7 secrets top athletes can teach you about being the best at anything

7 secrets top athletes can teach you about being the best at anything7 secrets top athletes can teach you about being the best at anythingWed all like to be better at what is fruchtwein important to us.Top athletes know the secrets to constant improvement but most of us dont hang out with gold medalists or top coachesand were leid familiar with the sports research. So I called a guy who is.David Epstein is the author of the New York Times bestsellerThe Sports Gene Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance.Its an excellent read whether youre a sports fan or elend and covers a lot of the science on how we can get better at anything.In this post youll learnThe one korrekt thattop students and top athletesboth useto get better.The thing babies can teach us aboutlearning.Howbeing difficult to deal with can boost your learning ability.The qualityall prodigies have in common.The question that accelerates learning.How to leverage your unique abilities to be your best.And a lot mora.Lets get to it.Dont Let Anyone Say You Dont Have TalentYou get told you dont have natural talent at something. Or youre notlage smart enough. Not fast enough. Soyou get discouraged and quit.But new research is showing some abilities dont make themselves visible until challenges get hard enough.Heres DavidOnce things get hard enough, people abflug to be differentiated andsee some skills that theyprobably didnt even know they had.Those skills were only activated once they got into the right spot and the challenges got difficult.Theres a new factor in sports research called trainability. Some people may not have natural talent but they may be highly trainable.They start out below average but improvefar faster. When we measurethese people on day one they get told they dont have it. But after a few weeks or months theyre blowing away the so-called naturals. The lesson? Hang in there.(For mora on what the most successful people do that makes them great, clickhere.)So talents not as big an issue as you may have thought. But where should you focus your energy?What Do You Rage To Master?What doprodigies have in common? Ellen Winner at Boston College calls it the rage to master. Its aninsatiable desire to get better at something specific.Heres DavidI love some of the work done by Ellen Winner at Boston College on prodigies. She coined this term rage to master. Its the obsessive desire to improve at something.We think of prodigies as little miracle kids. And yeah, when you look at tests of working memory they score off the charts. But thats theonlymetricthey all have in common.So they dont have completely alien super-brains.A huge part of why theyre so good is they found the thing they had natural talent for and relentlessly applied themselves. And thats something we can all do.Heres DavidReal prodigies basically all score in the 99.9th percentile of working memory but after that they score really, really differently. It suggests that while they have some horsepowe r, they also have individualized unique strengths that have made them good for what they do. They arent just interchangeable. They gravitated toward unique strengths that they have.(To learn how you can go from dreaming to doing, clickhere.)So you know what youre passionate about and youre working hard. Whats the best way to get started? Youll be surprisedDont Follow Instructions. Learn Like A Baby.When did you learn the most and learn the fastest? Theres no debate its when you were a baby.You didnt get clear instructions from anybody on anything and yet you learned some of the most complex things in the world, like walking and talking.This process (implicit learning) isnt just for babies. Were often too focused on executing very specific steps and so we dont take the time to fumble aroundandmake mistakeslike when we were kids.As adults we think we dont have time for it but its one of the reasons we dont learn as well as when we were little.Heres DavidAllowing implicit learning earl y in whatever were learning, whether its chess, whether its looking at market patterns, whatever it is, is very important. You dont wanttoo much explicit coaching early on. You want to learn like a baby. Babies are immersed and theyre given immediate feedback and they have to strive and try.Only later do you formally teach them things like grammar.And its not just speculation. Research with young surgeons is showingthe power of learning like a baby.Heres DavidOn the first try those given explicit instructions were better, but very very quickly the ones who started with more implicit-style learningsurpassed them insurgical speed and accuracy.(To learn about grit and resilience from a Navy SEAL, clickhere.)Whats the main question you should be asking yourself when trying to improve?Ask Whats Most Important Here?InThe Sports Gene,David tells the story of what happened whentop baseball batters went up against a female softball pitcher.She struck every single one of them out.How did she do it?Because the old advice of keep your eye on the ball is dead wrong. In fact, its impossible - a baseball moves too fast. Its not about reaction time. Its about the subtle cues a batter sees in a pitchers body before they throw the ball.But baseball batters arent used to how softball pitchers move. They get all the cues wrong and strike out.If you dont know what theimportant part of what youre trying to learn is then youre like a batter trying to keep their eye on the ball. Youre focused on improving thewrong thing.Heres DavidThe hallmark of expertise is figuring out what information is important. And in many cases, these are things that are implicitly learned that the performer themselves would not be able to tell you. They will tell you something that causes their success and in many cases theyll be wrong. Weve had to do some pretty complicated studies to figure out what it is they actually do.(To learn how to find the best mentor for you, clickhere.)If youre smart, youre get ting help with whatever youre trying to get better at.Whats the best way to deal with your teacher? Its probably not what youd expectBe A Pain In The AssTheGroningen talent studies have been following kids in the classroom and in a variety of sports for 15 years now.What do the ones who go on to get the best grades or become pro athletes have in common?They didnt merely do what they were told. They questioned coaches and teachers. They pushed back. They asked if this was the right activity for them to be doing.Heres DavidThekids that outdid their peers in the classroom and the kids that went on to become pros in a variety of sports had behavioral traits in common.The kids who went to the top in soccer, for example, they displayed what the scientists called self-regulatory behavior. Its a12-year-old whos going up to their trainer and saying, I think this strenge ausbildung is a little too easy. What is this working on again? Why are we doing this? I think Im having a problem with thi s other thing. Can I work on that instead?(To learn how to make your kids smarter, clickhere.)So youre asking questions. Youre engaged. Now how do you apply that to the skill youre working on?Find Your Optimal PushThe kids who questioned their teachers got to know themselves better. So they were better judges of what they could and couldnt do.This allowed them to best practice at a levelwhere they were always stretching themselves but not so much that the task was impossible. This is called optimal push.Knowing youroptimal pushmeans youdont plateau - youjust keep getting better. And when youscrew up youlllearn more from yourmistakes.Heres DavidOptimal push is something thats a little harder than what youve ever done but not so hard its out of your reach.When the other kids plateau, these kids dont. And thats on the playing field and in the classroom. The kids who had these self-regulatory skills get more out of their mistakes than their peers do. Their failures are not wasted oppor tunities they draw something from them.(To learn how to apply the craftmans mindset to your work, clickhere.)Lets say youre doing everything mentioned thus far. Awesome. If you had to sum up the most important thing to focus on in justone word, what would it be?The 1 Thing Is ReflectionDavid asked the head of theGroningen talent studies if she could sum up in one word the thing that all the top kids (in school or any sport) all had in common.She said Reflection. They think about what they did and ask themselves if its working.Heres DavidWhen they do something, whether its good or bad, they take time for reflection. They asked themselveswelches it difficult enough? Was it too easy? Did it make me better? Did it not? It sounds simple and sounds facile, but I think we dont do it.We naturally gravitate toward increasing comfort in everything we do in our jobs. We become more efficient and we angelegenheit prey to that efficiency. Thats a disaster. When all your effortsare things that yo u can do easily and without thinking about them, yourenot going to improve.(To learn how the lessons of ancient thinkers can improve your modern life, clickhere.)Lets pull everything together and bust one more big myth about being the best at anything.Enough Reading. Time For Doing.Heres what youcan learn about learning from DavidDont Let Anyone Say You Dont Have TalentWhat Do You Rage To Master?Dont Follow Instructions. Fumble Around.Ask Whats Most Important Here?Be A Pain In The AssFind Your Optimal PushThe 1 Thing Is ReflectionSome of you might think the above doesnt really apply to you. Its too late to start something. Or youre too old to learn.Wrong. The latest research says youre never too old to learn. Youcanteach an old dog new tricks.Heres DavidI think what the science is saying at this point is that a lot of the limitations that were placed on older learners and older athletes didnt have any empirical backing.As we get older we trade a more flexible brain for one that is m ore efficient. We see that in sportsandwe see that in other cognitive skills. Experience and efficiency make up for some of the raw horsepower that we may lose as we age.Its never too late to be great.Join more than 305,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related postsNew Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You HappyNew Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More SuccessfulHow To Get People To Like You 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior ExpertThis article originally appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.7 secrets top athletes can teach you about being the best at anythingWed all like to be better at what is most important to us.Top athletes know the secrets to constant improvement but most of us dont hang out with gold medalists or top coachesand were not familiar with the sports research. So I called a guy who is.David Epstein is the author of the New York Times bestsellerThe Sports Gene Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance.Its an excellent r ead whether youre a sports fan or not and covers a lot of the science on how we can get better at anything.In this post youll learnThe one word thattop students and top athletesboth useto get better.The thing babies can teach us aboutlearning.Howbeing difficult to deal with can boost your learning ability.The qualityall prodigies have in common.The question that accelerates learning.How to leverage your unique abilities to be your best.And a lot more.Lets get to it.Dont Let Anyone Say You Dont Have TalentYou get told you dont have natural talent at something. Or youre not smart enough. Not fast enough. Soyou get discouraged and quit.But new research is showing some abilities dont make themselves visible until challenges get hard enough.Heres DavidOnce things get hard enough, people start to be differentiated andsee some skills that theyprobably didnt even know they had.Those skills were only activated once they got into the right spot and the challenges got difficult.Theres a new fa ctor in sports research called trainability. Some people may not have natural talent but they may be highly trainable.They start out below average but improvefar faster. When we measurethese people on day one they get told they dont have it. But after a few weeks or months theyre blowing away the so-called naturals. The lesson? Hang in there.(For more on what the most successful people do that makes them great, clickhere.)So talents not as big an issue as you may have thought. But where should you focus your energy?What Do You Rage To Master?What doprodigies have in common? Ellen Winner at Boston College calls it the rage to master. Its aninsatiable desire to get better at something specific.Heres DavidI love some of the work done by Ellen Winner at Boston College on prodigies. She coined this term rage to master. Its the obsessive desire to improve at something.We think of prodigies as little miracle kids. And yeah, when you look at tests of working memory they score off the charts . But thats theonlymetricthey all have in common.So they dont have completely alien super-brains.A huge part of why theyre so good is they found the thing they had natural talent for and relentlessly applied themselves. And thats something we can all do.Heres DavidReal prodigies basically all score in the 99.9th percentile of working memory but after that they score really, really differently. It suggests that while they have some horsepower, they also have individualized unique strengths that have made them good for what they do. They arent just interchangeable. They gravitated toward unique strengths that they have.(To learn how you can go from dreaming to doing, clickhere.)So you know what youre passionate about and youre working hard. Whats the best way to get started? Youll be surprisedDont Follow Instructions. Learn Like A Baby.When did you learn the most and learn the fastest? Theres no debate its when you were a baby.You didnt get clear instructions from anybody on anything and yet you learned some of the most complex things in the world, like walking and talking.This process (implicit learning) isnt just for babies. Were often too focused on executing very specific steps and so we dont take the time to fumble aroundandmake mistakeslike when we were kids.As adults we think we dont have time for it but its one of the reasons we dont learn as well as when we were little.Heres DavidAllowing implicit learning early in whatever were learning, whether its chess, whether its looking at market patterns, whatever it is, is very important. You dont wanttoo much explicit coaching early on. You want to learn like a baby. Babies are immersed and theyre given immediate feedback and they have to strive and try.Only later do you formally teach them things like grammar.And its not just speculation. Research with young surgeons is showingthe power of learning like a baby.Heres DavidOn the first try those given explicit instructions were better, but very very quickly the ones who started with more implicit-style learningsurpassed them insurgical speed and accuracy.(To learn about grit and resilience from a Navy SEAL, clickhere.)Whats the main question you should be asking yourself when trying to improve?Ask Whats Most Important Here?InThe Sports Gene,David tells the story of what happened whentop baseball batters went up against a female softball pitcher.She struck every single one of them out.How did she do it?Because the old advice of keep your eye on the ball is dead wrong. In fact, its impossible - a baseball moves too fast. Its not about reaction time. Its about the subtle cues a batter sees in a pitchers body before they throw the ball.But baseball batters arent used to how softball pitchers move. They get all the cues wrong and strike out.If you dont know what theimportant part of what youre trying to learn is then youre like a batter trying to keep their eye on the ball. Youre focused on improving thewrong thing.Heres DavidThe hallmark of expertise is figuring out what information is important. And in many cases, these are things that are implicitly learned that the performer themselves would not be able to tell you. They will tell you something that causes their success and in many cases theyll be wrong. Weve had to do some pretty complicated studies to figure out what it is they actually do.(To learn how to find the best mentor for you, clickhere.)If youre smart, youre getting help with whatever youre trying to get better at.Whats the best way to deal with your teacher? Its probably not what youd expectBe A Pain In The AssTheGroningen talent studies have been following kids in the classroom and in a variety of sports for 15 years now.What do the ones who go on to get the best grades or become pro athletes have in common?They didnt merely do what they were told. They questioned coaches and teachers. They pushed back. They asked if this was the right activity for them to be doing.Heres DavidThekids that outdid their peers in the classroom and the kids that went on to become pros in a variety of sports had behavioral traits in common.The kids who went to the top in soccer, for example, they displayed what the scientists called self-regulatory behavior. Its a12-year-old whos going up to their trainer and saying, I think this drill is a little too easy. What is this working on again? Why are we doing this? I think Im having a problem with this other thing. Can I work on that instead?(To learn how to make your kids smarter, clickhere.)So youre asking questions. Youre engaged. Now how do you apply that to the skill youre working on?Find Your Optimal PushThe kids who questioned their teachers got to know themselves better. So they were better judges of what they could and couldnt do.This allowed them to best practice at a levelwhere they were always stretching themselves but not so much that the task was impossible. This is called optimal push.Knowing youroptimal pushmeans youdont plateau - youjust keep getting better. And when youscrew up youlllearn more from yourmistakes.Heres DavidOptimal push is something thats a little harder than what youve ever done but not so hard its out of your reach.When the other kids plateau, these kids dont. And thats on the playing field and in the classroom. The kids who had these self-regulatory skills get more out of their mistakes than their peers do. Their failures are not wasted opportunities they draw something from them.(To learn how to apply the craftmans mindset to your work, clickhere.)Lets say youre doing everything mentioned thus far. Awesome. If you had to sum up the most important thing to focus on in justone word, what would it be?The 1 Thing Is ReflectionDavid asked the head of theGroningen talent studies if she could sum up in one word the thing that all the top kids (in school or any sport) all had in common.She said Reflection. They think about what they did and ask themselves if its working.Heres DavidWhen they do something, whether its good or bad, they take time for reflection. They asked themselvesWas it difficult enough? Was it too easy? Did it make me better? Did it not? It sounds simple and sounds facile, but I think we dont do it.We naturally gravitate toward increasing comfort in everything we do in our jobs. We become more efficient and we fall prey to that efficiency. Thats a disaster. When all your effortsare things that you can do easily and without thinking about them, yourenot going to improve.(To learn how the lessons of ancient thinkers can improve your modern life, clickhere.)Lets pull everything together and bust one more big myth about being the best at anything.Enough Reading. Time For Doing.Heres what youcan learn about learning from DavidDont Let Anyone Say You Dont Have TalentWhat Do You Rage To Master?Dont Follow Instructions. Fumble Around.Ask Whats Most Important Here?Be A Pain In The AssFind Your Optimal PushThe 1 Thing Is ReflectionSome of you might think the above doesnt re ally apply to you. Its too late to start something. Or youre too old to learn.Wrong. The latest research says youre never too old to learn. Youcanteach an old dog new tricks.Heres DavidI think what the science is saying at this point is that a lot of the limitations that were placed on older learners and older athletes didnt have any empirical backing.As we get older we trade a more flexible brain for one that is more efficient. We see that in sportsandwe see that in other cognitive skills. Experience and efficiency make up for some of the raw horsepower that we may lose as we age.Its never too late to be great.Join more than 305,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related postsNew Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You HappyNew Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More SuccessfulHow To Get People To Like You 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior ExpertThis article originally appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.