Book Review: The Talent Code by Doyle

Introduction: the girl who did a month’s worth of practice in six minutes

1. Clarissa had an internal blueprint of the piece before she begun. (She knew what the piece was supposed to sound like)
2. Clarissa liked the piece
3. Clarissa chunked the piece. (She practiced in small sections)
4. Clarissa mastered each chunk before proceeding to the next one.

She’s got a blueprint in her mind she’s constantly comparing herself to. She’s working in phrases, complete thoughts, she’s not ignoring errors, she’s hearing them, fixing them. She’s hitting small parts into the hole, drawing a lens in and out all the time, scaffolding herself to a higher level.

(We tried this with my students, they were intriged by the idea, thrilled by the results. David)

This book is about the neurological mechanism of targeted practice to build skill. It is about accelerated learning and Myelin.

This book is divided into three parts: deep practice, ignition and master coaching. This corresponds to the three basic elements of the talent code. Convergence is the key to creating skill.

Deep Practice

Main points
Screwing up, purposely operate at the edges of your ability is making them better. Deep practice is built on a paradox: struggling in certain targeted ways--- operating at the edges of your ability, making mistakes-- makes you smarter. Or to put it in a slightly different way, when you are forced to slow down, make errors, and correct them, you end up becoming graceful without you realizing it.

Excellence is a habit. Aristotle

The unskilled quality of a beginner isn’t a contradiction of where they may eventually end up it’s a prerequisite to it. A beginner becomes great not in spite of the fact that they started out immature and imitative but because they were willing to spend vast amounts of time and energy being immature and imitative, building myelin. Rules must be formed and obeyed

Inspiring beginners will help ignite their passion.

Environmental factors and mental inputs of the correct kind are imperative. Think teenage rock musicians who take on the mannerisms dress and speech patterns of their favourite musicians.

Commitment

Commitment: the commitment, whether short-term, medium-term, or long-term is a high predictor of success. But it makes progress a powerful idea: a vision of their ideal future selves, a vision that is oriented energized and accelerates progress, and that originated in the outside world. They need a signal from somewhere or someone, a set of images and experiences that ignite an intense in the unconscious response that is manifested in the idea: I want to be like them.