Anatomy of a Phenomenal Success
Wikipedia records the achievements of Bobby Fischer as follows: Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was the eleventh World Chess Champion.
He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time.
Fischer's achievements are legendary.
At 13, he won a brilliancy that became known as the Game of the Century.
Starting at age 14, he played in eight United States Championships, winning each by at least a point.
At 15½, he became both the youngest Grandmaster and the youngest Candidate for the World Championship up until that time.
He won the 1963-64 US championship 11-0, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament.
In the early 1970s he became the most dominant player in modern history-winning the 1970 Interzonal by a record 3½-point margin and winning 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6-0 sweeps in the Candidates Matches.
According to research by Jeff Sonas, in 1971 Fischer had separated himself from the rest of the world by a larger margin of playing skill than any player since the 1870s.
He became the first official FIDE world number one rated chessplayer in July 1971, and his 54 total months at number one is the third longest of all-time.
Like Bobby Fischer, Micheal Jordan was also a phenomenal achiever.
By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.
Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring.
His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness".
In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat".
Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993-94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995-96 NBA season.
The hallmark of people like Bobby Fischer, Michael Jordan and other phenomenal achievers is that they consistently delivered great performances.
Although the field of competitive sports offered a simple example, every field of human endeavor is replete with examples of phenomenal achievers.
Phenomenal people are people who can deliver.
This ability to deliver phenomenal results even against all odds is what sets phenomenal people apart.
What causes some people to deliver at a superlative level week in and week out when others languish in the shallow shores of mediocrity? In this issue we will examine the anatomy of a phenomenal success.
THERE IS NO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS The first thing that needs to be boldly underlined is that there is no overnight success.
Although people like Bobby Fischer, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods became household names at very tender ages statistics show that they had already amassed enormous hours of both practice and competitive action before they pulled off their stunts.
Record books show that by the age of thirteen Bobby Fischer had already played more Chess than most grandmasters.
Tiger Woods was introduced to the world of competitive golf at a tender age.
Scientists have come up with what has been termed the ten year rule.
Simply put they posit that it takes ten years of quality practice for anyone to achieve expert status in any field.
However, the ten year rule assumes that one is putting in at least two hours of quality practice in a day.
What this means is that if you dedicate yourself to practice any skill of your choice for at least two hours a day for ten years, by the time you get to ten years you will have reached a level of skill refinement associated with experts in that field.
If you dedicate two hours a day to study financial economics, or labor law or southern African history or any subject for that matter by the end of ten years you will be world class in that particular field.
By devoting eight hours a day where others devote two hours you will be world class in a little more than two years.
The trick is not the number of years but the number of quality hours daily committed to the pursuit.
One needs to be totally dedicated in order to pull this off.
FOCUS The second parameter that separates the mediocre from the phenomenal is that of focus.
Most mediocre people are wandering generalities whereas the phenomenal people are meaningful specifics.
Most people make the mistake of spreading their efforts and resources across a vast array of pursuits, while the phenomenal focus on one specific agenda.
Oprah does not do anything except talk shows.
Tiger Woods is all about golf.
Bobby Fischer was totally given to chess and chess only.
Each one of us has a certain area called the zone of excellence which is the area in which we tend to show the great promise for excellence.
Instead of trying to be a jacks of all trades, the phenomenal concentrate on their zones of excellence to the exclusion of all else.
Feed Back and Continuous Improvement The mediocre people tend to examine their performances only when there are problems or short falls.
This is the post mortem approach to feedback.
However, the phenomenal seek continuous feedback.
When they do well they examine their performances to identify why they did well so that they can replicate the success.
When they fail, they also examine their performances so that they can learn from the failures and avoid similar pitfalls.
The phenomenal learn from their success as well as from their failures, hence they are able to minimize repeated mistakes while regularly reproducing successful performances.
Excellence becomes a habit because they have designed their lives to allow them to consistently perform at the highest level.
winningmantra@yahoo.
com
He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time.
Fischer's achievements are legendary.
At 13, he won a brilliancy that became known as the Game of the Century.
Starting at age 14, he played in eight United States Championships, winning each by at least a point.
At 15½, he became both the youngest Grandmaster and the youngest Candidate for the World Championship up until that time.
He won the 1963-64 US championship 11-0, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament.
In the early 1970s he became the most dominant player in modern history-winning the 1970 Interzonal by a record 3½-point margin and winning 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6-0 sweeps in the Candidates Matches.
According to research by Jeff Sonas, in 1971 Fischer had separated himself from the rest of the world by a larger margin of playing skill than any player since the 1870s.
He became the first official FIDE world number one rated chessplayer in July 1971, and his 54 total months at number one is the third longest of all-time.
Like Bobby Fischer, Micheal Jordan was also a phenomenal achiever.
By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.
Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring.
His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness".
In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat".
Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993-94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995-96 NBA season.
The hallmark of people like Bobby Fischer, Michael Jordan and other phenomenal achievers is that they consistently delivered great performances.
Although the field of competitive sports offered a simple example, every field of human endeavor is replete with examples of phenomenal achievers.
Phenomenal people are people who can deliver.
This ability to deliver phenomenal results even against all odds is what sets phenomenal people apart.
What causes some people to deliver at a superlative level week in and week out when others languish in the shallow shores of mediocrity? In this issue we will examine the anatomy of a phenomenal success.
THERE IS NO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS The first thing that needs to be boldly underlined is that there is no overnight success.
Although people like Bobby Fischer, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods became household names at very tender ages statistics show that they had already amassed enormous hours of both practice and competitive action before they pulled off their stunts.
Record books show that by the age of thirteen Bobby Fischer had already played more Chess than most grandmasters.
Tiger Woods was introduced to the world of competitive golf at a tender age.
Scientists have come up with what has been termed the ten year rule.
Simply put they posit that it takes ten years of quality practice for anyone to achieve expert status in any field.
However, the ten year rule assumes that one is putting in at least two hours of quality practice in a day.
What this means is that if you dedicate yourself to practice any skill of your choice for at least two hours a day for ten years, by the time you get to ten years you will have reached a level of skill refinement associated with experts in that field.
If you dedicate two hours a day to study financial economics, or labor law or southern African history or any subject for that matter by the end of ten years you will be world class in that particular field.
By devoting eight hours a day where others devote two hours you will be world class in a little more than two years.
The trick is not the number of years but the number of quality hours daily committed to the pursuit.
One needs to be totally dedicated in order to pull this off.
FOCUS The second parameter that separates the mediocre from the phenomenal is that of focus.
Most mediocre people are wandering generalities whereas the phenomenal people are meaningful specifics.
Most people make the mistake of spreading their efforts and resources across a vast array of pursuits, while the phenomenal focus on one specific agenda.
Oprah does not do anything except talk shows.
Tiger Woods is all about golf.
Bobby Fischer was totally given to chess and chess only.
Each one of us has a certain area called the zone of excellence which is the area in which we tend to show the great promise for excellence.
Instead of trying to be a jacks of all trades, the phenomenal concentrate on their zones of excellence to the exclusion of all else.
Feed Back and Continuous Improvement The mediocre people tend to examine their performances only when there are problems or short falls.
This is the post mortem approach to feedback.
However, the phenomenal seek continuous feedback.
When they do well they examine their performances to identify why they did well so that they can replicate the success.
When they fail, they also examine their performances so that they can learn from the failures and avoid similar pitfalls.
The phenomenal learn from their success as well as from their failures, hence they are able to minimize repeated mistakes while regularly reproducing successful performances.
Excellence becomes a habit because they have designed their lives to allow them to consistently perform at the highest level.
winningmantra@yahoo.
com
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