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Examples of such remarkable transformations abound throughout history. Henry Ford failed in business several times and was flat broke five times before he founded the Ford Motor Company. In his youth, Thomas Edison’s teachers told him he was “too stupid to learn anything.” Beethoven was so awkward on the violin that his teachers believed him hopeless as a composer.
While many theories were put forth, there was one common factor that researchers recognized in all great performers: they practiced so hard and intensely that it hurt.
Studies of people with extraordinary abilities, like Ted Williams, have given rise to what Swedish psychologist Dr. K Anders Ericsson called the “10,000 hour” rule. The rule’s premise is that, regardless of whether one has an innate aptitude for an activity or not, mastery of it takes around ten thousand hours of focused, intentional practice.
if you practiced an activity four hours per day, seven days per week, it would take you about seven years to reach ten thousand hours. That kind of dedication can only come from the heart—a true love and passion for the activity.
being in the right place (physical, educational, societal, or otherwise) at the right time can influence our destinies as much as anything else.
Opportunities are whispers, not foghorns.
imagination.
Many calls to adventure are puzzles waiting to be solved. Anyone can apply, but the price of admission is paid in imagination. As journeys unfold, new challenges arise and pressures mount.
The philosopher Edmund Burke said “there is a boundary to men’s passions when they act from feelings; but none when they are under the influence of imagination.”
In every field of human endeavor, the more visionary the work, the less likely it is to be quickly understood and embraced by lesser minds.
Most men would’ve quietly resigned, or begged for scraps, but not Tesla.
Tesla amazed the millions of fairgoers by allowing electricity to flow through his body to illuminate light bulbs. He also used his coils to shoot large, harmless lightning bolts into the crowd, frightening and delighting the audience. He even demonstrated wireless energy by lighting lamps that had no wires.
“Mr. Westinghouse, you have been my friend, you believed in me when others had no faith; you were brave enough to go ahead when others lacked courage; you supported me when even your own engineers lacked vision. ... Here is your contract, and here is my contract. I will tear them both to pieces, and you will no longer have any troubles from my royalties.” In time, these royalties would’ve made Tesla
biggest mistake of his life.
Einstein said that “imagination is more important than knowledge,” because “knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
Michelangelo said he saw angels in the marble and carved until he set them free.
When you start viewing creativity as a process of combination, and imagination as the ability to connect, stretch, and merge things in new ways, creative brilliance becomes less mystifying. A creative genius is just better at connecting the dots than others are.
“Our first endeavors are purely instinctive prompting of an imagination vivid and undisciplined,” Tesla wrote. “As we grow older reason asserts itself and we become more and more systematic and designing. But those early impulses, though not immediately productive, are of the greatest moment and may shape our very destinies.”
The more varied your knowledge and experiences are, the more likely you are to be able to create new associations and fresh ideas.
It takes curiosity to find your call to adventure, it takes courage to venture into the unknown, and it takes imagination to create your path.
