Just Working Harder Won’t Get You Ahead. Working Smarter Will.
grandmasters) expended about 5,000 hours on serious study alone during their first decade of serious
chess play — nearly five times the average amount reported by intermediate-level players.”
But we’re not all aspiring grandmasters, so here’s a more real-world example: Just as the best chess players in the world get there through serious study, research has shown
that “structured reflection” of one’s performance has a positive impact on leadership development, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
The part of the response that has stuck with me for years comes when the advice-giver refers to one of those people because he knows her personally: “You can be jealous of Mallory Ortberg,” the author, entrepreneur and current Dear Prudence columnist at Slate, “and that’s totally fair,
but like, she’s sweating her ass off on her work until her bountiful hair goes limp at least four nights a week.”
Even our idols who make success look effortless worked for every bit of it.
The strongest predictor of skill wasn’t simply time spent practicing; rather, it
was time spent in serious study: “Chess players at the highest skill level (i.e.
It’s Week 2 of resolutions month, and I’ve invited Kristin Wong, author of the personal finance book “Get Money”
and friend of SL, to give us some tips on sticking to our money resolutions.
