What's the secret of high achievement? It's not talent or natural genius. The key is PRACTICE!

Talent is a subject that I frequently reflect on and encounter in my daily work as a coach and as a father of a 'talented' swimmer.

I have read with interest over the past six months, two books on Talent - 'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell and 'Bounce' by Matthew Syed.  The September issue of Wired magazine reviewed these books, along with two others, and concluded:

• the difference between expert and normal performance is due to "life-long periods of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific area",
• in sport it takes 10 years of deliberate practice,
• it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be an expert,
• the month of your birth plays a big part,
• there is an element of luck!

So what can we make from these insights?  That natural talent is not enough, to succeed you do need to practice and it takes time - a lot of time!

For my son in swimming it is not just about turning up and swimming once a week and doing the lengths.  He attends all his practice sessions over the week, where he is given 'sets' to swim, each of which has a specific outcome in mind.  The swimmers are watched closely by trained coaches and given immediate feedback to make small changes that make all the difference.  The children also record their PB times so that they can measure their progress against set goals that will get them to county, regional or even national times!!

As a coach I seek regular feedback from my clients and I reflect on each session.  In line with best practice in this industry, I regularly have sessions with a trained professional Supervisor.  We discuss how I have been coaching, how this has helped or hindered my clients which raises my awareness of my coaching style, reinforces what I do well and identifies further development areas to address.

So in our specialist fields, if we truly aspire to be best in class or considered an expert, how many hours of deliberate practice are we doing?  Or are we just turning up and doing what we have always done?  To what extent are we reflecting on the daily situations and challenges that we face, and how often do we seek feedback on our performance.

What are you doing to help improve your natural talent?  I look forward to hearing your stories.