David Epstein is the author of The Sports Gene and Range. In this second part, we explore the work of David on Range and his fascinating thesis on becoming a generalist instead of a specialist.

David Epstein is the author of two bestselling books. In this work of series I'll be exploring his book 'The Sports Gene' on the impact of genetics on our development of skills and talents. Fascinating stuff!

On today’s Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan talks with author and journalist David Epstein about the power of range, how to get the right kind of experience to be successful, and more.

David Epstein is the author of #1 New York Times best seller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. He has previously worked as a reporter at ProPublica and Sports Illustrated and also wrote the best-selling The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance.

Get your copy of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World: https://geni.us/BX7P90

This episode is brought to you by Felix Gray, maker of amazing blue light-filtering glasses. Felix Gray glasses help prevent the symptoms of too much blue light exposure, which can include blurry vision, dry eyes, sleeplessness, and more. Get your glasses today at http://felixgrayglasses.com/stoic and try them for 30 days, risk-free.

This episode is also brought to you by Mack Weldon, an amazing online retailer for men’s basics. Mack Weldon believes in smart design, premium fabrics and simple shopping—and they’ve created a great new loyalty program, Weldon Blue. Try out Mack Weldon today. And for 20% off your first order, visit http://mackweldon.com and use promo code STOIC.

This episode is also brought to you by Future. Future pairs you up with a remote personal trainer that you can get in touch with from your home. Your trainer will give you a full exercise regimen that works for your specific fitness goals, using the equipment you have at home. It works with your Apple Watch, and if you don’t already have one, Future will give you one for free. Sign up at tryfuture.com/stoic and get your first two weeks with your personal trainer for just $1.

***

If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.

Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signup

Follow @DailyStoic:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoic

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoic

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoic

Follow David Epstein: 

Homepage: https://davidepstein.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidEpstein

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ByDavidEpstein/

In this episode, Erik Rostad discusses book 18 of 52 from his 2020 Reading List – Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein.

Show Notes

• Author: David Epstein
• David Epstein on EconTalk
• Erik’s thoughts about the book
• Purchase the Book
• Get Book Ideas
• Books of Titans Website

The post Range by David Epstein appeared first on Books of Titans.

Sign up to the bookmark newsletter:

https://mailchi.mp/1119b1358a84/thebookmark

About the Book 

Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.

David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one.They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.

Source: https://davidepstein.com/

About the Author

David Epstein is the author of the #1 New York Times best seller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World , and of the New York Times best seller The Sports Gene, both of which have been translated in more than 20 languages. (To his surprise, it was purchased not only by his sister but also by President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.)

He was previously a science and investigative reporter at ProPublica, and prior to that a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, where he co-authored the story that revealed Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez had used steroids.

David has given talks about performance science and the uses (and misuses) of data on five continents; his TED Talk has been viewed 8.5 million times, and was shared by Bill Gates. Three of his stories have been optioned for films.

David enjoys volunteering and as an avid runner, he was a Columbia University record holder and twice NCAA All-East as an 800-meter runner.

Source: https://davidepstein.com/

Would you like to take better notes from the books you read?  Get your copy of Archley's beautiful book journal, the Book of Books here: https://www.archleys.com/?ref=JamVyS-U4mVR

Buy the book from The Book Depository - https://www.bookdepository.com/Range/9781509843503/?a_aid=stephsbookshelf

BIG IDEA 1 (4:18) - Roger vs. Tiger

Roger Federer and Tiger Woods have both defined their respective sports. Tiger Woods hyper-specialized since he was a child - his parents believed he was going to be the best golfer in the world. Whilst the young Roger Federer just liked playing sports. Eventually in his teens he picked tennis, at an age when many of his peers had been specialising since a very young age and were already working with elite coaches and nutritionists ec.

The Roger story is actually much more common, but we worship the Tiger story. Research also shows that elite performers actually practice less at a very young age, compared to the near-elite performers who specialise and practice more, earlier. 

BIG IDEA 2 (6:25) - Kind vs. Wicked

The world's problems are becoming more wicked and much more complex.  Therefore, to tackle them, we need the fundamental conceptual reasoning skills that we can transfer across different fields. When you have a narrow view of the world, you’ll only have a look for one thing in your field to answer the question or solve the problems.

This type of development of thinking was explored during some fascinating research in remote villages where the villagers still lived in a pre-modern age.  Those with a very narrow view of the world, could only look at things from the perspective of what they had experienced before.  So whilst some of their ideas were more creative (their descriptions of colours), their ability to think conceptually and abstractly was almost completely limited.

The Roger Federer approach is much better for wicked problems - one that brings the skills and experience of different sports (or fields). The Tiger Woods approach is better for kind problems or the more complicated, replicable challenges. If there is a high likelihood that you know what’s going to happen next, being Tiger Woods can help.

BIG IDEA 3 (13:05) - The Power of Analogy

If we need to have better conceptual thinking, the ability to think in analogies will help. A study on problems solving says that successful problem solvers are more able to determine the deep structure or problem before they proceed and match a strategy to it.  And a lot of the time, the deep structure of a problem isn’t limited to the same field of that particular problem - it takes going beyond the context and into the concept.

Less successful problem solvers are more likely to mentally classify problems only by superficial features (ie, it’s a medical problem or an engineering problem).

Sometimes the more you know about the area, the worse you are about making decisions.  Companies, including NASA, have had some of their longest standing problems solved by amateurs with no, or limited, scientific knowledge but who are able to see the similarity from something else they have seen before in another field.

Links: 

Learn more about being a multipotentialite here: https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Watch David’s TED Talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/david_epstein_are_athletes_really_getting_faster_better_stronger

Music By: Bluerise Song by Oliver Michael

Let’s Connect

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/steph-clarke

Instagram: @stephsbizbookshelf

Enjoying the show?

Please hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and leave a review on iTunes to help others find us.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Epstein (@DavidEpstein) has worked as an investigative reporter for ProPublica and a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He is the author of the number-one New York Times bestseller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.

What We Discuss with David Epstein:

• What are the pros and cons of specialization and generalization?
• Why sacrificing depth for breadth in the learning process might be an advantage.
• How struggling to generate an answer -- even a wrong one -- enhances subsequent learning.
• The end of history illusion and the hazards of choosing to specialize between ages 18-29.
• Why self-taught people tend to experiment more and come to unique solutions for problems that specialists overlook.
• And much more...

Full show notes and resources can be found here: https://jordanharbinger.com/342

Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course!

The folks at BiOptimizers understand why you’re skeptical about probiotics as a way to increase your digestive and gut health. But without sharing TMI, we can confirm its patented P3-OM superstrain actually does what it’s supposed to do! Curious? Go to p3om.com/jordan and enter code JORDAN20 for 20 percent off your order!

Blue Moon Belgian White is refreshing for the palate of the sophisticated beer aficionado without succumbing to snobbery. Not sure if it’s available in your area? get.bluemoonbeer.com allows you to find local stores that carry Blue Moon or have it delivered in under three hours!

Don’t let a botched below-the-belt trim snag your summer plans — Manscaped has precision tools for your family jewels! Go to Manscaped.com and get 20 percent off with free shipping by using code JORDAN20 at checkout!

NetSuite by Oracle allows you to manage sales, finances, accounting, orders, and HR for your business instantly on the cloud from anywhere! Download your free guide — Seven Key Strategies to Grow Your Profits — at netsuite.com/jordan!

Saving money on your car insurance is easy with Progressive. It’s an average...

We spoke with David Epstein, author of 'Range' and 'The Sports Gene'. 

Range is AA's favourite book of 2020 so far, and we only got to scratch the surface in our book summary episode. In this interview with the author, we speak about: how you should focus on skill development rather than comparing yourself to others around you, not settling for a career you're not in love with because you feel like you're in a rush to achieve things quickly, and stories about how low-level engineers became world famous inventors and how creators with a broad range of practical experiences were able to produce international blockbusters. 

See more from David Epstein on his website: https://davidepstein.com/

Check out our favourite bits of the book 'Range' here: https://whatyouwilllearn.com/book/range/

In this episode, David Epstein, best-selling author of Range and The Sports Gene, discusses the evidence around the most effective ways to improve long-term performance and learning in our specialties, our sports, our careers, and our lives. David makes a compelling case that a range of experiences and skills are more likely to lead to expert performance compared to early specialization, and offers an in-depth critique of the much-publicized 10,000-Hour Rule. David also provides insights into our role as parents in the process of encouraging exposure to many things, the concepts of when to push them, when to give them space, and when to allow them to quit. Furthermore, David goes into many other fascinating topics such as the role of talent, genetics, and practice in reaching expert status, what differentiates a kind vs. wicked learning environment, the importance of “informal training,” and many case studies that suggest strategies for short-term success may not be best for long-term development.

We discuss:

• A shared interest in Ayrton Senna, and pondering the value in participating in sports [2:30];

• Examining the 10,000-Hour Rule, and the importance of questioning existing dogma [15:00];

• How the medical profession is affected by bad science, and the importance of understanding individual variation [28:00];

• David’s most surprising findings when writing The Sports Gene [35:45];

• Kind versus wicked learning environments [40:45];

• How and why strategies for short-term success may not be best for long-term development [47:30];

• Contrasting the success stories of Tiger Woods and Roger Federer—which path is more common, and an argument for diversified training and experiences [59:15];

• Is there an age-range or “critical window” during which exposure is necessary to reach a certain level of proficiency or mastery of a skill or knowledge? [1:14:00];

• How diversifying your interests and unraveling your identity from your speciality could lead to more enjoyment and actually improve performance in your speciality [1:22:15];

• The undervalued importance of “informal training” [1:29:15];

• Advice for increasing match quality in your work—where interests and abilities align—to optimize both job performance and fulfillment [1:41:15];

• Would David want his own son to attend college given the current state of higher education? [1:51:15];

• The role of a parent—how to encourage sampling, when to push them, when to allow them to quit, and insights from the childhoods of Tiger Woods and Wolfgang Mozart [1:55:45];

• The need for varied perspectives and the ability to improvise—insights gained from the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy [2:08:45];

• How a diversified background and identity could be the difference in life or death—the Hotshot firefighters case study [2:22:15];

• David’s takeaways from the inspiring story of Frances Hesselbein [2:29:00]; and

• More.

Learn more: https://peterattiamd.com/ Show notes page for this episode: https://peterattiamd.com/davidepstein Subscribe to receive exclusive subscriber-only content: https://peterattiamd.com/subscribe/ Sign up to receive Peter's email newsletter: https://peterattiamd.com/newsletter/ Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.