Volume 42, Issue 2, Fall 2005
Business Today
by Arun Alagappan
“Evidence abounds to support the perception that Americans are underperforming academically. The most recent International Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) indicates that, in a test of math skills among eighth-graders from 46 countries, the United States-despite its unparalleled resources-ranked 15th. Yet Americans think they do better, ranking themselves 4th overall when asked to assess their own performance. Conversely, students from the five highest-performing nations rank themselves 28th, 38th, 41st, 44th, and 45th, respectively. American students reflect our national paradox: we speak confidently, even righteously, about the value of education, but our actions fall short. This problem demands a new educational approach. I propose a model that can be leveraged on a national scale, calling upon private enterprise with relentlessly high standards and a social conscience to offer a substantive contribution. Tutoring by exceptional tutors is the solution.
Tutoring, with its ineluctably low student-teacher ratio, may not seem like the most intuitive approach to improving education for the masses. But good tutoring is efficient, and stunningly effective. One-on-one instruction goes straight to the heart of education: the exchange between teacher and student.”
“On this particular day in the gym, there was a coach visiting who had worked with thousands of athletes over his long career, including some nationally-ranked athletes and Olympians.
I had just finished my workout when I asked him, “What’s the difference between the best athletes and everyone else. What do the really successful people do that most people don’t?”
He briefly mentioned the things that you might expect. Genetics. Luck. Talent.
But then he said something I wasn’t expecting.
“At some point,” he said, “it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day and doing the same lifts over and over and over again.”
That piece of advice surprised me because it’s a different way of thinking about work ethic.
As a result, I think many people get depressed when they lose focus or motivation because they think that successful people have some unstoppable passion and willpower that they seem to be missing. But that’s exactly the opposite of what this coach was saying.
Instead, he was saying that really successful people feel the same boredom and the same lack of motivation that everyone else feels. They don’t have some magic pill that makes them feel ready and inspired every day. But the difference is that the people who stick with their goals don’t let their emotions determine their actions. Top performers still find a way to show up, to work through the boredom, and to embrace the daily practice that is required to achieve their goals.
According to him, it’s this ability to do the work when it’s not easy that separates the top performers from everyone else. That’s the difference between professionals and amateurs.” James Clear
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