Was Michael Masterson Ripped Off by Malcolm Gladwell?
Issue #2617
- WEALTHY: The $150 billion auto market (Andrew Gordon)
- HEALTHY: Trim your workout time with supersets (Jon Benson)
- WISE: Albert Einstein on mastering… anything
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- The myth of the virtuoso (Michael Masterson)
- When complaining can cost you money (Jason Holland)
- It’s Good to Know… 3 ways to tell embarrassing things to your doctor
- Add “peculate” to your vocabulary
== Highly Recommended ==
Why Get Your Hands Dirty When You Don’t Have to?
Where there’s a stampede, there’s an opportunity…
Thousands of wannabe entrepreneurs have jumped on a bandwagon to find, fix-up and flip foreclosures.
They thought they were being smart. They thought they were doing the opposite to the crowd and had the license to print money.
Little do they know… they ARE the crowd!
Now, please don’t misunderstand me. It’s a fact that many properties (sadly) are becoming available at rock bottom prices due to foreclosure. It’s also a fact that a few people are making money by flipping foreclosures…
And they’re earning every penny (when it all works out)!
Flipping foreclosures may sound great in principle, but stop and think about what you have to go through to achieve that…
Not my idea of easy money.
The Next Big Thing in Autos
Auto companies are in horrible shape. Will GM survive? Has Toyota seen its best days? Is Ford’s funk temporary or permanent?
You should stay away from them. But why not invest in the next big technology the auto companies will need? All of them have plans to introduce or step up the production of battery-driven cars beginning around 2011-12.
The batteries being used today won’t be the batteries that will be used in a few years. Nickel-cadmium batteries are on the way out. On the way in are lithium-ion batteries, with twice the capacity and half the weight. Plus, they work fine in hot or cold weather.
This market is flying under the radar. From $9 billion today, it could reach $150 billion in the next 10 years.
There are about 30 car manufacturers around the world dying to get their hands on this new technology. And those companies that have already begun production have the best chance of becoming big players in this market.
[Ed. Note: Investment expert Andrew Gordon has mastered the art and science of value investing. He uses these skills to identify both undervalued and overvalued opportunities. And boy, are those short positions paying off! Just recently, he closed gains of 116%... 98%... 101%... 148%... 106%... and 103%. Find out how you can get the secrets behind these big plays right here.]
“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”
Albert Einstein
Did Malcolm Gladwell Rip Me Off?
By
I’m a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell. His books, especially The Tipping Point, have validated many of my long-held business philosophies.
But when his new book, Outliers, came out a few months ago, I started getting e-mails from friends and colleagues with disturbing news.
“Did you see Malcolm Gladwell’s new book? It’s great… but it looks like Gladwell borrowed one of your ideas. Didn’t you write about how many hours it takes to master a skill several years ago?”
I did. (Way back in 2000.)
Here’s my theory in a nutshell:
There are four levels of proficiency in any valuable skill – incompetence, competence, mastery, and virtuosity.
• To get past incompetence, you must spend about 1,000 hours practicing the skill you eventually want to master.
• After putting in about 1,000 hours, you will be competent. To achieve mastery, you will have to continue to practice that skill for a total of 5,000 hours.
• Virtuosity is extremely rare. You can’t get it simply by practicing. You must also have a natural gift. Even then, you must practice at least 10,000 hours to achieve it.
Michael Jordan was a virtuoso basketball player. Mozart was a virtuoso composer. Warren Buffett has been a virtuoso investor. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you must become a virtuoso. You can achieve greatness and make a fortune by becoming a master of your chosen skill.
In his most recent bestseller, Gladwell observed that it takes about 10,000 hours for a person to become the best in his or her field. He doesn’t distinguish between mastery and virtuosity. But he does talk about the many hours of practice it takes to be good.
Did he get it from me? I don’t know. I’ve been saying it for 10 years. Maybe it was intuition on my part that turned out to be right. Or it maybe it’s an example of a tipping-point idea – many minds thinking about similar things at the same time.
The main thing is that both Gladwell and I agree on the importance of practice. When you see Tiger Woods swing his nine iron, you may think, “He’s gifted. He’s got a natural talent for golf.” But what you don’t see are the 12-hour days he puts in – even now – perfecting that natural swing.
Gladwell calls the people he examines in his latest book “outliers.” He points out that these virtuosos achieved greatness not only because they practiced their skills for many hours, but because of a series of lucky breaks. They had such advantages as living in the right places, having access to the right resources, and/or having well-to-do parents who gave them lots of encouragement.
He claims that without the benefit of such advantages, a person cannot become great – no matter how talented they are or how hard they work.
He supports this argument by pointing to Bill Gates and The Beatles, among others.
Gates got his start at an exclusive, privileged high school – one of the only schools in the country that gave students access to computers. This early exposure – combined with hard work, ambition, and a number of other opportunities that came his way – put Gates on track to be where he is today.
The Beatles began as a high school bar band in Liverpool, England, destined for an undistinguished and short run… until they were invited to perform in Germany. They played in Hamburg five times between 1960 and 1962 – eight hours a night, seven nights a week, for a total of more than 2,000 hours. As a result of that experience, they ended up perfecting a wide range of music that was the basis of their breakthrough success back home in 1964.
Gladwell is very good at what he does. And I was tempted, while reading the book, to buy into his argument that you need these “special circumstances” to become great.
But, ultimately, I think it’s B.S.
To master skills and achieve greatness, what you need is tenacity, humility, time, and a good teacher. Here’s the Michael Masterson formula for success.
• First, identify the skill you need to master in order to accomplish the goal you are after. If, for example, your goal is to become the owner of a multimillion-dollar business, the skill you need to master is marketing. If you want to be a professional golfer, you need to master a consistently perfect swing. As Ben Hogan says in his classic book Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, “No one can play good golf unless he has a correct, powerful, repeating swing.”
• Suppress your ego and accept the fact that, right now, you are probably not very good at that skill. But that’s okay. You are just starting out. Find a teacher and start practicing. After 1,000 hours of practice, you will be competent.
• Resist the urge to coast on your competence. Most people – regardless of the goal they choose – get to a level of competence and try to wing it from there. This is a common but deadly mistake. The world is full of competent people. Competence means average. If you settle for competence, you will perform at an average level, earn an average income, and never know the pleasure of being very good.
To rise from competence to mastery, you can expect to put in a total of 5,000 hours of concentrated effort. You can accelerate the pace and reduce those hours – maybe by one-third – by getting a master to train you. But you must put in the time.
• Once you have achieved mastery, you will have to deal with your ego in a completely different way. You will be tempted to think that you can become a virtuoso. Or, worse, you may already think of yourself as a one. This is the mistake of hubris, the prideful sin that Aristotle said is the fatal flaw of most great men.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell seems to be saying that your ultimate goal should be virtuosity. I think that is foolish. If nature has blessed you with the gifts to become a Tiger Woods or Warren Buffett, you will be the best of the best. But that is not what you are after.
My Jiu Jitsu instructor, Marcel Ferreira, made this point the other morning during my lesson. We were talking about the skill levels of the many submission wrestlers we know. I said, “Being a black belt is such an accomplishment.” He said, “The practice of Jiu Jitsu starts when you are a black belt.”
If he had said that to me 10 years ago, when I was a white belt, I wouldn’t have understood what he meant. Now I do.
Think about it this way: Of all the people who try to develop a particular skill – like playing golf or making money – only 10 percent become competent at it, and only 1 percent become masters. Only one-tenth of one percent (maybe fewer) become virtuosos. So that’s not even worth shooting for.
Shoot for becoming competent. Competence will give you as much enjoyment as you could wish for from that skill. For instance, becoming a competent French speaker will allow you to get around Paris with ease and be able to follow all but the most complicated conversations.
If you want to go beyond competence and get more extensive benefits from your skill, you must put in the time to achieve mastery.
Once you are a master, you just keep practicing being a master. If you have extraordinary talent, you might become a virtuoso… but that doesn’t matter. You will get no more pleasure from being one.
Most important, don’t discount your potential to succeed just because you don’t have a natural talent or the benefits of wealth or privilege on your side. You can be very successful by achieving mastery. Choose the right skill. Get instruction. Practice well. Put in the time. And stay humble.
[Ed. Note: You can save about 30% of the time it takes to become a master just by hooking up with a mentor. Virtuoso copywriter Bob Bly is going to reveal his best secrets to selling on the Internet to a select few copywriting hopefuls. See if there are still spaces available right here.
Get more of Michael Masterson's surefire strategies for getting ahead in business in True Path to Profits: A Master Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Success. Find out more (including how you can get a bonus subscription to his VIP newsletter, Ready Fire Aim) here.]
Economic Uncertainty = Deep Profits for YOU This Year?
Don’t let the talking heads of the mass media frighten you into inaction!
A troubled marketplace means MASSIVE opportunities for those in the know. Yes, I’m talking to you…
This April in sunny Orlando, Florida, Early to Rise will prove that YOU can enjoy passive income streams that profit regardless of what the economy does.
Join us at our exciting “Profits in Paradise” Wealth Summit. You will learn how easy it is to set up a variety of income streams that churn out cash month after month – and these profit streams are NOT dependent upon what the market does.
Moreover, we’ve lined up a “Dream Team” of experts in their respective fields, based on a documented track record and ability to teach and share what they know.
You get it all – soup to nuts – action steps for everything from boosting your present income… to quickly setting up profitable online businesses that throw off profits – even in economic downturns.
Plus, once you’ve got a system for setting up passive income streams, we will hand you proven, actionable strategies for swelling your portfolio in record time.
Nothing will be left to chance when your success is on the line. And every idea and action step is presented in clear, “beginner friendly” language you can immediately use.
Hurry and you will lock in the low price for early bird registration. Don’t wait until the price jumps in the coming days. If you are serious about quickly amassing great wealth – even during uncertain economic times – this is your best opportunity.
Click here for the exciting details…
Wasting Time and Money With Customer Service
My cellphone plan includes free text messaging. But on last month’s bill, there was a charge for two of the dozens of messages I sent – for a total of about 50 cents.I called the company and, as you might expect, spent an hour or so on hold, being transferred, and explaining my gripe to a succession of reps.When I hung up, it occurred to me: That hour of my time could have been much better spent.
Instead of quibbling over 50 cents, I could have brainstormed Internet business ideas, started writing a sales letter, done keyword research, found public domain works to repurpose for sale. ] The list goes on. In short, in the time it took to snatch back my half-dollar from the jaws of corporate America, I could have started setting up a profit-producing Internet business that would ensure my financial future.
Some screw-ups are worth complaining about. But before you spend the time to call up customer service over a couple of bucks… or race back to the grocery store to get your Buy 1, Get 1 Free deal… consider whether it’s really worth it.It can be tough to let go of that “It’s the principle of the thing” mentality. But, most of the time, it’s not really worth it. As Robert Ringer said in his article “When Not to Save Money,” “Pennies may add up to dollars, but the time required to save those pennies can add up to a lot of stress – and enough stress might just add up to serious illness or premature death.”
Take a minute to reassess the moneysaving measures you take – and whether they are worth the time, energy, and stress you put into them.
[Ed. Note: Have a spare hour? With Early to Rise's Internet Money Club Independent Learner Edition, you could turn every spare moment into a moneymaking opportunity as you learn to build your own Internet business from the ground up. Get all the details for starting a cash-producing venture online right now.
1 Set of Dumbbells, 2 Muscle-Building Exercises
One of my favorite workouts to do when I'm traveling is "heavy/light" supersets. Supersets combine two movements (usually for two different body parts) back to back, without rest. This gets the heart rate up and cuts down on workout time.
A good example of the "heavy/light" technique is the workout I did today: Chest and Biceps. Since I can press much heavier dumbbells than I can curl (and this is true for everyone), I use a lighter weight for my chest movements, getting 12-20 repetitions. I follow that immediately with seated curls. I use the same dumbbells, but now their weight allows me to do only 4-6 repetitions.
This is a great way to mix up your rep schemes without hogging the dumbbells or
having to change weights mid-exercise. Give it a shot.
[Ed. Note: If you want to build more muscle in less time while you burn body fat, pick up nutrition and fitness counselor Jon Benson's book, 7 Minute Muscle. It's a complete system for dropping fat and building muscle that's guaranteed to work for you. Try it for 60 days and prove it to yourself.
For more easy-to-follow exercises you can do at home - plus dozens of strategies for getting fit and living longer - sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter.]
It’s Good to Know: 3 Ways to Tell Embarrassing Things to Your Doctor
There are things your doctor should know about you that you might be embarrassed to share. Perhaps you’re using illicit drugs, drinking too much, not following doctor’s orders, or eating unhealthy foods.
By not sharing your “secret,” you could be putting yourself in danger, whether from the side effects of a medication or a missed diagnosis. So here are three ways to approach this delicate situation.
1. Start by saying, “This is really embarrassing for me, but I have to tell you about…” That will force you to continue.
2. If you feel more comfortable, talk to the nurse instead of the doctor.
3. Write the doctor a letter or e-mail about your problem.
(Source: CNN)
== Highly Recommended ==
The Best Feeling in the World
Accomplishing a simple goal can have powerful, long-lasting results…
Once you finally learn to play the trumpet, or start a business, or get promoted to CEO, or get your pre-baby body back…
You’ll notice that people start treating you differently. They’ll respect you more. They’ll compliment you. They might even try to imitate your success.
And the way you’ll feel about yourself is unparalleled. You’ll have new confidence. New happiness. Some new stress, perhaps. But new pride in yourself and your abilities.
Achieving a goal you’ve had for years… There’s nothing quite like it.
It’s time for you to feel proud of yourself.
Word to the Wise: Peculate
“Peculate” (PEK-yuh-late) – from the Latin for “private property” – is another way of saying “embezzle.”
Example (as used by Christian Parenti in The Nation): “Not surprisingly, they use their positions to demand bribes and peculate public funds.”
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2009
Mr. Holland: although you only “got back” 50 cents or so, you may have prevented a larger and more unhinged cash grab later on. Had you not complained about two texts, next month it would have been four, then six, then you are getting charged for half of your text messages even though you have “unlimited.” Stuff like that does go on regularly and has for many years.
Amy