You Can be Excellent at Anything

In The Way We're Working Isn't Working, Tony Schwartz lays out a guide, grounded in the science of high performance, promising he can “systematically build your capacity physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.”

Says Schwartz, “It's possible to build any given skill or capacity in the same systematic way we do a muscle: push past your comfort zone, and then rest.” There is something wonderful about his observation. It suggests that hard work, not innate talent, plays the biggest role in determining our successes. Keep that in mind as you set your financial goals and as you pursue your chosen career – or your golf game!

Here are the six keys to achieving excellence that Schwartz has found most effective in helping his clients reach their goals:

1. Pursue what you love.
2. Do the hardest work first.
3. Practice intensely
4. Seek expert feedback, in intermittent doses.
5. Take regular renewal breaks.
6. Ritualize practice.

He also recommends additional books on this subject:

     Talent is Overrated by Geoffrey Colvin
     The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle
     Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
     The Genius in All of Us by David Schenk.
     Bounce by Mathew Syed