Achievement Through Effort
(Handout)
I.
Introduction: The Origin of Great Achievements
1. Lots of people achieve great things.
People achieve new great things all the time. Athletes break world-records.
Entrepreneurs make billions of dollars. Scientists create new vaccines or
overturn old scientific theories. Mathematicians solve problems that have not
been solved for hundreds of years.
2. Some people believe achieving great things is a result of innate talent.
What makes it possible for a person to do something great? A lot of people
believe that great achievements are the result of innate talent. People think
“she’s naturally smart” or “he is naturally athletic” or “she has an innate business
sense” or “he is a born genius”.
3. Others believe that it is a result of hard work.
Others believe that “innate skill” is overrated. These people think that great
achievements are not a result of innate talent, but instead come tons and tons of
hard work, along with things like careful planning and deliberate focus on selfimprovement.
4. Both contribute. But what matters more? Innate talent or hard work?
Of course, people will grant that great achievements are the result of both hard
work and innate talent. But this skirts the issue. Which is more important?
Innate talent or hard work? If you do not have any special innate talents, does
that mean you can’t do great things? We all want to significant improve the
world, so this matters to us. How much are we limited by our starting set of
skills?
5. Let’s hear from some experts and listen to some stories.
Experts have studied talent acquisition, and there are a number of awesome
real-life stories that weigh in on the question of innate talent vs. effort. Let’s
hear what they have to say.
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II.
Readings: Achievement Through Effort
Reading #1: The Legend of Cliff Young
– Source: http://www.elitefeet.com/the-legend-of-cliff-young
– Estimated time: 4 minutes
Reading #2: The Making of an Expert
– Source: http://141.14.165.6/users/cokely/Ericsson_Preitula_&_Cokely_2007_HBR.pdf
– Estimated time: 10 minutes
Reading #3: The Myth of Prodigy and Why it Matters
– Source: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2026
– Estimated time: 8 minutes
III.
Discussion: Acquired Qualities vs. Innate Qualities
6. How high you should aim depends on the role of innate talent.
If you want to have the biggest positive impact you can, you will have to decide
how high you want to aim. The answer to the question of how high you should
aim depends in part on how important innate talent is. If innate talent really
matters, you should figure out what your talents are and adjust your aim
accordingly. If innate talent does not matter much, so that most people can
become extremely skilled at most things, then you should figure out what you
want to become awesome at and get to work.
7. The experts seem to agree: high-achievers are not born; they are made.
And as we have seen, the experts seem to think that world-class performance is
a result of hard work and deliberate practice. IQ seems to be far less important.i
Being extremely good as a child does not seem to matter.ii
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Instructions. Go through the following list of attributes. For each, do you believe that a person
needs to have significant natural talent if they are to become among the best in the world with
regard to that attribute? Check the relevant boxes below.
Characteristic /
Ability
Does becoming among the best in
the world require natural talent?
Natural talent
Natural talent
required
not required
Artistic Talent
Charisma
Physical Strength
Basketball Skill
Intelligence
Persuasiveness
Chess Skill
Physical Speed
Leadership Skill
Mathematical Ability
Negotiation Skill
Generosity
Programming Skill
Inner Tranquility
Detective Skill
Empathy
Typing Speed
Courage
Philosophical Ability
Dancing Skill
Creativity
Business Skill
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Divide into groups of 2 or 3. Discuss the following questions. After 8 minutes, have everyone
switch discussion partners. Switch again later, if people want and time permits. If everyone has
spoken to everyone, form a large group and continue the discussion.
(a) Share your list with your conversation partners. What did you agree on? What did you
disagree on?
(b) Look at the characteristics that you believe do not require natural talent. Imagine that
you could choose to become among the best in the world at one of them. For instance:
among the most creative in the world, among the most persuasive in the world, etc.
Which one would you pick? Why?
(c) Think about the characteristic you picked for (b). How would you set about becoming
among the best in the world with regard to this characteristic? How many hours would
you be willing to put in?
IV.


Action Points
Learn more:
o Read the story of Joshua Foer, a reporter who went from writing about memory
contests to winning the U.S.A. Memory Championship in a single year.
 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/20/magazine/mindsecrets.html
o Follow the quest of Dan McLaughlin. Dan started with almost no golf experience,
and is currently turning himself into a professional-level golfer through 10,000
hours of deliberate practice. Why? To show people that it is possible.
 http://thedanplan.com/
o Hard work pays off physically as well. Watch someone transform themselves
through persistent physical training:
 Monthly photos for 6 years: http://www.johnstonefitness.com/mytransformation/pictures/monthly-photos-front/
 Daily photos for 1 year 3 months: http://www.johnstonefitness.com/mytransformation/pictures/daily-photos-front/
Do more:
o Make your practice deliberate. You probably practice a lot of things right now.
According to many people though, practice isn’t enough. To improve as quickly
as possible, you need deliberate practice. Deliberate practice involves focus on
the areas where you are the weakest, getting rapid feedback, and a few other
things. Read up on deliberate practice. Make sure your time spent practicing is
benefiting you as much as possible.
 http://ideas.time.com/2012/01/25/the-myth-of-practice-makes-perfect/
 http://expertenough.com/1423/deliberate-practice
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

o Start the journey to 10,000 hours. Many experts believe that it takes 10,000
hours of deliberate practice before a person can come to be among the world’s
best.iii Look at the list of characteristics you believe do not require natural talent.
Would it be worthwhile to put in 10,000 hours to become one of the best in the
world for any of those characteristics? If you think so, start your journey to
10,000 hours today.
Path to Impact:
o Look at the list of characteristics you believe do not require natural talent. Now
think about your current plans for changing the world. Would any of your plans
be improved by taking some time to develop any of those characteristics?
Related modules:
o Self-Improvement. Self-improvement is one of the three pillars of effective
altruism. In the pursuit of a better world, you are your own greatest resource.
Learn how to make yourself strong, smarter and better.
o Overcoming Chance. This module and the “Overcoming Chance” module are
important prerequisites for the “Power of a Single Person” module.
i
In particular, IQ appears to not be correlated with expert performance in a number of fields, including chess,
music, sports and medicine. See “The Making of an Expert” by K. Andres Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward
T. Cokely, http://141.14.165.6/users/cokely/Ericsson_Preitula_&_Cokely_2007_HBR.pdf, p. 1.
ii
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2026.
iii
Ericsson, et. al., http://141.14.165.6/users/cokely/Ericsson_Preitula_&_Cokely_2007_HBR.pdf, p. 5.
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