Big Idea Daily | How Life Imitates Chess
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Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroomby Garry Kasparov |
“Maintaining a suitable attitude, inward and outward, makes a great deal of difference to our success. It’s not as simplistic as convincing ourselves we are geniuses, or that we are invincible. We must aim to give our best effort at all times and acknowledge that doing less is the real failure.”GARRY KASPAROV |
BIG IDEA
Opportunities & Overalls
FROM THE BOOK“This ethic has been followed by many people known to history as great geniuses.
We cannot doubt the brain power of Thomas Edison, but his true genius lay in his capacity for endless experimentation. His electric light bulb was the result of persistence, not a single flash of inspiration. He tested thousands of substances looking for a filament that wouldn’t burn out, even working with rare plant fibres sent from around the world. Edison aptly summarized his thoughts on invention when he said, ‘Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.’ This was an echo of another great thinker and worker, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote, ‘I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more of it I have.’ The worst of it is that we are usually aware of our own deficiencies in this area.” |
Brian's Notes
That’s from a chapter about how the greats have ALWAYS worked harder than everyone else.
Garry talks about Michael Jordan and tells us that “Jordan was famous for his athleticism and high-flying dunks. Yet he was also the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave. In interviews, Jordan’s teammates and coaches all talk about his extreme discipline, not his leaping ability. One veteran NBA manager said of Jordan’s talent, ‘Without the ceaseless work ethic, Jordan is merely another talented athlete gliding through an admirable career, but nothing historic.”
Carol Dweck points to Michael Jordan as an exemplar of her “growth mindset” as well.
She tells us that most people think great performers like Jordan or Mozart (or, fill in the blank on your favorite Hero) are BORN that way. She says that’s ABSURD.
She tells us: “It’s startling to see the degree to which people with the fixed mindset do not believe in effort.”
Then she chides us with this question: “Is it ability or mindset? Was it Mozart’s musical ability or the fact that he worked till his hands were deformed? Was it Darwin’s scientific ability or the fact that he collected specimens non-stop from early childhood?”
Garry shares his own ferocious work ethic.
He tells us: “I had a ceaseless appetite for opening preparation, which is a combination of research, creativity, and memorization. I studied all the latest games from the leading players and carefully noted their innovations, and I would then analyze them and try to improve on them. To me the opening systems were an avenue for creativity, not simply a matter of imitation.”
If you play/study chess, you know that there are three phases to the game: the opening game, the middle game, and the end game. You need to master each phase if you want to master the game.
And, the ONLY way you can do that is by investing a TON of time—engaging in a TON of what Anders Ericsson calls “deliberate practice” where you’re constantly at your edge and getting better.
(Note: One of the reasons I am so mediocre compared to my kids is because I have never actually engaged in deliberate practice. I just play. It’s like the golfer who hacks on the weekends but never actually truly trains.)
One of the things we laugh about with the kids is how often people say they must be really smart to be so good at chess. Sure, they may have what we call “fast brains.”
But... Very few people get just how HARD Emerson (and now Eleanor) works on his craft. We homeschool him so he can (and does!) spend basically all day, every day, working on chess.
Angela Duckworth has the wisest perspective on the subject, which parallels Garry’s wisdom in this chapter.
In Grit, she tells us that “talent” DOES matter. She defines talent as the speed with which you can master a skill. A kid with a “fast” brain does in fact, master chess skills faster.
We need to know this: Talent by itself leads to NOTHING without Effort. It’s only when Effort is applied to Talent that we develop Skill.
Then, she tells us, we need to take that Skill and apply MORE Effort to create Achievement. As Duckworth puts it: Effort counts TWICE.
So... Do YOU want to maximize YOUR potential (and help your kids do the same)?!?
Remember Edison’s wisdom: “Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
P.S. Developing mastery is one of my favorite subjects. Check out our Notes on Dan Coyle’s The Talent Code and The Little Book of Talent, Geoff Colvin’s Talent Is Overrated, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and Peak by the godfather of the 10,000 rule/deliberate practice, Anders Ericsson. And make sure you check out the Notes on Mastery by Robert Greene.
Garry talks about Michael Jordan and tells us that “Jordan was famous for his athleticism and high-flying dunks. Yet he was also the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave. In interviews, Jordan’s teammates and coaches all talk about his extreme discipline, not his leaping ability. One veteran NBA manager said of Jordan’s talent, ‘Without the ceaseless work ethic, Jordan is merely another talented athlete gliding through an admirable career, but nothing historic.”
Carol Dweck points to Michael Jordan as an exemplar of her “growth mindset” as well.
She tells us that most people think great performers like Jordan or Mozart (or, fill in the blank on your favorite Hero) are BORN that way. She says that’s ABSURD.
She tells us: “It’s startling to see the degree to which people with the fixed mindset do not believe in effort.”
Then she chides us with this question: “Is it ability or mindset? Was it Mozart’s musical ability or the fact that he worked till his hands were deformed? Was it Darwin’s scientific ability or the fact that he collected specimens non-stop from early childhood?”
Garry shares his own ferocious work ethic.
He tells us: “I had a ceaseless appetite for opening preparation, which is a combination of research, creativity, and memorization. I studied all the latest games from the leading players and carefully noted their innovations, and I would then analyze them and try to improve on them. To me the opening systems were an avenue for creativity, not simply a matter of imitation.”
If you play/study chess, you know that there are three phases to the game: the opening game, the middle game, and the end game. You need to master each phase if you want to master the game.
And, the ONLY way you can do that is by investing a TON of time—engaging in a TON of what Anders Ericsson calls “deliberate practice” where you’re constantly at your edge and getting better.
(Note: One of the reasons I am so mediocre compared to my kids is because I have never actually engaged in deliberate practice. I just play. It’s like the golfer who hacks on the weekends but never actually truly trains.)
One of the things we laugh about with the kids is how often people say they must be really smart to be so good at chess. Sure, they may have what we call “fast brains.”
But... Very few people get just how HARD Emerson (and now Eleanor) works on his craft. We homeschool him so he can (and does!) spend basically all day, every day, working on chess.
Angela Duckworth has the wisest perspective on the subject, which parallels Garry’s wisdom in this chapter.
In Grit, she tells us that “talent” DOES matter. She defines talent as the speed with which you can master a skill. A kid with a “fast” brain does in fact, master chess skills faster.
We need to know this: Talent by itself leads to NOTHING without Effort. It’s only when Effort is applied to Talent that we develop Skill.
Then, she tells us, we need to take that Skill and apply MORE Effort to create Achievement. As Duckworth puts it: Effort counts TWICE.
So... Do YOU want to maximize YOUR potential (and help your kids do the same)?!?
Remember Edison’s wisdom: “Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
P.S. Developing mastery is one of my favorite subjects. Check out our Notes on Dan Coyle’s The Talent Code and The Little Book of Talent, Geoff Colvin’s Talent Is Overrated, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and Peak by the godfather of the 10,000 rule/deliberate practice, Anders Ericsson. And make sure you check out the Notes on Mastery by Robert Greene.
Big Ideas
01: OPPORTUNITIES
02: THE INNER GAME
03: PUSH YOURSELF
04: WANT TO IMPROVE?
05: THE BIG PICTURE
“What you can do or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it.”GOETHE |
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