Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that it is okay to be a
Speaker 1: late bloomer. Sometimes taking time to try lots of different
Speaker 1: things can teach you what you really like so that
Speaker 1: you'll want to spend lots of time, and whatever you
Speaker 1: do wind up pursuing because you like it for its
Speaker 1: own sake. Today's tip comes from Before Breakfast producer Lowell Berlante,
Speaker 1: who hosts a new podcast called Prodigy, which is all
Speaker 1: about skill acquisition. There are different theories on how people
Speaker 1: become really good at anything, Lowell tells me. One example
Speaker 1: is Laslow Pulgar, a Hungarian educational psychologist who believed that
Speaker 1: talent was irrelevant for mastery. Instead, he decided the determining
Speaker 1: factor was early specialized education, and he set out to
Speaker 1: prove this with his own children. Laslow and his wife
Speaker 1: had three daughters, Susan, Sophia, and Judae, collectively known as
Speaker 1: the Pulgar Sisters. They ended up smashing the long standing
Speaker 1: gender barrier that existed in competitive chess. Susan was the
Speaker 1: first woman to become a grandmaster and was ranked in
Speaker 1: the top three for twenty three years. Sophia once played
Speaker 1: in a tournament in Room and delivered one of the
Speaker 1: greatest performances ever recorded. Was now referred to in chess
Speaker 1: circles as the Sack of Rome, and the younger sister,
Speaker 1: Juda became the strongest female chess player of all time.
Speaker 1: Laslow had some keen insights. He initially got his daughters
Speaker 1: interested in chess by ignoring the competitive aspect and instead
Speaker 1: telling them it was like a fairy tale the king
Speaker 1: and Queen lived in a fortress and were protected by
Speaker 1: the knights. He then taught them chess and kept their
Speaker 1: interest by breaking it down into smaller games. For example,
Speaker 1: they played what they called pawn wars using only pawns.
Speaker 1: Gamifying can be an effective education method. We learn quicker
Speaker 1: and can focus longer when the training is fun. So
Speaker 1: was Laslow onto something. Certainly his daughters excelled. So should
Speaker 1: you likewise encourage your children to specialize as early as possible? Well,
Speaker 1: As the Prodigy podcast explores, the simple answer is probably not.
Speaker 1: Anecdotes are interesting in these chess playing sisters are certainly
Speaker 1: very interesting, but really you are more likely to create
Speaker 1: resentment with this approach well, early specialization does correlate with
Speaker 1: early accelerated performance, it does not correlate with elite performance
Speaker 1: as an adult. A study of Olympic and national level
Speaker 1: athletes showed that the Olympic level performers spent more time
Speaker 1: exploring various other activities when compared with their national level counterparts,
Speaker 1: and there are probably various reasons for this, but one
Speaker 1: idea is that early adopters suffer from burnout or injury,
Speaker 1: while late bloomers spend more time figuring out exactly what
Speaker 1: interests them. When they do find this passion, they're a
Speaker 1: better match and they learn rapidly. Also, the combined variation
Speaker 1: of experiences may provide a more rounded ability. So while
Speaker 1: you will probably score some victories on the youth chess
Speaker 1: circuit with early focused chess lessons, if you're interested in
Speaker 1: long term success, in most cases we are better off
Speaker 1: introducing children to a wide range of activities whichever ones
Speaker 1: they seem most interested in, provide them with resources and encouragement,
Speaker 1: and whenever you can praise the effort instead of the achievement.
Speaker 1: This will reinforce the value of hard work and patience,
Speaker 1: which honestly are what lead to success. In most areas,
Speaker 1: the Pulgar sisters all tend to agree that Judd, who
Speaker 1: was really the strongest of them, was the one who
Speaker 1: worked the hardest. Later on, after interest is determined in
Speaker 1: a domain, discipline becomes more important. The most efficient method
Speaker 1: of improving is something known as deliberate practice. This is
Speaker 1: practice that is specifically designed to improve skills. A golfer,
Speaker 1: for instance, might record herself on the driving range with
Speaker 1: the goal of improving accuracy. She would then review the
Speaker 1: footage with a coach and receive feedback. This will improve
Speaker 1: performance more than just playing another round. A basketball player
Speaker 1: learning to dunk might spend time doing the dead lifts
Speaker 1: and back squads that would increase his power to body
Speaker 1: weight ratio and give him the ability to jump higher.
Speaker 1: In any case, any time you start practicing hard, you
Speaker 1: will improve. But most people won't practice hard long term
Speaker 1: when they are not really excited by something. Parents can
Speaker 1: force kids to practice for a while, but not forever,
Speaker 1: and not with the whole heartedness that comes from being
Speaker 1: intrinsically motivated to improve. So it is okay to be
Speaker 1: a late bloomer. Try lots of things, and when you
Speaker 1: do find your passion. Then you can tuck in and
Speaker 1: be fully motivated to soar. To learn more about the
Speaker 1: study of skill acquisition and expert performance, check out Lowell's
Speaker 1: new podcast, Prodigy. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: M Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You
Speaker 1: can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's b E the number four, then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot
Speaker 1: com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
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