I’m really excited to watch the Olympics on TV this summer. I’m always so amazed at how incredibly talented the athletes are, especially the athletes that are still so young. It’s impressive the amount of time and dedication they put into becoming an expert at something.
To be an expert at something requires an amazing amount of work. It’s easy to look at someone who is incredibly talented and assume they must be very gifted and that what they do comes naturally. While I think those who are world-class experts at something do have an inborn passion and aptitude for their subject of expertise, I also know that without a lot of hard work and dedication, they would never achieve at such a high level.
I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success. While there are a few things I would disagree with in the book, I really appreciated his perspective on how people become exceptionally good at something.
10,000 Hours of Practice
Gladwell shows through research that all experts require around 10,000 hours of practice to achieve world-class mastery of a subject or skill. But for the majority of people, it’s very hard to put in the hours it takes to be exceptional at something. When children are young, they have to spend hours at school and spending the majority of those hours working on things that will never directly relate to their adult lives or to what they are passionate about or good at.
As an adult, unless you are independently wealthy, much of your time is consumed in work and/or taking care of a family. You have limited available time to become really good at something if you first start when you’re in your 20s.
I wrote here about the amazing gift of time that homeschoolers have available. This is especially true when it comes to developing expertise. Homeschoolers, and particularly who practice interest-led learning, have an incredible opportunity to put in the long hours that it takes to become an expert at something.
Extraordinary Opportunity
Gladwell discusses how those considered genius or exceptionally talented usually had some extraordinary circumstances in their lives that helped them along the way.
“They are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot,” writes Gladwell.
It’s not to say that without an inborn passion and aptitude for their area of expertise those extraordinary circumstances would have made a difference, of if the person had not also put in the amount of time necessary to become an expert that they would have achieved the levels of greatness that they did, but without those experiences and opportunities in their lives they probably wouldn’t be where they are now.
The Opportunity of Freedom in Learning
Children who grow up in the freedom to learn at their own pace and those things that bring them joy and excitement have an extraordinary opportunity in their lives. They have the gift of time to put in the hours necessary to become truly great at something, but they also have the opportunity to become independent learners, self-directed, able to plan, concentrate on, and execute projects from their own inquires and curiosity.
They’ll learn how to keep asking questions and pursue those answers; they’ll learn how to navigate the world around them at an early age and how to use resources and people to help them achieve goals they set for themselves. When our children are adults it will be even more important for them to know how to do a job without someone constantly telling them what to do.
Those who will be leaders and world-changers will be independent thinkers who can recognize problems without someone else having to point them out. They’ll be creative from hundreds of hours of productive play and endless amounts of time constructing their own projects and ideas. They’ll be true innovators because they haven’t experienced failure as something worthy of shame or a reflection of their self-worth.
So, in thinking about that opportunity I’m blessed to be able to provide for my kids, I try to keep these three things in mind:
1. I don’t squander that opportunity by requiring my kids to do things that will not make a difference in their adult lives or is not something they are passionate about learning or doing.
2. I respect their need to concentrate on the projects and skills they are working on without unnecessary interruption.
3. I encourage creativity, independence and expertise-building over other skills and knowledge that schools value more.
Photo Credit:bondidwhat
How do you encourage and promote expertise-building in your family?