How NOT to Develop Your Talent: The 3 Deadly Habits
We spend a healthy amount of time here trying to identify good habits for building skill. In fact, we do it so much that I can’t help but wonder: what if we turned the question … keep reading
Advice That Changed Your Life
When it comes to developing our talents, we all hear a lot of good advice. In fact, there’s never been a moment in the history of the world when we’ve had such an incredible bounty … keep reading
How to Be More Creative (Step 1: Destroy)
When we think about creative people, we usually think of people who can produce something brilliant and amazing out of thin air. The kind who are, as the saying goes, naturally creative. But here’s a … keep reading
The One Best Habit
I love looking into the private daily routines of great performers, from da Vinci to Dickens to Dave Matthews. Part of it is pure voyeurism (they eat what for breakfast every day?), but a larger … keep reading
How to Raise a Prodigy (and How Not To)
We love whiz kids. We love pint-size Michelangelos and Michael Jordans who can pull off fast, sophisticated feats of agility and speed at an impossibly young age. But here’s a surprising little secret : when … keep reading
Letter to Students: Cliffs Notes for A Faster Brain
Dear Kids, Happy first day of school! I’ve got good news and bad news. First the bad news: You are about to spend hundreds of hours learning a bunch of small, interconnected facts, most of … keep reading
How to Be a Late Bloomer
Late bloomers are underrated. It’s not just the condescending phrase — the whispered implication that they should have bloomed earlier. And it’s not the fact that our culture tends to sprinkle the young with the fairy … keep reading
Why Being Terrible is Kind of Wonderful
If tomorrow you were given the chance to be great at every single skill in your life — I’m talking world-class level, in each of your various interests — would you do it? For many … keep reading
The Learner’s Dictionary
It’s a beautiful moment we’ve all experienced: a teacher or coach says something and all of a sudden – like sunbeams cutting through a cloud – we get it. We understand deeply. The question is, … keep reading
The 0.25 Second That Makes All the Difference
When it comes to errors, most of us share a passionate and simple opinion: we don’t like them very much. We strive to avoid them, to conceal them, to avoid repeating them. As a species, … keep reading