My Journey of Talent, Luck and 10,000 Hours

Recently I have done well in a few speaking engagements / competitions.

1. A competition to see who could present a medical research article the best. You had to choose an article, then give a 10 minute PowerPoint presentation about it, and answer questions from a panel of judges.
 - I earned 2nd place.

2. "Resident Research Day." Participants had to prepare a poster to present their original research or a case study. Each presenter would have 7 minutes to present, and 3 minutes to answer questions.
 - I earned 1st place.

3. I gave a short funny speech at Graduation to honor/roast  the outgoing program director.
 - it was well received.

Since then I have had professors, colleagues and others tell me what a great job I do.  Residents from other programs mention it to me as well.  Some are even telling me "well, we kind of expected you to win that," "you're a natural," and things like that.

I appreciate the compliments but I try not to think about it too much because I get prideful pretty easily. (my wife can verify that fact)

THEN - a few days ago I started reading the book "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. He makes a few very good points

1: There are many talented people. Talent rarely makes the difference between those who are good and those who are great.

2: Becoming great at something takes more than talent, it takes 10,000 hours.  He says masters and experts have spent 10,000 hours practicing and preparing their craft.
 (If you practiced 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, it would take you 10 years to reach 10,000 hours.)

3. Becoming the best at something takes luck.  You have to born in the right place, have the right opportunities and the right people helping you along the way.

This made me think - I haven't been presenting medical literature anywhere close to that long, but have I been practicing? What opportunities was I lucky enough to get?

Practice Presenting:

I'm a Mormon; born and raised in a Mormon family. That means that at age four I started standing up in front of 100 kids every few months and reading a scripture or short talk my parents helped me write. By age twelve I was speaking in front of the entire congregation of kids and adults to give a seven minute talk I'd written myself. From age fourteen on I was asked to go visit three families every single month, and help present a short spiritual lesson from the church's magazine. Then I was asked to give longer talks, longer presentations. When I went to college I was asked to teach a class of fifty of my classmates every Sunday for an hour. When I was nineteen I went as a missionary to Brazil. For two years I was asked to walk the streets and teach strangers ten hours a day, six days a week. I was knocking doors, trying to engage people in religious conversation and convince them to listen to me, let me in their home, read my materials, and invite me back.
I've since been asked to teach more lessons in church, visit church members weekly in their homes and teach them short lessons as well. My religion has been vital to my ability to present.

Yes I decided to stay in the religion and believe it - but being born into the religion was pure chance.

When I was eight I started performing in small theater productions. By High School I was acting and singing in two full length musicals per year.

At age fourteen I joined the debate team. I presented arguments and debated information every day in class, and every month in debate competitions throughout the state.

I didn't love debate, but along with it came speech competitions. So I signed up for "Oratory" and "Impromptu" competitions. Oratory meant I had to prepare and present from memory a ten minute persuasive speech. I usually earned 1st or 2nd place. Impromptu was a five minute speech with only two minutes prep time. I wasn't very good, I never won, but I sure liked trying.
(I dropped debate because I was starting to argue about absolutely everything with my family, and I was really quite annoying.)

I joined choir. I was lucky in that my junior high and high school had amazing music programs. I got used to performing in front of huge groups, important people, and in important and famous places. In high school I performed in the State Capitol, in multiple chapels, synagogues and cathedrals; and the most famous concert hall of all - Carnegie Hall.

I continued singing in College. I went to a church sponsored school (BYU-Idaho). I sang in concerts of course, but every year I also went to church head quarters in Salt Lake City and sang for the president and other leaders of my church at a dinner. (It's like a Catholic singing for the Pope and the top Cardinals) - It was a very big deal.

I sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during a worldwide broadcast, and sang at the worldwide church conference three different times.

In short - I've had practiced singing in from of very large audiences, and for very important people.

I have also had a lot of practice talking to people who really don't want to talk to me.  Besides being a proselytizing missionary,  I was later a door-to-door salesman. I sold security systems from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. six days a week for three months. I learned how to get people's attention quickly, how to smile and use body language that would put people at ease. I knew I had about ten seconds to remove all animosity and make them feel like they were chatting with a friend on their doorstep - or the door would be slammed in my face.

In short - I have spent a LONG time learning how to present information to large groups, to strangers and to important leaders.

Practice Researching:
(I'll make this section more succinct)

In debate class in high school I learned how to research topics - and really dig deep to find important information.

In my genetics class in college I learned how to read a scientific journal article (and I was graded on my analysis of a new article every month)

After my junior year of College I had a paid internship at Idaho State University.  I worked hard to understand a project and sector of research I knew nothing about.  I learned how to study voltage gated sodium channels, their mutations, and temperature dependence. (sounds fun I know)
I then made a poster and a powerpoint presentation and presented the research at multiple research conferences and for all the biology students at my university.

In medical school I was asked time and again to read reseach articles and present them the next day to the treatment team.  I usually had twelve hours to prepare.

MY CURRENT SITUATION:

I enjoy presenting.  I volunteered to do a case conference for my residency.  I volunteered to present a Grand Rounds for all mental health workers in the State of Nevada (which I completed in January)
I volunteered to compete in the two competitions mentioned at the beginning.

After I spoke at graduation a fellow resident remarked: "That was really good, did you practice that?"

I was surprised for a moment.  I thought  "are you kidding me? I practiced this thing five times on my own and rehearsed it with my wife and later with a friend."
I responded "yeah, I ran through it a few times."

I realized then that maybe everyone else doesn't practice.  When I write a talk for church - I use a stopwatch a time myself at least twice.  I time each section so I know how long each section will take - then if I am short on time I have sections I can cut and I know exactly how long I have left.
I practice everything.  I practice lectures, I practice speeches, I even practice jokes.  My wife listened to my 65 minute long Grand Rounds presentation at least 5 times (she is a very patient woman).
The two competitions I mentioned at the beginning - I rehearsed them with other faculty, my wife, my friends, and by myself - multiple times.
My wife often catches me talking to myself, running over past speeches and conversations in my head.  I review what I didn't say quite right, and how to correct it next time.

My Point:  I still practice... a lot.

I've reached the point where I enjoy it; it doesn't make me nervous.  I don't know if I'm an expert.  I don't know how many hours I've practiced (maybe 10,000?),  but I know it is much more than natural talent.  It is also much more than hard work.  It's also luck - I have been in the right situation, with the right mentors, at the right moments.