The Invisibility Factor of Getting Good

David Shenk on the unseen process of acquiring skills:

What I've read so far, combined with my personal experience, tells me that we are born with some important biological distinctions, but that their influence often pales in comparison to the dramatic variety of stimuli we experience from the first moment of our lives. I'm particularly fascinated by the 1995 Hart/Risley study on parental language and encouragement (more on their book here), and by the study's interpretations (solidly pro-environment here and here; somewhat equivocal here).

Effort and desire are obviously paramount, and while I'm open to gene-driven personality factors that would make someone intensely motivated, it's always seemed to me that desire has a big psychological component.

Before I gave it up for the guitar years ago, people used to call me a "talented" violin player, which made me laugh because it had taken me so long to make a non-ear-splitting sound. I went from deranged-sounding to award-winning, but that took years and gobs of practice. Same thing with writing. I don't compare my abilities to Albert Einstein's, but his quote about success does resonate strongly with my experience: "It's not that I'm so smart. It's just that I stay with problems longer."

I also know the opposite feeling. Being mediocre to poor at most things, I know that, in a million years, I could never be a stupendous soccer player or painter or mathematician. But my experience with how long and hard it has taken to get good at other stuff tells me that these things look impossible mostly because they're so far away.

Here is the strangest and most enticing thing about this subject: the invisibility factor. We see people being good at stuff -- we don't see them becoming good. I want to try to make the process visible.

This is in some ways similar to one of the difficulties in communicating economic analysis to others.  It is easy to see what is.  It is much more difficult to compare it to what might have been.

Research like this gives me great hope when I see others in academia who seem to possess skills and talents far superior to my own.  While I may never play in the "major leagues" in economics, it is nice to know that with some hard work and persistence, I can continue to increase my skills towards their level of expertise.  Even if I don't ultimately arrive there, it's nice to know I can enjoy my endeavors just as much as they do.

See my previous post: Is a Star Born or Made?