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I'm a fan of tennis, I'm not a very good player though, and never will be - I don't want to play 12 hours a day. I've watched Federer many times and a couple of

I'm a fan of tennis, I'm not a very good player though, and never will be - I don't want to play 12 hours a day. I've watched Federer many times and a couple of take aways I've seen from watching him - practice every day, if you're losing, just keep going, the other guy will eventually give up or make a mistake, or you'll lose today, the other guy will eventually give up. I really think this is the only way to be the best at something - do it every day, some days you'll fail, but if you keep going, eventually you'll have so much expertise you'll wake up one day and be the best, or close enough. The trouble is no one really wants to do this, all Federer does is tennis, he must love it, every day he gets up and plays tennis. Most people will stop at good enough though. If Federer played basketball, would he be the best? probably not, so thats the other thing - pick something your body and brain is built for, and do it every day. If there were any short cuts then the best would use them any way and add them to their arsenal, so any short cuts will be short lived. I think PG said something the same about start ups - they don't fail the founders just stop. I think this ties in with why so many start ups are made by rich kids, they can afford not to stop, everyone else has to stop at some point and get a job.

suyash 7y ago
I concur, it also reminds me of this famous quote : “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. ” —Aristotle.
- chadcmulligan 7y ago
  I always find it surprising when so much of what we think and talk about today is the same thing that people thought and talked about a couple of thousand years ago, very little about people has changed.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
    See, I would be surprised if it was the other way.
pbulises 7y ago
Author here. Actually Federer does not do tennis. In fact, he's famous for trying lots of different sports before settling on tennis.
- chadcmulligan 7y ago
  Hi, interesting article. I'm pretty sure he does do tennis :-), but I see your point. Ash Barty also credits her current position with the year she took off to play cricket. There was a study just recently I saw about this - https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181108110020.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181108110020.h... its about hockey players.

suyash 7y ago

I concur, it also reminds me of this famous quote : “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. ” —Aristotle.

chadcmulligan 7y ago
I always find it surprising when so much of what we think and talk about today is the same thing that people thought and talked about a couple of thousand years ago, very little about people has changed.
- HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
  See, I would be surprised if it was the other way.

pbulises 7y ago

Author here. Actually Federer does not do tennis. In fact, he's famous for trying lots of different sports before settling on tennis.

chadcmulligan 7y ago
Hi, interesting article. I'm pretty sure he does do tennis :-), but I see your point. Ash Barty also credits her current position with the year she took off to play cricket. There was a study just recently I saw about this - https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181108110020.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181108110020.h... its about hockey players.