Monday, November 16, 2009

WHAT THE SPARTANS GOT RIGHT

Three weeks ago I wrote a piece about Tiger Woods. The intent was to suggest Tiger's reign as one of the greatest golfers of all time is not because he was born with a divine talent to play golf, but because he was trained to be one of golf's greatest performers.

Tiger's article was a suggestion that we too, through deliberate practice, can be shaped and created to outperform others in whatever we do.

To become great at what we do, we obviously need hours and hours of practice. But this next point is crucial: The earlier you can identify what we want to master, followed by beginning a regimented, daily, deliberate practice schedule, the greater chance we will have at achieving the highest level of what we do.

A lot of time we think of practice as an event we have to show up for. We treat practice as if it is something that we go through because we have to. We often spend more time conserving energy than actually using it to get better.

The concept of deliberate practice is quite opposite of how most of us practice. It is something we want to show up to but hate it at the same time. It is something that constantly pushes us out of our comfort zone. Each of our thoughts, emotions, and actions are scrutinized and given feedback. It is repetitive, working on the same thing over and over and over until we perfect it. And it challenges our mental capacity and our ability to persevere when we don't want to go anymore. It is much more than showing up.

HOW THE SPARTANS GOT IT RIGHT

Just showing up didn't work for the citizens of the city state of Sparta of ancient Greece. Examination of your ability to contribute to the state began at birth. Elders of the state examined each new born for physical deformities and mental deficiencies. If you were deemed unfit to contribute to the state, you were taken to a mountain and dropped off a cliff. Obviously they took their recruiting process seriously. So when training started, just showing up wouldn't get you very far.

Deliberate Practice,
defined by Geoff Colvin in the book Talent is Overrated, has five perpetual traits:

1. It is Designed Specifically to Constantly Improve Performance

2. It Can Be Repeated Over and Over Again

3. It Continuously Offers Feedback On Results

4. It is Highly Demanding Mentally

5. It Is Not Fun

Putting the strange and downright troubling cultural practices aside, let's examine what the Spartans did get right with regards to 5 traits of deliberate practice. For the purposes of this article we will look at the training of children from the ages of seven to twelve, and how this training program prepared these young boys to be the fiercest and deadliest warriors in their world.

THE SPARTAN TRAINING PROGRAM

The Spartan Training Program or Agoge, was designed with one thing in mind. To build elite, fierce, fearless, and loyal warriors to protect the independent state city state of Ancient Greece, Sparta.

Their culture was one of great pride and their citizens held the state above themselves. Each and everything that was done in the Spartan culture was designed and executed for that purpose.

They are said to be the first "professionals" of their time; professional warriors. Each practice was done with a purpose to improve military prowess. They learned by practicing and perfecting their skills over and over again. They received continuous feedback from older mentors called Eirena's. Their training was over-bearing, focusing on physical and mental toughness.

The military training program or the Agoge began at age 7 for Spartan men. The Spartans believed that by this age the coddling was over and that Spartan boys were ready to begin their training as warriors of the state.

Up until the age of twelve the Spartan boys were placed in groups and lived in barracks. Here they were mentored and supervised by an older boy
. Most of the training in the beginning was to achieve high levels of physical and mental toughness through intense physical training and mental abuse.

Here are some of the interesting tactics Spartans in the Agoge to create Spartan warriors.

1. Basic Education: Reading and writing were taught at a very basic level and with the purpose of only singing and writing war poetry. Math was taught only at the level to be able to count how many soldiers were in a formation.

2. Physical Education: Spartan boys were put on rigorous strength and endurance programs, most of the time through the training in track and field type events (sprinting, throwing, jumping, long-distance running). As they grew older they were made to walk and do these events in bare feet.

3. Body Toughening: When the Spartan boys turned 12 they no longer wore tunics, but received only one cloak per year. They did not use soap or lotions. They slept in packs on beds that they had to make themselves with their bare hands.

4. Mental Toughening: They would purposefully starve the young boys, which would force them to steal from other boys. But if they were caught, they were whipped severely, not because they stole, but because they stole, "carelessly and unskillfully."

Another practice was to tie the young boys to posts in the middle of the city and flog (whip) them repeatedly. This brutal event was attended by their families and other Spartan citizens. Their pre-pubescent children bloodied and whipped, these proud parents cheered them on encouraging them to take more and more. Why? Because the one who endured the most pain, who took the most punishment, without crying, or screaming, was applauded and honored. For a parent, it was a great honor that your child could take a beating like that without showing any signs of weakness.

Say what you want about the Spartans, they understood one of the greatest, if not the greatest factor of elite performance: The power for deliberate practice.

They understood that they could shape each and every person in their culture to be warriors. There were no SAT's, personality tests, or placement tests. There was only training their children to be warriors. There was only training their young to be loyal and fierce defenders of their culture and their state.

DELIBERATE PRACTICE AND YOU

Are you deliberately practicing your sport or your profession?

Have you designed or had a highly skilled or esteemed professional specifically design for you a path or program to help you continuously improve in your sport or profession?

Does this program have aspects that are progressive and focus on skill work that can be repeated over and over and over again?

Do you receive, ask for, or seek out continuous feedback, from a coach or mentor on the repeated results of your practice?

Is your daily practice regimen highly mentally demanding? In other words, are you constantly working outside of your comfort zone in your sport or profession?

Would you consider practicing for your profession challenging, stimulating, yet not exactly fun?

If you can answer all of these with a yes, they you may be enjoying (or not enjoying) the act of deliberate practice. If not, you may just be showing up.

In my estimation it is only the top 10% of people in their field that have made a commitment to years of exhausting and intensive deliberate practice.

So if you want to be the best at what you do, if you want to be in the top 10%, deliberate practice isn't a choice, it's a requirement and it's not easy. Deliberate practice is not just difficult because of the intense physical and mental demands, but because of the sacrifices you must make. Top performers often sacrifice elite performance for their social life and other things that are conveniently enjoyed by the other 90% of the population.

And as long as you are doing what the other 90% do, no matter how talented or skilled you are, you will eventually be devoured by someone who practices like a warrior. A person who trains like a Spartan.

And when you meet....

You will lose...

Watch King Leonidas show his confidence in his deliberately trained 300 Spartans in the link below:

WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION?

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