The Talent Code

I don't believe this will be a 4-star book for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Myelin and all the research around it. I was mostly unaware of it and the author does a tremendous job explaining what it is and how it works. While the many insights about Myelin were fascinating they didn't provide a particular revelation based on it early in the book. It boils down to something that is widespread knowledge: the more time and energy you put into the right kind of practice, the more skill you get.

How did this book affect me?

This has helped consolidate some advice from other books: deep work is fundamental to reaching mastery. One thing that I'll keep with me is the effort in making as many mistakes as I can by myself. I remember early in my career when I was practicing for the dreaded coding interview how focused I was in my practice. I tried to solve problems not to get to a solution quickly but to learn how to work through them. When I couldn't remember some syntax that would have helped me with a given problem I would try to focus and recall it, I failed the first few times and succeeded after that. This consolidated some knowledge that I keep with me to this day.

As I grow older and less patient (also with much less time available), I find myself wanting to get to a solution fast. The price I pay by looking things up is that I learn very little. On top of that, it becomes harder to retain and I won't be able to do it myself again in the future. If this was isolated to a professional environment where we need to get it done, I find it justifiable (should it though?) but doing it for side projects with the goal of learning starts to make little sense. I'm applying this in my current side project (no spoilers) and already reaping the benefits.

Can I apply this to my field?

Software engineering requires a consistent ability to learn new languages, new frameworks, ..., you name it! Learning a new language is most effective with a deep dive and as the book suggests it helps to "slow down". According to Daniel going slow helps the practicer to develop something important: a working perception of the skill's blueprint. This can easily translate into learning what every line of a program does. If I am not able to explain what each line does, did I really learn the language? Pushing this further by developing a full understanding of the details it becomes natural identifying important elements and group them into a meaningful framework (a.k.a. chunking).

It is imperative to seek the struggle. If we keep settling in our comfort zone we cannot grow and learn, let alone reach mastery. The book proposes a simple cycle:

• Pick a target
• Reach for it
• Evaluate the gap between the target and the reach
• Return to step 1

Conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the final part focusing on teaching was quite revealing. While you can't rely on motivation continuously to push yourself, it is still an important part of "igniting" the passion. Who do you want to be? How can you get there? Being disciplined in pursuing whatever that is with deep work is key. There's one quote I liked about teachers:

A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. —Thomas Carruthers