Perseverance is a Passion

The only thing standing between you-as-amateur and you-as-expert is dedication. All that talk about prodigies? We could all be prodigies (or nearly so) if we just put in the time and focused. At least that's what the brain guys are saying. Best of all--it's almost never too late.

I know I'd wanted to have an inn a long time ago, but geez, that wasnt my avocation by trade; I got my degree in teaching and subsequently went into the corporate world. So how does one go from being an administrative assistant to an innkeeper? Ah perseverance, grasshopper

Seriously. How many people think they've missed their opportunity to be a musician, or an expert golfer, or even a chess grand master because they didn't start when they were young? Or because they simply lacked natural talent? Those people are (mostly) wrong. According to some brain scientists, almost anyone can develop world-class (or at least top expertise) abilities in things for which they aren't physically impaired. Apparently God-given talent, natural "gifts", and genetic predispositions just aren't all they're cracked up to be. Or at least not in the way most of us always imagined. It turns out that rather than being naturally gifted at music or math or chess or whatever, a superior performer most likely has a gift for concentration, dedication, and a simple desire to keep getting better. In theory, again, anyone willing to do what's required to keep getting better WILL get better.
No excuses for not getting where you want to be or at least going for it.

Perfect practice makes perfect The supposedly "naturally talented artist" was simply the one who practiced a hell of a lot more. Or rather, a hell of a lot more deliberately. Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, professor of psychology at Florida State University, has spent most of his 20+ year career on the study of genuises, prodigies, and superior performers

Most of us want to practice the things we're already good at, and avoid the things we dont like or not as proficient in. We stay average or intermediate amateurs forever.nnut the most troubling--and where we have the most leverage--is with the amateur who is satisfied with where they are. These are the folks who you overhear saying, "Yes, I know there's a better way to do this thing, but I already know how to do it this [less efficient, less powerful] way and it's easy for me to just keep doing it like that." In other words, they made it past the suck threshold, but now they don't want to push for new skills and capabilities I liken it to being squeezed through a tube of toothpaste, it's frightening, difficult but if you press on regardless ; it's much better on the other side.

What are you waiting for? See you on the other side.