Peter O'Mahony - Retuning our definition of success

Munster and Ireland rugby player Peter O'Mahony (@peterom6) was named Man of the Match after Ireland's victory of Wales in the second weekend of the 2014 6 Nations (report here, video highlights here). O'Mahony was applauded and heralded by pundits, rugby fans and commentators across the board. O'Mahony commented after the match:

"I’m getting there. I'm always learning. There is still a lot of work to be done. I’m far from the finished article but I’m enjoying it at the moment. I’m learning a lot under the new coaching staff and I’m learning a lot from the players I’m playing alongside as well."

Retuning our definition of success, Ctd James Hart

"Once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder." 

 - Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

In October 2013 The Irish Times wrote a piece here on the Irish rugby player James Hart by the title, 'James Hart’s work ethic at Grenoble opens alternative route to success.' And that's the key point. The assumption that natural gift is the normal route to success, as opposed to hard work. Matthew Syed spoke about that on Radio 4 which I covered here. James Hart explained his story to Peter O'Reilly in The Sunday Times of December 29 2013 here:

"I was on a bus on the way out to a 20s session in Donnybrook when I got the call. The day I got my Leaving Cert results. All I’d been working for was to make the Leinster 20s. It was a real kick in the balls. I just didn’t give up."

He explained his move to France and the role of being up close and personal with the senior players at Stade Toulousain:

"I was just in awe of [Byron Kelleher and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde]. I used to love watching the two of them pass and kick. Kelleher was so physically impressive. Elissalde was just so smart in the way he read the game and could kick off either foot. That summer I read one of Jonny Wilkinson’s books and it kind of made sense to me. I knew I had a bit of natural talent but I knew that if I was going to make anything of myself, I’d have to work extremely hard. So that’s what I decided... I’d have been bored out of my tree at weekends. I used to just have a bag of balls and kick and pass, I don’t know for how long. It was just what I used to do when I was bored. I suppose all those hours add up. At the start I found it tough. I wasn’t really playing well. I was thinking, ‘Am I really that good?’ And sometimes I wanted to go home. I rang my mam and told her: ‘I can’t do this.’ You’ve got to hold your own, though. I’d be upset for a little bit and I’d tell myself: ‘You’ve got to keep working. Maybe something will happen.’"

Bernard Jackman gave his take on James Hart here:

"Lots of players want to be great but not many are willing to put in the hours and hours of practice that it takes. I’ve never seen anybody train as hard as James Hart. He has made himself an unbelievably good, technical player. He’s picture perfect."

Read my blog post on Christopher Hitchens and his definition and secret to success here, where he said:

"I became a really hard worker. A person of almost iron self discipline. I built my own workspace at home. I never went to an office anymore. I didn't hang out with people at lunch. Got on with it. If I wasn't reading, I was writing."

We can also look to this quote by unknown:

"Successful people aren't born that way. They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don't like to do. The successful people don't always like these things themselves; they just get on and do them."

My previous posts on the need to redefine our definition of success with Maria Popova here, with Matthew Syed here, with Matthew Syed again here, with Dan Pink here, with Washington educationalist Michelle Rhee here, and with Sir Ken Robinson here. My posts on creativity with Charlie Rose here, with Aleks Krotowski on combinatorial creativity here, on networked knowledge here, here, with Giles Coren here, with Sinead O'Connor here, with Muriel Rukeyser here and on coffeehouses as crucibles of creativity here.

Ashton Kutcher - The entitlement society and redefining success

Ashton Kutcher recently appeared in the US chat show 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ here and slated America's media, celebrity myth and the associated 'entitlement' culture that this industry has helped to create. In many ways we share this phenomenon in the Britain and in Northern Ireland. Our young people need to hear his words too. Ashton said:

"There's an entitlement that's starting to emerge that's unhealthy for people and unhealthy for the country. I talk to some of my friends and they don't want to get a job at Starbucks or wherever because they feel its below them. And I think the only thing that can be below you is to not have a job."

Maria Popova - Our current definition of success needs serious retuning

Maria Popova said:

"The myth of the overnight success is just that – a myth – as well as a reminder that our present definition of success needs serious retuning. As I've reflected elsewhere, the flower doesn’t go from bud to blossom in one spritely burst and yet, as a culture, we're disinterested in the tedium of the blossoming. But that’s where all the real magic unfolds in the making of one’s character and destiny."

This very much follows on from my earlier post on Matthew Syed who spoke on Radio 4 about the need to promote grit and resilience over the cult of immediacy and overnight success. He said:

When you speak to young people, it is striking just how often they blame their innate deficiencies when they are struggling with a subject such as, say, maths. “I don’t have a brain for numbers” is a phrase heard up and down the country. This may sound trifling, but it has deep effects. After all, if I lack the mental equipment to understand maths, what is the point of persevering? Surely it is as pointless as someone without hands trying to master origami. In effect, the belief destroys the grit that is essential to success.

Talent or Hard Work? Thoughts with Dan Pink

I've always assumed that it's only the super-freaky talented who really make it in life.

Howver my thinking has changed in recent times to the point where I've been asking: is it natural talent or hard work that brings success?