What makes a great composer, a great inventor, or a great athlete? Most people think it’s talent – an innate ability in a specific area that someone is “just born with.” 

But, in fact, talent is pretty much irrelevant to achieving great success. A large and growing body of scientific evidence shows that what it really takes to be great is thousands of hours of determined, focused dedication and hard work. Check out the following article that CNNMoney.com wrote a few years back, about Tiger Woods, Warren Buffett, and other great performers.

Whether scientists are studying athletes or actors or even businesspeople, the results are incredibly consistent. Most people learn quickly when they first start something. But then their learning slows, until finally they stop developing altogether. But a few people keep on improving, year after year, and eventually become great. 

Why? Here’s the key: nobody is great without at least 10,000 hours of practice, or 3+ hours daily for ten years. This fact is so consistent that researchers call it the “ten-year rule.” Even so-called child prodigies like Mozart and chess master Bobby Fischer – both gifted almost beyond belief – needed ten years of blood, sweat and tears to become truly great. Most elite performers need more like twenty or thirty years’ experience to reach their peak. 

But, of course, not everybody who works their butt off for twenty years becomes great. Another key is in how you practice, not just how much. What enables us to continuously improve is what scientists call “deliberate practice” that is (1) specifically geared to improving performance, (2) aligns with long-term goals, (3) provides feedback on results, (4) involves huge amounts of repetition, and (5) is consistent consistent consistent. 

Is your golf practice deliberate practice? Not if you’re just hitting buckets of balls, for instance. Hitting a 9-iron 500 times with a goal of getting the ball within ten feet of the pin 75% of the time, while making notes on your performance and getting feedback from a coach – and doing that again and again, week after month after year – is deliberate practice. 

The bottom line is that greater amounts of deliberate practice equal better performance. Nothing else really matters. Greatness is there for all of us – if we work hard enough. 

This fact is very liberating because it makes us responsible for what we achieve. The excuse that “I have no talent” is out the window. 

So why do so few people achieve greatness? Probably because it’s so painful and hard. Why are some people motivated and others not? The researchers are still working on this question. But from my experience as a coach, I’d say one major factor for sure is that we need to love what we do. 

This is yet another reason why it’s important to have a positive attitude towards our golf training and performance. If you’re pushing yourself through a practice round and beating yourself up for every “mistake,” you’re not having fun. And if you’re not able to have fun you probably won’t be motivated to put in those 10,000 hours. 

A round of golf where you’re not at the top of your game is not a tragedy. Rather, it can be viewed as a worthwhile, exciting and even inspiring learning opportunity that will help you in the future. 

How and when our past experience will help us we can’t predict. But what we can predict is that if we’re practicing and learning we’ll improve. If we practice long and hard enough, we’ll be great. And if we maintain a positive, learning-oriented attitude, we just might be able to stay motivated long enough to get there.