Book Review: The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle
A challenge for you. Teach yourself to recite If by Rudyard Kipling with the same rhetoric as Michael Caine. Here’s the kicker. You only get to practice for 2 minutes a day. A lot of people might say that’s impossible (I hate that word.) Hans Jensen, a cello teacher, taught the complex Popper Etude 38 to a pair of time strapped graduate students practicing only 2 minutes a day. In 6 weeks.
I don’t understand the first thing about cellos, but I can tell from my limited music background that Popper Etude 38 would be difficult to learn in an hour a day, much less 2 minutes. We’ve all heard the phrase “Practice smarter, not harder,” I’m not sure its black or white. Hard practice is important. So is smart practice.
Daniel Coyle’s excellent book affirms that both smart and hard (but not too hard) practice will wake up your inner abilities and supercharge learning any skill.
In one of my first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments I lost in brilliant fashion. I will spare you with the details, but it would be akin to shooting the basketball into the wrong hoop, slam dunking it even. Coach immediately debriefed me on my tactical error. As soon as we got back to the home gym, he patiently covered the details of my loss.
He broke down the skills and I practiced never getting caught in that position again. A few weeks later one of my training partners attempted the same attack for which I’d royally botched the defense at the tournament. I saw it coming and shut it down before it happened. I didn’t even need to defend it. We started laughing.
Daniel Coyle’s quick and engaging “Little Book of Talent” has engraved itself into my habits (see what I did there Dan?). Mr. Coyle puts the idea forward that being excellent at something is not an act, it is a habit. It is a series of habits. He posits that anybody can be great at a skill, given the right practice and coaching.
Dan Coyle has spent his life researching talent. He has been an embedded researcher in talent centers that have produced the likes of Michael Phelps and Tom Brady. His book is an impressive distillation into the practice habits of top performers across the planet into 52 tips.
Tips that don’t at first make sense. Ever played 1v1 soccer in a room the size of a bathroom? The players of FC Barcelona, one of the best soccer teams in the world, do. Ever wondered why samurai practiced in blind folds? Daniel shares the science behind it. The book is separated into 3 parts. Getting started, improving, and maintaining.
The getting started section shares tips for building momentum in the early stages of development. This is often the most daunting part for people. This is where the bulk of drop outs occur. This is where we are most prone to run into obstacles that feel insurmountable.
Section 1 contains practical tips on not just studying the masters of the skill, but how to do so effectively. It will help you break down your learning into component parts. You will be able to figure out the hard skills such as the angle of Mike Tyson’s uppercut vs the soft skills such as his timing and ringcraft.
These are things that are not immediately evident to a novice. This is the quality of “effortlessness” that Messi brings to tearing down a defense or Whitney Houston exemplified when singing. They masterfully mixed soft and hard skills. Their time spent in practice was in their blood. They had incredible coaching, equally important. Coyle talks a lot about coaching in the book.
In section 2 the book dives into practicing and improving. Often we get to a basic level of understanding… then what? What takes people from being able to play row your boat to riffing a muddy blues improvisation session with a full band. Further, how do the standout performers reinforce and re-groove their skills? Hint: Tom Brady was not a prodigy, he had a very specific practice.
In the last section Daniel talks about maintaining the motivation. He talks about figuring out how to keep showing up and keep improving once you’ve reached a very high level of talent. It requires adopting the mindset of a gardener and the practice of a carpenter.
It is difficult to motivate ourselves to put in the work, when the results are not evident. It sometimes takes 5–10 years of hustling before incredible things start to happen. It is counter-intuitive to our “monkey mind.” Why spend 30 minutes working on something I suck at, like painting, when I could spend 30 minutes on something I’m awesome at, like watching Downton Abbey. Great show BTW.
Seemingly gifted soft skills like grit or public speaking can be learned. This is something I’m figuring out as I mature. We want to believe that there is such a thing as a prodigy. An artist who was just genetically predisposed to make incredible music. I’d argue there’s no difference between this artist and you.
This artist simply started practicing younger, they figured out the hard and soft skills sooner. And perhaps it is a little easier as a child, because children don’t have the mental blocks that are instilled into us by well meaning parents and teachers. That’s not an excuse not to take action however. The best time to start learning something was 10 years ago, and right now.
Throughout the book Daniel advocates some non traditional tips and tricks. Take naps. Force yourself to look stupid and further, be OK with looking stupid. He even advocates stealing! Hey its OK to break the rules sometimes.
The heart of why I love this book is that most of us who went through the public school system did not get taught about a few very important skills. We must learn HOW to learn. Everybody is different. We must also learn to be OK with experimenting and trying unorthodox methods. Top performers are able to formulate their own hypothesis and test them relentlessly.
I want to put it up on the bookshelf, but I keep pulling it back down to look up tips. The Little Book of Talent is a source of reference and inspiration. Its a must read for anybody who coaches and anybody trying to learn difficult skill sets.
Book Review: The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle
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