Roughly one-fifth of the difference between athletes can be put down to practice.

Roughly one-fifth of the difference between athletes can be put down to practice. That’s still quite a lot, and although the article implies that the remaining four-fifths is probably inherent skill, I can think of other possibilities: quality of training, personal attitude, context (how good you were compared with the people you first competed against)…

We can’t just map this straight on to creative pursuits, either. I think there probably is a talent component, but how large it is… that’s another question.

Originally shared by Art Markman