Book Titles

Talent is Overrated
What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

By Geoff Colvin

Year Published: 2008
ISBN-13: 978-1-59184-224-8
Categories: Achievement, Skills, Talent

204 Quotes Found

Quote Image Quote Page Number

Talent is Overrated:

…well-designed practice, pursued for enough time, enables a person to circumvent the limitations… and circumventing limitations is the key to high performance at an advanced age.

182

Talent is Overrated:

…continued deliberate practice enables top performers to maintain skills that would otherwise decline with age…

182

Talent is Overrated:

We can also train our mental abilities far later in life than previously believed.

183

Talent is Overrated:

Eventually, of course, everyone’s performance declines. Even the most diligent deliberate practice cannot fend off the advancing years forever.

185

Talent is Overrated:

…deliberate practice is hard. It’s so hard that no one can do it without the benefit of passion, a truly extraordinary drive.

186

Talent is Overrated:

It seems plausible that the role of practice in producing the highly enjoyable flow state could be part of [passion].

190

Talent is Overrated:

In some fields… fascination with the available problems seems to drive excellent performers.

190

Talent is Overrated:

…intrinsic drive is by far the most powerful.

191

Talent is Overrated:

…studies show that virtually any external attempt to constrain or control the work results in less creativity.

192

Talent is Overrated:

…extrinsic motivation that’s controlling is still detrimental to creativity, but extrinsic motivators that reinforce intrinsic drives can be highly effective.

192