Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
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| Mastery Is a Pain Each summer, about twelve hundred young American men and women arrive at the United States Military Academy at West Point to begin four years of study and to take their place in the fabled long gray line But before any of them sees a classroom, they go through seven weeks of Cadet Basic Training —otherwise known as Beast Barracks By the time the summer ends, one in twenty of these talented, dedicated young adults has dropped out. A group of scholars—two from West Point, another from the University of Pennsylvania, and a fourth from the University of Michigan—wanted to understand why some students continued on the road toward military mastery and others got off at the first exit. “Try to pick a profession in which you enjoy even the most mundane, tedious parts. Then you will always be happy.” WILL SHORTZ Puzzle guru Was it physical strength and athleticism Intellect Leadership ability Well-roundedness? None of the above. The best predictor of success, the researchers found, was the prospective cadets ratings on a noncognitive, nonphysical trait known as “grit”—defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” 10 The experience of these army officers-in-training confirms the second law of mastery Mastery is a pain. As wonderful as flow is, the path to mastery—becoming ever better at something you care about—is not lined with daisies and spanned by a rainbow. If it were, more of us would make the trip. Mastery hurts. Sometimes—many times—it’s not much fun. That is one lesson of the work of psychologist Anders Ericsson, whose groundbreaking research on expert performance has provided anew theory of what fosters mastery. Ashe puts it, Many characteristics once believed to reflect innate talent are actually the results of intense practice fora minimum of 10 years.” 11 Mastery—of sports, music, business— requires effort (difficult, painful, excruciating, all-consuming effort) over along time (not a week or a month, but a decade). 12 Sociologist Daniel Chambliss has referred to this as the mundanity of excellence Like Ericsson, Chambliss found—in a three-year study of Olympic swimmers—that those who did the best typically spent the most time and effort on the mundane activities that readied them for races. 13 It’s the same reason that, in another study, the West Point grit researchers found that grittiness—rather than IQ or standardized test scores—is the most accurate predictor of college grades. As they explained, Whereas the importance of working harder is easily apprehended, the importance of working longer without switching objectives maybe less perceptible . . . in every field, grit maybe as essential as talent to high accomplishment.” 14 Flow enters the picture herein two ways. If people are conscious of what puts them inflow, they’ll have a clearer idea of what they should devote the time and dedication to master. And those moments of flow in the course of pursuing excellence can help people through the rough parts. But in the end, mastery often involves working and working and showing little improvement, perhaps with a few moments of flow pulling you along, then making a little progress, and then working and working on that new, slightly higher plateau again. It’s grueling, to be sure. But that’s not the problem that’s the solution. As Carol Dweck says, Effort is one of the things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it. It would bean impoverished existence if you were not willing to value things and commit yourself to working toward them.” 15 Another doctor, one who lacks a PhD. but has a plaque in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, put it similarly. Being a professional Julius Erving once said, is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them.” 16 Download 1.9 Mb. Share with your friends:
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