Follow sporkologist's advice and also read "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle. It will give insight into why some approaches to practice produce far better results than others.

Mark, if you're reading this, I'd like to suggest the Talent Code (http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Code-Greatness-Born-Grown/dp/05...), superior cousin to the more famous Talent Myth (http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Myth-Larry-Gluck/dp/1929473001)

Love "The Talent Code". Its a must read for people wanting to get great at something.

It will also turn your life upside down based on the actions you will take after you read this. (This is not necessarily a good thing :)

The Talent Code...even better. The author finds places around the world that produce a lot of top talent and tells how they do it. http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Code-Greatness-Born-Grown/dp/05...

> Any other good literature on this, or learning in general?

As another commentter mentioned, "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle is excellent. Applying the principles it discussed made my musical practice an order of magnitude more effective than it had been previously.

It might be a good idea to add a meta section with resources on learning to learn. Books would be stuff like "Pragmatic Thinking and Learning", "The first 20 hours", "The Talent Code", "Inner Game of Tennis" etc.

Link to a cool TED-talk (20 hours): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY

:)

My criterion is 'influential on me', they may not necessarily be the greatest works of literature.

Mastery - Robert Greene

The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle

Peak - Anders Ericsson

The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy - William B. Irvine

The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning - Peter C. Brown

Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art - Stephen Nachmanovitch

Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari

Thanks for the second book. Just got into programming this year and the book seems like a perfect read. I'm reading a book that's just like The Talent Code now, Talent Is Overrated.

I hope most people know by now that "natural talent" isn't real.

See books: Outliers, The Talent Code

May I recommend “The Talent Code”?

It’s an excellent book discussing the concept of “talent” in the context of practice and quality attention.

The word talent implies something one is born with. Turns out that how good one is at something has much more to do with the quality of the neuropathways generated by specific practice habits.

The Talent Code is a fantastic read. Just want to add an extra big thank you for the reference.

That book and The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle[1] have both left a tremendous impact on me. I think partly because both eschew the mumbo-jumbo, hand wavy, pseudo-science approach, they're both easy to read for the layman and most importantly include lots of high-level summary and explanation about the research that supports the books.

[1] http://thetalentcode.com/

Like others said, current research suggests that being good or even expert in something is the result of the right kind of practice and lots of it.

Here are two good books about it:
The Talent Code:
http://thetalentcode.com/book/

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning by the Pragmatic Programmers:
http://www.pragprog.com/titles/ahptl/pragmatic-thinking-and-...

Recently did the Myer Briggs test and read "The INTP: Personality, Careers, Relationships, & the Quest for Truth and Meaning". Now I just need to read more criticism of the Myer Briggs test so I can have a more balanced view of it all, but the results/book seemed pretty darn spot on.

Also been loving "The Little Book of Talent" from the author of "The Talent Code" (which is another one of my favourite books).

And after reading a lot of Stoic philosophy over the years, I've finally got around to "A Guide to the Good Life". Very clear explanation of Stoic ideas so probably would have been the best place to start. :)

You were right about my inconsistent meditation - it has to do with my procrastination. Ironically, when I do meditate the experience is wonderful and so are the hours afterwards. And yet...

I'm familiar with the notion of the 10,000 hrs benchmark popularised by Malcolm Gladwell but haven't heard of The Talent Code. Thanks for that as well!

Regarding writing your book - you should do that and let us know when you do. I'll definitely be interested.

The author got the 10,000 hours-rule slightly wrong. :)

It's not as simple as merely doing something for 10,000 hours and then you magically become an expert.

The 10,000 hours-rules refers to the act of performing 10,000 hours of "deliberate practice" (or sometimes called "deep practice") in order to become an expert.

And that's something very different to simply code 10,000 hours in your day job.
When googling for that term, you'll find plenty of studies and other resources. :)

If you are interested in this topic, I can recommend the book "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle - yes, the title is cheesy but it's a good book, I've read it in pretty much one sitting. A gentle and entertaining introduction into the whole field of how to become an expert.

"Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware" by Andy Hunt also spends an whole chapter on deliberate practice.
It's a very good book, too.

EDIT:
This blog post by Derek Sivers could be considered as an example of deliberate practice:
http://sivers.org/kimo
Just stumbled about it as a submission to HN, nice coincidence... :D

The New Digital Age - Eric Schmidt & Jared Cohen

Why We Do What We Do - Edward Deci

The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle

Practice doesn't make perfect. Rather, practice makes Permanent - locks it in. And perfect practice makes perfect.

Practicing the wrong way is like having a bad habit. The habit (practice) is bad but it locks in nonetheless.

Perfect Practice

To reach perfection, care has to be taking when practicing to encode things the right way. Good coaches accomplish this by:

1. Slowing down the action e.g. playing a piano or a violin at a painfully slow rate to make errors more noticeable

2. Chunking - breaking down the skill into smaller components and practicing these chunks separately. E.g. tearing music notes into pieces and practicing the notes separately

Books: Little Book of Talent, The Talent Code

I highly recommend reading The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. The essence of the book as well as this article are interesting in that the more relaxed you are the higher your productivity and interestingly enough you can only learn/do so much in a day. The point being, likely not pursuing the tenure track made her more productive and allowed her to form better relationships, making her one of the better junior faculty (or at least one of the more pleasant).

The Talent Code is an incredibly good book - I recommend anyone interested in excellence read it. Another thing that's brought up in the book is the idea of commitment. The people who are most committed to the long term improve the most at whatever they do. Wrote more about this here: http://www.jasonshen.com/2010/how-commitment-can-make-you-40...

Deep Work, by Cal Newport : to focus on what matters.
The talent code, by Danie Coyle : to understand the value of deliberate practice.
Brain at work, astonishingly useful mixing practical neuroscience and concrete situations.
Getting things Done : to adopt a good time management system (you can tweak the method).
Good luck !

Not long enough! I can't speak for anyone else, but you've eloquently described the main reason why I found Steve Jobs so inspiring. If you've read The Talent Code, I am definitely reminded of the chapters on Ignition, where the author Daniel Coyle writes about the conditions under which people are inspired and motivated.

It really helps to have someone show you the proper way to do things.

I've been hacking on rails for a while but only after I joined a company where they had guys with 4 years of professional rails experience did I come to know of all my bad habits and also learned how to do things in a neater faster way.

Basically being around people who are good at what they do will make you good at that skill.

The book "The Talent Code" explains this in detail. Read this book - it'll significantly help you understand what you need to do get good at a skill fast.

Venkatesh Rao wrote a blog post on this as well which is a very worthy read. He called it "The Crucible Effect".
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/07/21/the-crucible-effect-and...

And this goes for any skill from windsurfing, soccer to coding to running a startup.

Ah, I thought we were just about due for a revisit on the importance of Deep Work. I'll take this an an opportunity to paste one of the highlights from the book I found to be interesting:

"As the journalist Daniel Coyle surveys in his 2009 book, The Talent Code , these scientists increasingly believe the answer includes myelin—a layer of fatty tissue that grows around neurons, acting like an insulator that allows the cells to fire faster and cleaner. To understand the role of myelin in improvement, keep in mind that skills, be they intellectual or physical, eventually reduce down to brain circuits. This new science of performance argues that you get better at a skill as you develop more myelin around the relevant neurons, allowing the corresponding circuit to fire more effortlessly and effectively. To be great at something is to be well myelinated. This understanding is important because it provides a neurological foundation for why deliberate practice works. By focusing intensely on a specific skill, you’re forcing the specific relevant circuit to fire, again and again, in isolation. This repetitive use of a specific circuit triggers cells called oligodendrocytes to begin wrapping layers of myelin around the neurons in the circuits—effectively..."

This seems to be supportive to the argument for deep work. Happy myelination, everyone.

How do publishers and authors feel about this? Is Amazon giving away the sizzle or the steak?

For some deeper books this might impel me to make a purchase. For collections of shallow platitudes (e.g. my predilection for self-help books) the "top highlights" view is all I'll need.

Here's an example of a book I considered buying but didn't - The Talent Code. Now I've got the high notes in a free, easily digestable format: http://kindle.amazon.com/work/talent-code-greatness-born-gro...

Edit: And here are the highlights from Hackers and Painters: http://kindle.amazon.com/work/hackers-painters-big-ideas-com...

For those interested in this learning approach, I recommend the book "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle [1] which covers 3 areas for mastering new skills.

Here the author only mentions about the importance of repetition (which she refers to as fluency). In the Talent code book Repetition is the first step, but we can learn that the brain is wired to master new skills by taking advantage of 2 others areas as well: A/ Ignition (or passion and motivation), and B/ Discipline and long term commitment.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Talent-Code-Greatness-Grown/dp/055...

In contrast to the essay, my hypothesis is currently that interest is developed. I used to be in the 'born talented camp', but then after reading Peak, The Talent Code, and other books on the subject (and essentially reviewing the research) I developed a 'born interested' hypothesis. In other words, some are born with innate interests that drive them toward deep and intense practice, developing skills and abilities or knowledge, that make them 'outliers'. Peak touches on this subject, and while it is certainly true that some level of interest is inherent, the (preliminary?) evidence is that this is only an inclination.

My personal experience (speaking as someone who is somewhat of an expert in a rather obscure oceanographic sub-field) is that the development of talent and interest (can) go hand in hand. You dig in, develop some skills, this opens up some possibilities that encourage (and provide encouragement) for you to develop further interest and further abilities, etc. The most radical form of the hypothesis is that we can develop a deep interest in almost anything. The 20 yr old me had no interest in the things that I am deeply interested in now.

For parents and future parents I will note that in contrast to PG's suggestion, having children has been a significant motivator and my best work has resulted in part from the desire to provide for them. It was also produced during the last 10 yrs that I have been a parent. I am far from any kind of genius or outlier however, and it seems likely that the time required to be one would conflict with the time spent raising children.

Overall, the evidence is that the brain is extremely pliable, that elite performers in any field put in many intensive hours of practice, and that to some extent their deep interest in their field developed over time. Perhaps conclusive research about the innateness of interest is out there. In the mean time, I also experiment with encouraging the depths of my children's interests.

Thank you for the reference to the Cambridge Handbook. Having read The Talent Code and Talent Is Overrated, both of which I recommend, I look forward to this one as well.

You can find the article for free at scholar.google.com - http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=The+role+of+deliberate+p... -

With this article you also have to note the estimated number of hours the best violinists and good violinists spent performing. By the age of 20, the best had accumulated 7,410 hours of practice, the good violinists had accumulated 5,301 hours, and the teachers had accumulated 3,420 hours. The best and the good violinists can practice the same amount, but if you are 2,000 hours of deliberate practice behind, it will be really hard to catch up.

If you are interested in expert human performance, I would read this article, the Talent Code, and Talent is Overrated. Every time I hear Gary V say that he is successful because of his DNA, I think of this article because it is the 10,000 hours he spent running a lemonade stand, selling baseball cards, working in a wine store, and deliberately reading wine spectator that made him an expert.

24 is definitely not too late. I worked professionally in finance until I was 30 and followed my passion to be a coder. Programs like Thinkful.com are great to help u with a mentor to move things along (disclaimer: I'm a mentor on the site).

I saw an important key as a principal I took from a book called the Talent Code, you need to see programming s something you'd still be willing and interested to do when you're old. If you can see yourself as a coder for life you're going to put in the time, if it's just the next hobby interest for the next 6 months before you wanna do something else's you're going to struggle to justify to yourself why you should spend so much time learning to code.

Being an entrepreneur is about 2 things.

1. Learning the skills you need to do step 2.

2. Creating something that people want and figuring out a way to help them pay for it.

Its well documented in books like "The Talent Code" that the most effective way to learn is to be an environment where everyone else is doing the same thing and being sucessful at it. So yes SV would be the best way to start a VC backed startup.

But there is actually something thats more important than the above 2 - a HUGE SURGING MARKET. People in SV are not near Indian middle class and arent focussed on it even though:
"The middle class in India and China is bigger than the middle class is US + Europe + Brazil + Africa combined".
Give this and the fact that you CAN learn on your own I think you should stya in India and try there.

Use social media to watch videos from SV and learn. But stay in a huge growing market with much less startup competition. Even if you suck at execution but listen to the market your bound to become rich.

Now if you didnt have to do 1.5 + 5 years of slaving away for a corporate master before you could start your own company in SV then I would recommend SV but you dont have that option (unless you qualify for founder visa when that bill gets enacted).

All said and done, go out tomorrow buy Rs 2000 of vegetables from a vendor and try to resell it at market where you live. You'll learn sales and negotiation and you'll get the feeling of getting paid with cash - it'll be a great first step :)

If you can go to MIT then go.

Throughout life people will give you an opportunity mainly based on two things - your reputation and your ability. Going to MIT will prove to a lot of people that you have the ability.

Also you have to work with the best to be in the top of your field. Read the book"the talent code". You simply have to go to MIT if you can get in.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the book "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle.[1] I play several stringed instruments and applying the concepts in that book has made a huge difference in my rate of progress. He talks a lot about Ericsson's work, and is firmly in the camp that believes that improvement can always be achieved through practice, when the practice is done properly.

[1] http://thetalentcode.com/

I'm arguing that due to networking effects, having decades of tribal knowledge is worth the cost to keep it. Starting anew elsewhere, even with smart people can sometimes take decades to build that knowledge.

Look at SF, every company competes in that market for software engineers because that's where the talent is.

It's actually a concept explored by the book "The Talent Code", and even explains why so many people from puerto rico (by population) are so amazing at baseball. Everyone plays, everyone looks up to it, and everyone makes everyone else better.

- Mastery by Robert Greene & The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

I had to name both, because it was the combination of the two that influenced me. Essentially reading both of these moved me from the fixed mindset to the growth mindset (to borrow Carol Dweck's terms).

Mastery provides the historical examples (including incidentally, our hero, Paul Graham), and The Talent Code provides the science behind it, what deep practice does to the brain.

These books aren't the only to deal with the growth mindset (others...Carol Dweck's Mindset, Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule, Anders Ericsson's Peak), but where I first encountered the idea. In changing the way I learn, and my motivation for learning, they changed my life.

A state of feeling "unsafe" is an incredibly powerful motivator that can drown out almost everything else. It can link work directly to your survival instinct-"I have to move or my life is in danger."

While the fear of going broke can certainly instill the feeling of unsafety, other factors can too. Near death experiences and losing a parent at a young age are both examples that are frequently present in people with high levels of success (moreso than in the average population)[1]. Even a run-down living environment can help.

[1]: The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle

I hate to dump on someone's effort to motivate others, but this post is a dangerous extrapolation that combines Outliers [1] and the author's personal experience.

It promotes the idea of a magic number, and that hard work and time leads to returns (not true for the majority of startups). It encourages thinking like "Man I'm at the 950 hour mark, I'm almost there!", or even worse, planning one's product milestones around time spent.

One of the main attractions of the 10k hour rule is that there are few external stimuli that can negatively affect your learning/training.

If I decided to invest time in taking up the trumpet, I don't have to worry about competition with other budding trumpeters or whether BrassCrunch or Spitter News have effusive posts on my latest performances. I won't have to determine which percentage of the public 'gets' trumpets and plan how my playing should appeal to them.

With proper practice one hardly ever goes backward -- ability increases monotonically give or take a few plateaus. With startups you often go backward as you try to figure out your product-market fit and so on. Userbase size or revenue would not increase over time the way ability does when it comes to personal improvement.

1. I haven't actually read Outliers but I'm familiar with its thesis. If it's anything like Gladwell's other books, I recommend The Talent Code for better treatment of the subject matter. Norvig's http://norvig.com/21-days.html is also great reading.