We've all heard about the talents of others. "How eloquently they speak," "they're just so musical," "I could never write as well as they do," and other such phrases fill our day with recognition, jealousy, and even a degree of self-deprecation. Yet there is a trait we frequently neglect to recognize: Skill.

There are actually very few naturally talented professionals in the field. Despite the infrequency of genius, there are many, of all ages, who are considered 'Masters'. What separates them from the rest?

The question becomes: Is there such a thing as 'innate' talent? A common view we come to is that achievement equals talent plus preparation. The problem with this view is that the closer we look at the innately talented, the less talent plays a role and the more pertinent preparation becomes.

Our understanding of skill versus talent comes from K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Romer in a 1993 study at Berlin's Academy of Music on the role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance, or, in laymen's terms: how smart practice makes us masters of our craft.

Here's the short of it: the most masterful musicians in the school being examined had logged 10,000 hours of practice - that is purposeful, single-mindedly playing their instruments with the intent to get better - by age twenty; most of them started their instruments at age 5 (or a little older).

Formidable numbers aside, the most striking thing about Ericsson's study was that they found no 'naturals', no musicians who made it effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time that their peers did. Neither were there any "grinds," those who put in more hours than their peers and just couldn't make it to the top ranks. The study suggests that once a musician has enough ability to make it to a top music school, the thing that separates one performer from another is how hard they work, and that's it. There have been many more studies in expertise since then, and the pattern remains the same, so much so that researchers have settled on the magic number to achieve true expertise: 10,000 hours.

Let's talk about how long that really is:

Let us say that you want to become a master knitter; you have a passion for the warm, fuzzy, and occasionally ornate. So you now know that 10,000 hours will get you there, and you start with twenty hours a week, 'cause you ain't no weakling when it comes to stitches. At the end of 52 weeks at twenty hours a week you'll have accrued 1,040 hours. You are now very comfortable with knitting, and confident. Congratulations! But, super freak that you are, you must become a world-class knitter. Let's say (for simplicity's sake) you continue knitting twenty hours a week. At the end of 9 years, 7 months, and 6 days, you'll have arrived at an impressive level of knitting mastery.

I've neglected one very important factor in the ten thousand hours theory: Opportunity. So let's go back to our Master Knitter (that's you). You've come a long way, but you were not alone. After a few months and a successful hat fitted for a baby (which may have been a bit too big, but that's okay, they grew into it) you joined a knitting club at the local library. Months later you were trying to sell your projects at the annual fair, and a year later you were successfully selling your best works. After all the local success, you pushed yourself into larger opportunities to learn and challenge your skills at state-wide fairs, then regional fairs, and much later, national fairs saw your wares being bid for. The point is, hours alone will not push you from mediocre to expert to master, but continuing to find opportunities to grow and challenge yourself. For further information on this subject, check out Malcolm Gladwell's book, "Outliers", for a compilation of all this and more reasons why we see extreme success in some individuals.

So let's bring this all together. If you want to be a master of anything, it's gonna take time and commitment; it's gonna take courage to seek out the opportunities that will grow you; and it's gonna take the support of your friends and family. Trust me, there will be times of discouragement, but these too shall pass. You need to persevere, if you want to be the very best.

May the force be with you, Young Padawan.