This sentence from the article:
"Thus, motivation appears to be a more important factor than innate ability in the development of expertise"
probably is the strongest for me. Anyone to me has the ability to be an expert in whatever they choose, but it takes motivation to get them there for the long haul. Anyone can excel in the beginning of a new skill, but the difference between the average joe and the expert later on is truly just staying motivated to continue to grow and progress. I also agreed with the comments in the end, that based on this theory, the spotlight is on the schools in finding the right motivation to create experts since everyone is capable in theory (although I believe this responsibility is split between schools and parents alike.....but my confidence in schools figureing this out, has me likely to homeschool if we have children).
I am currently working on that life purpose career alignment sort of hubbub, and the direction I feel myself heading at the moment is very complex, and FAR from my current expertise. I have broken it out into smaller and smaller 'chunks', and have determined that even though I am far from an expert in the goal I have laid out, I can easily become one over time as I put together the pieces. I CAN be an expert in whatever, and if my motivation and purpose are aligned correctly as I believe they are right now, it is 100% achievable.
As a side note though, I sometimes wonder if it took me so long to find true direction and purpose, just because I was not ready to tackle all the 'components' to becoming an expert in a new direction. Several years ago, had someone showed me this path, I would have laughed and said that was too hard to imagine. Now, I have spent several years changing habits, building discipline, learning to achieve small to large goals, and in general laid a strong foundation. Now that my path is becoming more clear, I still see it as complicated, but by no means out of reach. Just a set of tasks I need to break down into small chunks and work my way up.
10,000 hours here I come
