“Being an artisan means practicing repetition with purpose.” – Chef Yoshihisa Ota *** “You have to make sure to get the dish right through details that aren’t visible. And in regards to the job, of course there are boring tasks. You can only see the other side of this world once you’ve done these tasks a million times.” – Chef Yoshihisa Ota NY Times Link

“Make your passion your paycheck.” – Torrance Hampton *** Passion, Persistence, Motivation, and the Development of Expertise An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 1, Passion and Interest “What is your passion? What are you passionate about? Are you passionate about a sport, say basketball, or surfing? Tennis anyone? How about art, or music. Perhaps you’re zeroed in on an academic field such as biology, or economics. Maybe you have a passion for exploring, with an eye on the Himalayas. Don’t have a passion, then what are you interested in? Interest and achievement go hand in hand. It is easier to achieve in a domain if…

“When you get stuck, ask for help, that’s why you have a coach.” – Glenn K. Seki *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 7, A Coach and Coaching You really need to have a coach/mentor/teacher/etc. A coach can be a parent, relative, friend, teacher, someone you hire, etc. Tiger Wood’s father introduced him to golf, Venus and Serena Williams’ father introduced them to tennis and coached them in their early years. You can have multiple coaches concurrently and consecutively. Your coaches should have a higher expertise level than you do, although they don’t have to. A friend may help motivate you to keep practicing…

“Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.” – Martha Graham *** About Practice, Persistence, and the Development of Expertise *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 8, Deliberate Practice and Learning “To become the best takes practice, lots and lots of practice. I have mentioned the 10,000-hour rule. It takes about 10,000 hours of practice to get really good at something and not just any type of practice, but deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is practicing to get better. The classic example…

“Go to places where you can learn. You can learn from every experience, but just provide yourself with the best opportunities to work with people who you think are smart and who you respect.” – Barry Rosenstein *** How you learn something… An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 8, Deliberate Practice and Learning Learning “When you are trying to learn something new or you are teaching someone something new, it can be a very daunting task. It is difficult because learning something new is not easy, but it can be made easier if you understand how learning works. Learning can be divided into four basic…

“If you want to be more flexible and adaptable, practice challenging your comfort zones.” – Akiroq Brost *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 8, Deliberate Practice and Learning Some generalizations about practice.   Practice perfect.   Practice can be a physical action.   Practice can be a mental action.   Practice can combine physical and mental actions.   Practice with people that are better than you.   Practice with a coach.   Do your homework before you practice.   Get guided practice (practice with immediate feedback).   Practice to get better.   Practice what you are NOT good at.   As the story goes,…

“Hard things will happen to us. We will recover. We will learn from it. We will grow more resilient because of it.” – Taylor Swift *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 9, Persistence, Motivation, and More About Your Path A lot will depend on to what you attribute a failure or poor performance.   When you do well at something, what do you attribute it to? Do you think it was luck or do you think it was because you worked hard? Chance can always play a part in life, however, becoming the best is about hard work. If you did well at something…

“No matter how far away from yourself you may have strayed, there is always a path back. You already know who you are and how to fulfill your destiny.” – Oprah Winfrey *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 6, A Goal and a Plan Staying on Your Path   Once you have traveled your path for awhile you will have some successes and some failures. You take the successes and use them to help fortify your resolve and your belief in yourself that you can reach your goal. You take the failures and use them to learn about your weak points and guide your…

“What makes you different and weird, that’s your strength.” – Meryl Streep *** Passion, Persistence, Motivation, and the Development of Expertise An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 1, Passion and Interest “What is your passion? What are you passionate about? Are you passionate about a sport, say basketball, or surfing? Tennis anyone? How about art, or music. Perhaps you’re zeroed in on an academic field such as biology, or economics. Maybe you have a passion for exploring, with an eye on the Himalayas. Don’t have a passion, then what are you interested in? Interest and achievement go hand in hand. It is easier to achieve…