“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius *** 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 of the greatest college basketball coaches, ever)…

“If a week goes by that I haven’t learned something new, then that is really a wasted week.” – Lee Ainslie *** 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 parts: concepts (definitions and examples), processes (how it works sequences), principles (cause and effect relationships), and productions…

“Be warned that being an expert is more than understanding how a system is supposed to work. Expertise is gained by investigating why a system doesn’t work.” – Brian Redman *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 9, Persistence, Motivation, and More About Your Path 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 practice,…

“To succeed you have to believe in something with such passion that it becomes a reality.” – Anita Roddick *** 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…

“If we can show students that they have the power to develop a skill of their choice and that, while it is not easy, it has many rewards that will make it worthwhile, we make it much more likely that they will use deliberate practice to develop various skills over their lifetimes.” – K. A. Ericsson *** 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…

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela *** 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 of the greatest college basketball coaches, ever) while I was a student at UCLA.…

“You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” – Ted Turner *** 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 of the greatest college basketball coaches, ever) while I was…

“Whatever you do, do with determination. You have one life to live; do your work with passion and give your best… be passionate to get the best result.” – Alia Bhatt *** 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…

“The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can’t let yourself be beat because of lack of effort.” – Michael Jordan *** An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Chapter 6, A Goal and a Plan “You need to have a specific ultimate goal. Let’s say you want to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming in the 200-meter freestyle. You have a specific ultimate goal, which is a good start because you know your final destination. When I was in graduate school in biology at UCLA one of my classes was a graduate seminar consisting…

“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” – Jerry West *** 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 of the greatest…