Rebooting Your Brain

CHAPTER 11Myth: Some People Have “It,” but You Don't

What is it that enables someone to become good at something? Is it some innate ability? Some unique skill set that they were gifted with? Is the ability to become good at something bestowed on some but not others? Is the ability to excel woven into the DNA of only a select few?

When you look at those people who have become really good at something, it seems like they have a relative ease at which they are able to execute on a given skill.

Just listen to billionaire Warren Buffett dole out investment advice. Watch a video of rock star Eric Clapton as he rips through a blues guitar lick. See gold medal–winning gymnast Simone Biles do a no‐handed backflip. Watch basketball great Michael Jordan as he soars through the air to dunk a basketball. Listen to Nobel Prize–winning biochemist Jennifer Doudna explain the process for editing genes.

When we look at the iconic people in any field, it seems like the gap is so big between what they can do and what you and I are capable of, it is easy to convince ourselves that they must have some innate ability, some naturally granted level of talent that we simply don't possess.

Certainly, when looking at the capabilities of billionaires, sports stars, world‐class musicians, or top scientists the gap between us and them is pretty dramatic. So, it's easy to say that they have “it” but we don't. However, what most people fail to recognize is that they make this same comparison on a smaller scale ...