You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.” – Steve Jobs *** 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…

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”  – Henry Ford *** 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 parts: concepts (definitions and examples), processes (how it works sequences),…

“If you wish to become significantly better at something, you can.” – K. Anders Ericsson *** A Road Map to the Development of Expertise An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Introduction What the Book is About “This book is for anyone who wants to get really good at something or even become one of the best at anything. It’s about how to develop expertise in any area or domain: the conditions that have to be met, the steps you have to take, the things you have to do, and what to expect on your path to becoming an expert. The path it takes to become one…

“Try, try, try, and keep on trying is the rule that must be followed to become an expert in anything.” – W. Clement Stone *** Persistence and Motivation An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 9, Persistence, Motivation, and More About Your Path “Keep practicing no matter what. It will take years, you know this, so you have to keep practicing. You have to keep practicing getting better every time you practice. This is a very hard thing to do. You will get tired, bored, and frustrated. It is hard to keep your focus while practicing. I heard a story about John Wooden (often considered one…

“Coaches have to watch for what they don’t want to see and listen to what they don’t want to hear.” – John Madden *** A Coach and Coaching 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…

“If I don’t practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.” – Jascha Heifetz *** Deliberate Practice and Automaticity An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 8, Deliberate Practice and Learning Deliberate Practice “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 is a man who has gone golfing almost every weekend for the past…

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 9, Persistence, Motivation, and More About Your Path How Motivation Works “Basically, there are two types of motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation come from an outside source and intrinsic motivation comes from inside you. (To help you remember, Extrinsic, Ex = Exit = motivation from outside, Intrinsic, In = Inside = motivation from inside.) Extrinsic motivation is like when your mother bribed you as a child with candy to do something. Receiving candy was your extrinsic motivation to do what your mother wanted you to…

“In basketball, as in life, true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way.” – Phil Jackson *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 9, Persistence, Motivation, and More About Your Path “Keep practicing no matter what. It will take years, you know this, so you have to keep practicing. You have to keep practicing getting better every time you practice. This is a very hard thing to do. You will get tired, bored, and frustrated. It is hard to keep your focus while practicing. I heard a story about John Wooden (often considered…

“A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.” – John C. Maxwell *** 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…

“It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it’s what you put into the practice.” – Eric Lindros *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 8, Deliberate Practice and Learning Deliberate Practice “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 is a man who has gone golfing almost every weekend for the past twenty years. He has a…