Wednesday, October 28, 2009

ME, TIGER, AND PEACH COBBLER

I ate peach cobbler with Tiger Woods. Well....not exactly. At an Orlando Magic home game last year I made my way to the Blue Room for the half-time dessert menu which featured delicious peach cobbler. Much to my surprise, sitting next to me, with a nice size portion himself was Mr. Woods. As he sat with his arms crossed waiting for the cobbler to cool off to an eatable level, I friend of mine took a 007 like picture of him:0

Fortunately this week's MMM does not have anything to do with mine or Tiger's affinity for peach cobbler. It does however, lead me into the example of the lesson for the week. This week is about how you. And just like Tiger, with a lot of work, you can be "awesomely, amazingly, and world-class excellent" at what you do.

I just finished the book, Talent is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin. This is one of the best books I've read on performance. I highly recommend reading it if you are an athlete, parent, coach, or are just intrigued with the psychology of performance. About a week ago I posted the last paragraph of this book on my Facebook. Here it is:

"The evidence offers no easy assurances. It shows that the price of top-level achievement is extraordinarily high. Perhaps it's inevitable that not many people will choose to pay for it. But the evidence shows also that by understanding how a few become great, anyone can become better. Above all, what the evidence shouts most loudly is striking, liberating new: that great performance is not reserved for a preordained few. It is available to you and to everyone else."

Back to Tiger...

Most of us think that Tiger Woods was born to play golf. That he was a child prodigy. That he was destined to be the greatest golfer of all time. But the may not be exactly the case.

Tiger had a few things going for him that helped him achieve his status in the game of golf. First and foremost, his father Earl. Earl Woods was a teacher, specifically of young men who had a passion for sports. In the army he was a teacher, he was a star baseball player in high school and college, and between college and the army he coached little league baseball teams. He said in his book, Training a Tiger, "I love to teach."

Second, when Tiger was born, Earl had time to teach him. When Tiger was born, Earl's older children were grown up and he was retired. Earl was a golf fanatic and after being introduced to the game only a couple years earlier he had worked at it hard enough to achieve a handi-cap in the low single digits.

Colvin wrote, "So here's the situation: Tiger is born into the home of an expert golfer and confessed "golf addict" who loves to teach and is eager to begin teaching his son as soon as possible. Earl's wife does not work outside the home, and they have no other children; they have decided that "Tiger would be the first priority in our relationship," Earl wrote. Earl gives Tiger his first metal club, a putter, at the age of seven months. He sets up Tiger's high chair in the garage, where Earl is hitting balls into a new, and Tiger watches for hours on end. Before Tiger is two, they are at the golf course playing and practicing regularly."

By the time Tiger was 19 years old he had been through 17 years of intense practice. First, with his father and then at the age of 4 began having professional teachers and coaches.

The evidence, research, and examples of great performer such as Tiger Woods indicates that, "deliberate practice," is far more an identifying factor of high level performance than "natural ability." Deliberate practice is not your normal half-focused practice that most people go through. Deliberate practice is performance based, difficult, mentally, and physically exhausting, and is constantly being evaluated.

So here is my question for you. How is your deliberate practice schedule? In three, five, or 10 years, where will you be because today you decided to be that person who practices more, practices harder, and practices smarter than anyone else. And where are you today because of your past years of deliberate practice? For most of us, probably not where we want to be.

There are so many people who say they want to be the "best" at what they do. They, for the most part, do not understand the pain, the suffering, the commitment, and discipline that comes with that statement. Most people would rather try a little bit and if they do not get to the top just go with the fact that they just didn't have the talent or genetic ability to make it. According to Colvin's research, that is now just an excuse.

"Great performance is not ordained for the preordained few. It is available to you and everyone else."

This week decide to take what you do seriously. Do you want to be the "best." Do you want to be known as "world class" at what you do. The research has shown it's possible, but it would be a good idea to start right now.

No comments: