapes & I dream sound,ā€ Billy Joel said in an interview with the Hartford Courant about his song ā€œRiver of Dreams.ā€

And it's not just songs, it's famous inventions, it's theories & it's ideas that go on to change the world...

Why does sleep & dreams seem to stimulate creativity & lead to creative breakthroughs?

And is there anything you can do with this information?

In previous newsletters, we covered various (sometimes weird) tips, tricks & hacks for unleashing creativityā€¦

(such as the fact that good ideas are more likely to come about while in the shower/bath & ways you can apply this in your life in this newsletter)...

But this one may be the strangest of them all: using sleep/dreams as a way of enhancing your likelihood of having a creative idea.

To start, we will share that one explanation is that we simply spend a large amount of time (about a third of our lives) asleep & contrary to popular (mis)belief, our brain is nit just switched off/doing nothing while weā€™re sleepā€¦ so it makes sense that at least some percentage of creativity should arise during this time...

Although, we think there is more at play there...

Another explanation is that creativity goes up in the absence of other stimuli which is why too much social media, TV, or other forms of external entertainment can be bad for creativity (in addition to other harmful life effects!)ā€¦

ā€¦& why times when you're not engaged in anything in particular & your mind can just drift (like when you're washing the dishes, staring out of the window in a car/train) can be great for creativity!

Along this same track, when you're sleeping/dreaming, your brain is free to just entertain itself, combining random things in novel ways & giving birth to lots of weird ideasā€¦

(some of which may actually be life-changing for you, or even world-changing!)

And the other part of the explanation is that during sleep (specifically in the R.E.M. sleep stage that tends to occur more in the later parts of the night & a good reason for why you don't want to sacrifice sleep) your brain consolidates memories togetherā€¦

(there is strong research that links not enough/poor quality sleep to conditions like Alzheimer's later in life.) 

In this consolidating of memories, bits are colliding together in your unconscious, before potentially bursting thoughts as a random insight when you wake up!

As to how to apply this particular insight, it's definitely a tricky oneā€¦

Some crazy geniuses historically have attempted to wake themselves up at random stages of the night to attempt to provoke more dream-inspired insights, exist in a semi-delusional, dream-like stages in hopes of hitting upon their next big idea or more recently, using psychedelics as a way of bringing about a similar mental state, although we don't any of these approaches as the risks are too great!

A simpler approach may be simply keeping a notebook/journal besides your bed & writing in it before bed/upon waking, potentially reflecting on the dreams you had & how they may be relating to anything happening in your lifeā€¦

Additionally, you can use meditation or relaxation techniques to calm your mind & body (not quite a dream state but close to it) which can give you some of the benefits without any of the risks.

All in all, there's still a lot more for researchers to unpack here, but yes, dreams do seem to have some creativity-boosting power & there may be ways to use this to unleash your creativity even further & generate brilliant ideas that transform your life!

If youā€™d like to learn more about creativity & other strategies for unleashing yours, check out our other course, which is titled:

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