5. Child Prodigies Don't Exist

5.“神童”其实不存在

In Geoffrey Colvin's book, Talent is Overrated, he claims that there really is no such thing as a child prodigy. His argument is that no one is born innately talented, but that everyone who is “great” practices and develops to that skill level.

杰弗里·科尔文（Geoffrey Colvin）在他的书中提到，天才是被高估的一类人，他宣称世上并没有真正的神童。他的论点如下：没有人一出生就是天造之才，每个可称为牛人的人都是通过不断的实践，一步一步提高，直至达到专业水准。

When people claim that prodigies exist, they point to Mozart and Tiger Woods as examples. However, those two were actually seasoned pros by the time they were famous. Mozart's father was a music teacher who taught Mozart from the age of three, and then he trained with other professionals. By the time he was 14 and wrote his first opera, he had been studying music every day for nine years. He continued to study music until he was 17, and he then worked as a pianist after completing school. So by the time he was 25 and wrote his first masterpiece, he had been playing music daily for 22 years. As for the argument that he wrote music as a child, none of that music was done in his handwriting. His father was making a living off the fact that Mozart and his sister were prodigies, so there's a very good chance his father wrote the music himself.

人们在极力证实天才的存在时，往往都会以莫扎特和泰格·伍兹两人为例。殊不知成名之前，他们在各自的领域早已是行家里手。莫扎特的父亲是一名音乐老师，在莫扎特三岁的时候他就开始教授其音乐和一些其他知识。莫扎特14岁的时候写下了自己的第一部歌剧，这也是他连续九年，每天不间断学习音乐的结果。莫扎特的音乐学习一直持续到17岁，毕业之后他就做了一位钢琴家。25岁那年，莫扎特创作出他的第一部代表作，而那时音乐成为他日常生活的一部分已有22年之久了。有些舆论谬称莫扎特在孩童时期就开始写音乐了，（这简直是无稽之谈），莫扎特的手稿中可没有这些所谓的“早期音乐作品”。只不过他的父亲曾打着莫扎特和他的姐妹是天才的幌子，为自己的音乐创作寻求一个绝佳的机会并借此谋生。

As for Tiger Woods, his father was a retired teacher and a golf fanatic that had an expert handicap. He started training Tiger at seven months old by giving him a putter and making him watch while he putted for hours and hours. As a child and into his teens Tiger was constantly training, often with professionals. By the time that Tiger was 19 and a member of the Walker Cup team, he had been practicing golf for 17 years. That isn't to say these two men weren't tremendously talented and masters in their own discipline. It's just that they trained for years and simply weren't born with innate talent.

至于老虎伍兹，他的父亲是一名退休教师，同时也是一位高尔夫球迷，并且还是个中能手。伍兹的父亲在伍兹7个月大的时候就让他拿着推杆，在一旁看着自己一小时接着一小时地推球。也就是说，伍兹的整个少年时代都在不断地接受职业化训练。虽然伍兹19岁就成为了沃克杯球队的队员，但那时他学习高尔夫已经足足17年了。这并不是说这两个人没有天赋，或是对他们自己的知识领域并不精通，而是说他们所取得的成就，都是多年来的不断训练的结果，并不是因为他们天生就是如此了不起。

4. The 10,000 Hours Theory

4.天才也要花时间

A Professor at the University of Colorado named Anders Ericsson decided to look at what separates amateurs from professionals. In 1993, he released a paper that found on average amateurs only got about 4000 hours of practice, but professionals had practiced for at least 10,000 hours.

科罗拉多大学（University of Colorado）一位名叫安德斯·爱立信（Anders Ericsson）的教授决定研究“到底是什么把业余爱好者和专业人士区别开来的”这个课题。1993年,他发表了一篇论文,文中指出，业余爱好者只花费4000小时的练习，专业人士至少要花上10000小时，这就是10000小时理论。

Besides Tiger Woods and Mozart, another example of people who put in 10,000 hours were the Beatles. Before they were famous, they played full time for two and a half years in Hamburg, often for eight to 12 hours a day. It was at this time that they developed their signature sound. Then there's Bill Gates, who went to a preparatory high school that was one of the few in the country with a computer terminal. He spent more time on the computer than any other student, and was even allowed to miss math class to work on it. It was during that time and his years in university he earned his 10,000 hours.

除了老虎伍兹（Tiger Woods）和莫扎特,另一个投入10000小时以上时间练习的例子便是甲壳虫乐队。成名前,他们在汉堡做了两年半的全职演唱,经常一天要唱8到12小时。也就是这段时期内，他们标志性的声线得到了发展。类似的例子还有比尔·盖茨,非常幸运，他所在的预备高中是全美为数不多配置了计算机终端的几所学校之一。而他在计算机上花的时间比其他学生多得多，学校甚至允许他翘掉数学课来研究计算机。这段时间加上大学的几年,他进行了不少于10000小时的练习。

While there's some debate over whether 10,000 hours is a rule or just a theory, many experts agree that a significant number of people who are considered “great” have, on average, 10,000 hours of experience.

虽然关于10000小时到底是个规律还是仅仅是个理论这一问题还存在着争议，但很多专家认为，大部分公认的牛人几乎都有过10000小时的练习经历。

3. Deliberate Practice

3.练习才能得成功

If no one is born talented and you need 10,000 hours of practice, what's the most effective way of using those hours? One theory is something sociologists call “deliberate practice.” Essentially, there are six elements. The practice needs to be meant to specifically improve performance, and is even more effective if there's coaching. It needs to be repeatable, and feedback on a regular basis is crucial. It also has to be demanding, either physically or mentally. If you're doing all of this correctly, it shouldn't be a fun experience. An example would be a basketball player who isn't very good at free throws spending hours and hours just doing free throws while being coached. Not a great time no matter how big of a basketball fan you are.

如果并非生来就是天才，你就需要10000小时的练习（来取得进步），那要怎么有效地利用这些时间呢？有一种理论，社会学家称之为“有意识的练习”。从本质上讲，它有六个要素。实践需要以提高能力为目的，如果有人指导的话，便会事半功倍。练习需要重复且有规律地进行，而相关的反馈也很重要。不论是在精神上还是身体上，它最好都是有挑战性的练习。如果你实践到位，这也许不会是什么好玩的事情。一位不擅长罚球的篮球运动员在教练的指导下一次又一次地练习罚球就是一个很好的例子。无论你是一个多么忠实的足球粉，这样练习也不会觉得有趣吧？

Deliberate practice is important because practicing specific activities over and over again will get you more comfortable with that action. When you compete, you're simply using those repetitive tasks in a different environment. The practice needs to be difficult, because that's the only way someone can improve. If it's too easy, you never leave your comfort zone and never grow through challenge.

对某种具体活动的反复练习会让你在真正做它的时候更加得心应手，这使得有意识的练习显得尤为重要。当你完成练习并开始实际操作时，你只是在非练习的环境中重复之前的练习任务。同时，这样的练习，难度要求要略高，因为只有这样，你才能有所提高。太过简单的练习只会让人永远停留在自己的舒适区（译注：完成某事毫不费力的情况），永远不会在挑战中成长。

As for the feedback portion, Steve Kerr, the former chief learning officer of Goldman Sachs, said that practicing without feedback is like bowling with the pins behind a curtain. Without feedback, you won't get better and you won't care. So while it is possible to be amazing at something, you have 10,000 hours of hard work ahead of you.

关于反馈的重要性，史蒂夫·科尔（Steve Kerr），高盛集团(Goldman Sachs，译注：一家国际领先的投资银行和证券公司)前任首席学习官表示，没有反馈的练习就像是把保龄球投向幕布后的球瓶。如果没有反馈，你不会变得更好，你也不会在意自己的表现到底如何。所以，如果你想要在某事上有所成就，首先你得完成这10,000小时的奋斗。

2. The Third Grade is The Most Important Year of Your Life

2.领先也需抓关键

Sociologist Robert K. Merton first coined the Matthew Effect in 1968. Simply put, it's the idea that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The reason this is such a big deal when it comes to success is that experts think the third grade is the most pivotal year of someone's life (no pressure, huh?). In the fourth grade, the learning model changes and it becomes incredibly important that children know how to read and learn independently. Children who don't have these skills began to avoid reading and start to fall behind. But to move on and do well in school you have to learn cumulatively, because school doesn't get easier as the years go on. If a student falls behind early, the gap would just widen over the following years. The kids that can read keep getting ahead, and the students who had problems keep falling behind. Studies have shown that if someone had problems reading in grade three they are four times more likely to drop out of high school.

1968年，社会学家罗伯特·金·默顿（Robert K. Merton)首次提出了“马太效应”（Matthew Effect）。简单来说，这一术语用以概括一种两极分化的社会现象，即富人愈富，穷人愈穷。如何利用好这种效应也是引导一个人走向成功的关键。专家认为，三年级是一个人一生中最关键的一个学年（无压力？呵呵）。进入四年级后，随着学习模式的改变，孩子们自主阅读和学习的能力开始变得极其重要。不具备这些技能的孩子开始抗拒读书，成绩也逐渐落于人后。为了在学校取得好成绩并且不断进步，你必须不断提高自己的学习能力——因为年级越高，学习难度越大。如果一个学生输在了起跑线上，在接下来的读书生涯中，他与领先者之间的差距会越来越大。能够自主阅读的孩子们持续领先，而这方面能力不足的孩子则会一直处于吊车尾的状态。研究表明，三年级时不能掌握阅读技能的学生，中学时期的退学率会比其他学生高出四倍。

1. You Have Amazing Potential

1.人人都是潜力股

On average, the human mind can remember a sequence of seven to nine numbers. After that it becomes incredibly hard to remember all the numbers in the right order. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University wanted to know if someone of average intelligence could break that barrier with practice.

一般来说，人脑可以记住一组由七到九个数字组成的数列。但是此后要记得所有数字的正确顺序就会变得异常艰难。卡内基梅隆大学（Carnegie Mellon University）的研究者们想弄明白，拥有一般智力的人通过练习是否可以突破这个记忆力的极限，于是他们进行了相关实验。

One test subject, who practiced two or three times a week for over two years, was able to remember 82 numbers before deciding to stop. Another subject hit 102 numbers when he stopped. It's not that they couldn't push further — the study just came to an end. Both of these test subjects did better with practice than people who said they had photographic memories.

两年内每周训练两到三次的一位受试对象在停止记忆前记住了82个数字，另一位则记住了102个。如果不是受研究的时限性影响，他们可以记得更多。这两位受试者通过练习拥有了比那些自诩记忆力优良的人更强的记忆力。

Through these tests, researchers discovered what they called “the remarkable potential of ‘ordinary' adults and their amazing capacity for change with practice.” Their research showed that even “ordinary” people have the potential to be great by challenging themselves. If you work hard, your goals can be more attainable than you thought.

通过这些测试，研究者们得出了他们称之为“普通人后天可激发出的非凡潜力及改变能力”的结论。他们的调查显示，即使是普通人，只要勇于挑战自我，也能爆发出惊人的潜力。只要肯脚踏实地，你所仰望的星空将不再遥不可及。

注：文章转载自前十网，译者：宝贝花，郗莉红，张萌，gina，围巾