vinegarStefan Holm was told he was too short to be a high jumper. But by the time he won gold for Sweden at the 2004 Olympics, he had perfected his jumping tool. It was the result of 15 years of obsession; his whole life was directed toward this goal. When he felt like stopping at page 225 in a book, he trained his mind to read to page 240 and overshoot. “It’s all about the 10,000 points,” he told David Epstein, author of “10,000 Points.” Sports GenesThere were jumpers who beat him when he was younger, but where are they now?
But in 2007, he went to the world championships in Japan as the favorite to win, facing off against an unknown opponent, Donald Thomas from the Bahamas. Thomas had only taken up the high jump eight months earlier, on a whim sparked by a bet, and he admitted he found the high jump “a little boring.” He slacked off on training, his form was all over the place, and his coach couldn’t even convince him to wear the right kind of shoes. But he had one big advantage: his Achilles tendon stores just a little more elastic energy than anyone else. That year, Thomas clumsily cleared the bar. To victory.
When we hear the stories of Olympians, they are almost always fables reminiscent of the first part of this story, of iron discipline and overcoming initial setbacks. When asked to explain his success, he says: Michael Phelps He doesn’t care about lucky genes. He doesn’t care about flipper feet or amazing Wingspan: 6 feet 7 inchesInstead, he says things like, “If you want to do the unthinkable, you can,” and, “The more you use your imagination, the faster you can run.” And Usain Bolt has this to say about his secret to victory: “Taking it easy is not an option. No rest. Never give up.” But scientists say that Bolt was shaped by the gods, The perfect sprinter.
Effort and willpower are emphasized even more than usual in elite sports. After all, the work of countless coaches and sports psychologists depends on this concept, not to mention the second careers of Olympic athletes who translate gold medal glory into “life lessons” for the masses.
But the cult of work has spread far beyond sports and is becoming a growing part of the culture at large, and I think it can be traced back to the publication of Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Cult of Work.” Outliers In 2008, the “10,000-hour rule” became popular – the idea that hard work is not only necessary but sufficient for success. It caught on with the masses and was integrated into training programs for groups ranging from violinists to hedge-fund traders. The principle that everyone should push themselves hard has also spread to today’s burgeoning self-help sector, blending with online business advice. YouTube is full of CEOs telling people to get up at 4am and abandon their social lives.
But the Olympics are also where the myth of effort is most often dismantled: Talent matters, too: About 60% of professional baseball players are born with talent. Excellent depth perceptionEero Manttilanta, winner of seven Olympic medals in cross-country skiing Genetic mutation This creates extra red blood cells. Studies of athletes show that top athletes improve faster with less practice than average people. This also applies to other areas. Have kids practice chess for thousands of hours, Only a small part of it will be useful Ultimately, the amount of practice needed to become a top violinist varies greatly from person to person. Of course, hard work is important, but not everyone can make it to the top. This is the real lesson of the Olympics.
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Does this sound depressing? Probably. The idea that talent is innate and bestowed without effort may seem anti-meritocratic. Our individualistic culture is, after all, bred on the idea that we can make the life we dream of a reality. The idea that anyone can be successful if they just put in the effort is inspiring. But I also think it’s a pretty unhealthy principle on which to build a society.
First, it takes us directly to our stifling greenhouse culture. If effort and achievement are linear, why take a break? You think of today’s exam-weary schoolchildren, the anxious people who cram their leisure time full of self-improvement activities, and the people who increasingly complain of mental health problems. You also think of those who believe in business-people podcasters and try to change their lives by living like hyperactive hermits. You wonder how many people it simply doesn’t work for. After all, there is some bias in the claim that luck has nothing to do with your success.
Phelps said in his biography: Remembering snow days Phelps remembers wanting to go sledding as a kid, and his mother saying, “Are you going to the World Championships this summer, or are you going to break your arm now?” In the end, he didn’t go. There must have been plenty of aspiring Phelps who had similar childhoods and never got close to an Olympic Games. Is this what we want?
The myth of hard work needs to be dispelled for another reason: it rules out the possibility that champions might emerge later in life from groups that weren’t relentlessly coached from birth by wealthy parents. That’s another lesson from the Olympics: Talent matters, and it can come from anywhere.
