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.

The artist's journey, Ctd Terry Bradley

If we compare the image above and below with the 3 images at the bottom it is remarkable to see the evolution of the artist, Terry Bradley, over the years. From work that is clumpy and crude to delicate and detailed. It really proves what Sir Ken Robinson preaches here, that artistic and skills of creativity can be learnt and developed. It also gives a nod to Maria Popova and Matthew Syed who say here that we need to reevaluate success and how we achieve it.

My previous posts on the artist's journey here and here, and with focus on my work here, here and here.

Conformity and convention is over-rated

Sarah Green wrote in the HBR here

"Americans love to give lip service to creativity, celebrating imaginative artists and innovators and calling for "out of the box" ideas. Yet when we encounter creativity in real time -- before we know whether an unusual or outlandish idea will pay off -- we’re all too quick to reject it, argues Jessica Olien. She runs through a litany of evidence that becomes more and more depressing, but she comes to a surprisingly optimistic conclusion, thanks to research out of Cornell that shows being rejected leads creative people to conclude that conformity is overrated and thus liberates them from the need to fit in. True, this often doesn't lead to happiness -- but it does lead to more creativity. "To live creatively is a choice," Olien concludes. "You must make a commitment to your own mind and the possibility that you will not be accepted. You have to let go of satisfying people, often even yourself." I find those words oddly comforting. But maybe I'm just being creative."

My blog post on the Dilbert creator and my Dilbert moment here. Timothy Ferriss, prolific author, speaks in similar terms. As Tim Ferriss said in the Four Hour Work Week:

"The common sense rules of the real world are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions."

As I often say, Silicon Valley is less a place and more a mindset. That's why we need to think like Maria Popova and Matthew Syed here and Sir Ken Robinson here, and totally re-evaluate the educational experience and education's relationship with industry.

In a new world with a new and exciting economy, we need to think and act anew. If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.

Ken Robinson - "You have to work at creativity"

The Educationalist Sir Ken Robinson appeared on Desert Island Discs here with Kirsty Robinson and explained how creativity is not god given, but man driven. In that it man has to nurture, develop, master and marshall the power of creativity. Ken explained that many people have no idea of what abilities they hold. He explained that, contrary to popular myth, creativity and innovation can be developed in a deliberate and systematic way. And according to Ken, what we need is a learning revolution. He explained that there are a number of misconceptions. He said:

"People think creativity is about special things. Yes of course you can be creative in Music, dance, theatre and literature. But this isn't just about the arts. You can be creative in science, technology, and mathematics. In any field where human intelligence is active there's opportunity for creative thinking and achievement. Our current systems of education tend to stifle these powers of creativity. Not in a way that is deliberate but it tends to be systematic."

He said:

"We're all born with tremendous confidence in our creative competences. Young children are tremendously creative and buoyant; but by the time they've left schools they've often lost that confidence. And most adults, if you ask them if they're confident they'll say that they're not.

He explained that hard work, grit and resilience is the teacher and creator of creativity:

"Creative abilities in any field Have to be developed and evolved. They don't just happen. When an adult says they can't draw, they're probably right, they probably can't. It's like if an adult were to say that they can't read and write, well they can't. It's not that they're incapable it's just that they haven't learnt what's involved. 

So the fact were born with these natural faculties doesn't mean they evolve naturally all of their own, you have to work at them."

More information on Sir Ken Robinson

His life began in a crowded house on Merseyside in the 1950s, full of visitors, noise and laughter. His front door was just a hundred yards from Everton football club, but his boyhood dreams of playing for The Blues ended when he contracted polio.

The first of his six siblings to pass the 11-plus and win a scholarship to one of Liverpool's best schools, his education would fundamentally shape the rest of his life. He said:

"If a teacher hadn't seen something in me that I hadn't seen in myself, my life might have gone in a very different direction."

Previous posts on our need to redefine our definition of success here, here, here, here and posts on creativity here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.