How To Be Great At Anything

My wife knows that I love podcasts. They are definitely my newest obsession. My morning workouts just aren't the same without them. This morning I was listening to the Freakonomics Podcast that was reviewing the idea of talent - whether it really is a God given thing or if it is something that can be acquired. More specifically they discussed the idea of deliberate practice and how it can create what others see as talent.

The podcast goes on to describe in more detail the idea of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is the idea that if one hones in on certain parts of an act, then acquire after sometime teachers that specialize in the skill, and then finally lives outside of their comfort zone they can become what others would describe as talented at whatever skill they hope to acquire. It stresses that the parts are what have to be zoned in on and that those parts are what will make you overall better and most proficient at the whole. College classes can be seen as a smaller version of this but on a more broad scale. You take 100 and 200 level classes that are the basic over view of a particular degree or mastery. Then you move into the 300 and 400 level classes that go into the actual parts of those larger wholes. By spending an entire semester on each of the smaller parts rather than simply learning larger parts of it, the person becomes by nature a specialist at what they are being taught. 

This can be applied to nearly anything - even stock knowledge or investing. I would argue that lots of people who read my blog are very well versed in investing already. You have a great knowledge of the whole picture. I myself fall into this very category. This is yet another reason why I have been making sure to go over the various parts of investing in more detail for the investment essentials series. By passing on my knowledge to others to gain a larger view, I am forced to confront what I may only know of on the surface level and look into it in a micro view rather than macro. If I run into an explanation of an item that I may find myself becoming uncomfortable on through limited knowledge, I know that I have then run into the challenge portion of deliberate practice. If I continue to live in the area of uncomfortable knowledge and push myself to learn more about the various parts rather than the whole, I will eventually become what I hope will be seen as talented in investing. 

It's an interesting topic if anything. With that being said, have you ever run into something that you have found yourself maybe even unintentionally learning through deliberate practice?