Anders Ericsson, a psychology professor at Florida state University, is among a group of researchers who have researched and come to a conclusion that superstars are made and not born.
They have come to this conclusion after studying chess players, software designers and dart players.
The difference between an ordinary player and say a superstar is in the intention of their practice.
A man can play a game or even perform a task for 30 years, but he will not become an expert. “And the experts, Ericsson says, practice in a way that commits the “how’’ of what they do to memory”.
What his research has thrown up is when you want to improve on a task, set a goal while performing it. Then evaluate whether you have achieved it.
If not, next time when you perform the same task, aim to achieve the same goal. According to Ericcson, this how one develops cognitive (connected with thinking or conscious mental processes) structures.
Ericcson says that it is different from mere practicing. It is actually learning and adjusting aspects of your performance to improve performance.
Ericsson also suggests that we first study and understand how an expert performs at such escalated level consistently.
Learn how or why they do certain things. When you are presented with an opportunity to perform the same task do as they do, and if you get the same result as the expert, then you are doing it right.
It’s also easy to do it perfectly once, but the real superstar is the person who does a task at escalated level day in and day out.
But then to perform like that day in and day out calls for commitment, passion and motivation.
