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A Review of Daniel Coyle's, "The Sweet Spot" from the Talent Code

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A Review of Daniel Coyle's, "The Sweet Spot" from the Talent Code
Talent…decoded!

Daniel Coyle (2009). The Talent Code (Chapter 1. 'The Sweet Spot '). The Bantam Dell Publishing Group: US.
The definition of success whether in context of talent or any other arises from a very basic under wiring that powers it. In the book, “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne (Byrne, 2006), she mentions the law of attraction, according to which everything in life be it happiness, sadness, money, power can be achieved by focusing attention and attracting into one’s life. The Sweet Spot, Chapter 1 of the book The Talent Code describes Daniel Coyle 's quest to decode and discover the secret behind talent.
The author sets off on a “treasure hunt” (pp.2) for talent. His discovery of the various talent hot- beds (pp.2) presents a startling image which he calls as “the chicken wire-Havards” (pp.1). He discovers that 'deeper practice ' than 'harder practice ' as the underlying key to the success behind talent. The cycle of making mistakes, pondering, thinking, correcting and attempting again till the task is nailed he says is the most crucial aspect to advancement of any talent. While other factors like background conditions and reward may act as motivators it is finding the sweet spot that acts as a lever to guide all those forces to attain success.
Robert Bjork, chair of psychology at UCLA has vast experience in the field of memory and learning. He coined the term 'the sweet spot ' and explained it as, "there’s an optimal gap between what you know and what you’re trying to do. When you find that sweet spot, learning takes off." (pp. 10). Citing the e.g. "His face is taut; his eyes are so focused, they look like they’re somewhere else. Then something clicks: he starts nailing the move."(pp.4), the author, proposes that 'deeper practice ' is all about "experiences where you’re forced to slow down, make errors, and correct them" (pp.9). This is what he says makes a person smarter. He also urges that when practicing deeply even miniscule efforts



References: Byrne Rhonda (2006). The Secret. Atria Books. NY. US Colvin, Geoffrey. “What It Takes to be Great.” Fortune 19 October 2006

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