I've just started reading the book Talent is overrated by Geoffrey Colvin and I must point out the very interesting topics discussed within this book.
Tiger Woods is a golden example, many people argue and claim that never before has the world seen such talent and it would be pointless for average Joe to try to accomplish what he has. One thing that people don't know about Tiger is that his father was Earl Woods, a former teacher with a successful history in sports who later became almost obsessed with golf. He was introduced to Golf only a few years before Tiger was born but had already polished his handicap down to a single digit which places him in the top 10% of golf players.
So what's Tigers reality? He's born son of an "expert"-golfer with a teacher background, son to someone who is eager to teach golf to his son. Tiger is the only child in the family (Earl had children from earlier relationships but they were all grown up). Earl gave Tiger his first golf club at the age of 7 months. He placed him in a chair in the garage and let him sit and watch while he practiced his swing for hours on end. Already at age 2 they were both regularly on the golf course practicing and playing together.
The first time that Tiger accomplished something spectacular was at the age of 19. At that point he had been playing golf for 17 years and with a professional teacher since the age of 4.
Was it really superhuman and innate talent that made him the world class golfer he is today? Or was it really all the hours of hard training that he went through? Or was it maybe something else that we've yet to identify?
I don't know, but to explain his accomplishments with "talent" doesn't really seem fair.
No comments:
Post a Comment