What it takes to great review

According to Colvin, his philosophy derives from much research that has been done over time and that each produces consistent results about what counts for a person to become great. Colvin’s tone is firm that talent is irrelevant in one’s pursuit of greatness. Thesis statement Along with his observation and several research findings, Colvin’s tone is firm that through deliberate practice and hard work contributes towards a person’s greatness. In this case, Colvin gives this conclusion to motivate people that they should keep focused on their path towards the pursuit of greatness. Analysis of Colvin’s two main claims Colvin believes that there is no substitute for hard work if a person wants to attain greatness in anything that the person does. Colvin defines deliberate practice as the indulgence in an activity which is explicitly intended to improve one’s performance beyond the normal competence (Colvin).

In other words, deliberate practice is the difference between when a person puts action into practice to become great in it and never doing it at all. In his view, Colvin gives the example of golfers and says that irrespective of the number of balls they may hit, they will not become great golfers if they cannot devote themselves to consistent practice by allocating more time for their practice (Colvin). Furthermore, Colvin advises that golfers need to be consistent in their game and finally they will attain greatness. “Simply hitting a bucket of balls is not deliberate practice, which is why most golfers don't get better” (Colvin). For example, how can one explain the different success levels of two athletes who devote an equal amount of time for deliberate practice and hard work but yield different outcomes during a competition? Also, from a social psychology perspective, researchers have studied the criteria behind the prodigies of children who learn how to speak, read, or write in exceptionally early years compared to a normal child and established that heavy involvement of parents plays a critical role in these prodigies.

According to Colvin, great performers in different fields are those people who do not demonstrate high attitudes during their earlier ages but after some years of continued practice, they attain high levels of greatness (Colvin). Certainly, Colvin should have not completely debunked the idea varying intelligence levels and physical attributes which are partially inherited, but do not influence what a person does more than what he or she does. My contribution to Colvin’s philosophy of deliberate and hard work is that the adoption of a new mindset is another factor that contributes towards a person’s success. Research shows that people approach new jobs with different mindsets and with different goals. Also, Microsoft’s Bill Gates had a clear model of what Microsoft would look like and kept on working on a model that evolved the global computer technology.

This greatness was well-missioned and planned and that is why Bill Gates and Andy Grove are in the record for attaining Greatness. Alibaba’s Jack Ma saw a business opportunity and knew what he wanted to achieve in the Asian market and finally succeeded in building one of the largest online platforms for businesses and this revolutionized e-commerce in Asia. Hence, establishing realistic and clear objectives contributes towards a person’s success. However, this includes a lot of focus on the benefits of deliberate practice, thus, in pursuit of greatness, an individual needs to do it regularly rather than doing it sporadically.