What Makes Remarkable People... Remarkable?

I'm currently reading an interesting book called Talent is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin, and while I don't agree with everything written, it is a very important book to read. The reason I say this is because at some point in our lives, we begin to look up to people. We have role models, heroes, mentors - even if we do not personally know them. By looking at what these people have done to get to that point in their lives, we are constantly asking the question: what makes that person so special?

I'm not talking specifically about wealth, fame, riches or influence, as those are terms usually attached to someone you look up to. I'm talking about someone at the top of their game, in whatever field it is. It doesn't matter whether you are in the plumbing field, involved in neuroscience research or wanting to become a professional tennis player, there are people that have become world class. But why is this? Why is the world such that some people rise to the top while most stay down below? 

Using what I have read from the book, my own personal opinions and the works of others - I'm going to try and offer an explanation into what makes great people great. Let's begin with an overview of how the world works.

The Pyramid

Needs

I'm sure most people have seen the above pyramid. It is used in psychology almost every time we talk about human needs. It is of course, Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - one of the most important explanations of human nature that we have. But this pyramid offers much more than just a look at what makes a human tick. It also offers an insight into how the world is structured, and why most people don't have the opportunity to become remarkable.

The Base: Basic Needs

Take a look at the bottom level - the basic needs. Seems pretty simple, right? I mean, as long as you have food, water, shelter and basic emotional attachment, you are all set. The problem is, that this is not simple. Over 25,000 people die a day from lack of water. This is just one of the basic needs. When we go into food, shelter, etc... that number becomes a LOT larger. Think about the size of the town that you are living in. Is it a relatively small number? Imagine all of those people being wiped out, day after day, just because of where they were born.

The possibility for remarkable human achievement stops at stage one for many, many people. Too many. Who knows what brilliance lies in the regions of the world that can't meet the base of the pyramid? We will never know what human ingenuity and brilliance never had a chance to blossom. And so begins the filtering process of becoming remarkable. If a huge part of the base of the pyramid is struggling to even stay alive, let alone think about achieving, don't you think there is a problem? But this is just part of the reason that there are not too many people at the top.

Level 2: Safety

Continuing on, we reach level number two. This is a huge improvement over the base, where at least your basic needs are met. You have your health, which is hugely important. You have an income, which allows you to live among the upper tier of the planet. Don't think so? Look at this stat:

At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day

Anything past that point and you are living in the top 20% of the entire planet. Once again, think of the massive untapped potential we have on this earth. Where would the world be if we had the whole world operating at a higher level?  

Now, living at level two does not come without its issues. You definitely need this to live a fruitful life, but you can never become remarkable. You lack a major part of life: your inter-personal and intra-personal relationships. If you are not okay with yourself and others, you may choose to turn to activities such as drinking, doing drugs, smoking, cheating, lying, stealing and gambling to "shut your brain off". Many people living at this level can never become remarkable, simply because they are not allowing themselves to. They have the opportunity, the "safety", but lack core developmental skills. 

This is the second largest group, and sadly, most of these people will never become remarkable.

Level 3: Belonging

What we miss in level two we begin to make up in level three. A lot of abusing of our bodies and others is a result of missing a sense of "belonging" in our lives. Once we have this, through stable emotional relationships with our parents, siblings, friends and partners, this level is fulfilled. Lack of this belonging from the moment we are born (as evidenced brilliantly in The Happiness Hypotheis) almost always results in massive problems later on. Our brains are wired to need an emotional connection through hormones. 

Once we are at this level, we enter into the "mediocre zone". With our basic necessities met, there is not always a need to push for more. I mean, what else do we need besides love, food, water, shelter and an income? To a lot of people, not much. This is a stable, happy environment. But this benefit is also the curse. Most of the "middle class" falls into level three and never goes above it. This is okay, keep in mind. Many people have no desire to move up from level three, as there is no need to do so. But for those that do, level four awaits.

Level 4: Self-Esteem

Every person, no matter where they are or where they come from, needs some kind of recognition. Sometimes it is as simple as a "good job" or as complex as winning a Nobel Prize. We have invented a reward system based off of this principle. When we go through school, awards are given to those of us with the highest marks, another reward system. What this builds in, is an achievement platform for people to work from. Good work = good reward. Great work = great reward. 

This system doesn't hold true or fair in most cases, but that is not the important point here. The important point is the fact that in order to operate at level four, people need to feel a sense of accomplishment or respect. Usually this comes from parents, teachers or co-workers in the western world.

Considering that the percentage of people that are even able to operate at this level is very low, we can afford to be more specific. In order to be happy at this level, you must move up the proverbial ladder and feel a sense of confidence from the outside world. The primary reward that we receive is monetary compensation. To many people at this level, a higher paycheck means you are better than someone with a lower paycheck. This simple principle of feeling confidence from the outside is the reason that level four candidates will never be remarkable. They are too worried about what other people think and not worried enough about what they think. It's the difference between extrinsic motivation vs intrinsic motivation. 

People at level four make up most of the corporate world. They are the lawyers, doctors, dentists, accountants, management consultants, etc... Most of these people have higher paychecks but a lower impact factor. The same goes for any career field out there.  Understanding the transition to level five is the key to becoming remarkable.

Level 5: Peak Performance

Awesome! You have reached level five. You are now allowed to shoot for the stars. You represent 0.0001% of the population. You have a stable living environment, are making a good living, have good relationships, have great self-confidence and now you have something else. You have a purpose.

Purpose is a tricky word because it is tossed around a lot in personal development circles. But purpose is just another word for intrinsic motivation, drive, reason, etc... We don't need to over-complicate it right now. For our example, we are going to say that purpose is less of a philosophical thing and more goal-driven.

Say you have the goal, or purpose, of becoming the best ballet dancer in your country. You are able to pursue this goal because you live in a very modern city with access to one of the best dance schools in the world. Your parents are financially stable, so they can easily afford to send you to this school and provide you with the emotional support that you need in order to succeed. Your instructors and mentors make sure that your self-esteem is always really high and that you always keep your goal in mind. You are not training to become the best in your class, you are training to become the best in your country.

In order to unlock this peak performance, or achieve your goal, you must put in a lot of dedicated practice (we will talk more about this later) as well as have a competitive edge on the competition. There is a wide array of factors that must be met in order to become remarkable at what you do. And this is the challenge. 

Understand that when we look at the pyramid, one must be at a level five in order to have a chance of becoming remarkable. You can move up or down the ladder, depending on your actions. But there is another set of factors that we have not talked about that is equally, if not more important. Let's look at those now.

Nature vs Nurture: The Battle of Genetics

Naturevsnurture

A debate that rages in the entrepreneurship world is that of nature vs nurture. We even wrote a post about it a while back. But thinking that it only applies to entrepreneurship is very narrow-minded and unwise. The fact is - one of the most important things to think about is the makeup of ourselves. Why are we the way that we are? It's an interesting question.

Look at the image above. On one side of the pendulum you have nature, on the other nurture. The pendulum swings according to your strength, on one side rather than the other. Over the course of history, scientists have argued that one side of the pendulum is more important than the other, and thus we have created one of the most interesting philosophical questions of our time. But it is more than that. I believe that understanding how nature or nurture plays into your life and the lives of others is the key to understanding how to become remarkable. And it all begins with your genes.

Nature (Hereditary Genes)

23chromosomes

At the end of the day, the way you talk, walk, see, hear, breathe, sleep, think and act is unique. There is no other single person on this planet that operates in the same capacity as you do. This is an amazing thing to understand. Immediately you must recognize that your hereditary genes are what makes you, you. And this is due to the human genome, our set of code that makes us unique.

Now apart from our physical features and senses, the human genome can help us understand how we can become remarkable. Our ability to intrinsically throw a baseball, run a race, paint a portrait, sing a song, write a story or give a public speech is somehow built into this genome. Don't believe me? Take a look at child prodigies. These are children whose genes are "stronger" in some areas than others. The ability to open your mouth and sing opera is more a function of your genes than it is your environment. There are many natural abilities that we may have, all due to our hereditary genes.

Natural ability is something that is good to understand. Many of us force ourselves into careers or tasks that we are not naturally strong in. Why? Maybe we were advised to? Understanding that you have natural abilities based on your genome gives you a massive advantage over those who don't. But how does your genome do this? What makes you better at some things than others?

The answer lies in your 20,000-25,000 genes that make up your personal genome. The simplest way to understand the genome is to picture each gene like a "switch". Some of these switches are on, and some are off. For example, when someone is colour-blind, it simply means that the genes that recognize colour are turned "off". I believe the same is true for passions and talents. If your "athletic" or "mathematical" genes are turned off, or partly turned off, there is no chance of you becoming remarkable in those fields. But generally when one set of genes are turned off, an opposing gene is turned on. That is why so many people that are poor at science and math are very good in the arts, and vice-versa.

When we realize that out of the 20-25,000 genes, our combination is unique, you can understand how important the "nature" aspect of nature vs nurture is. I believe that half of whatever you are trying to become remarkable at, whether it be a great lawyer or dancer, is dependent on your genes. And fortunately, or unfortunately, you are born with them. So we have to learn to "unlock" what I like to call hidden genes.

Nurture (Your Environment)

 

Hidden genes are a special type of gene (not technically, just in this blog's context) that are responsible for you becoming remarkable at something. Picture these genes like dormant volcanoes. They are just sitting there, not alive and not dead, amongst the other 20-25,000 genes in your genome. But instead of being turned "on" or "off", they are dormant, ready to be activated. All they need is something external to make them turn on.

This is where environment comes in. While we can't do anything about our genes, since we are given them during conception, we can do something about our environment. While we cannot choose our parents, we can choose a wide variety of other things. We can choose what high school to go to, what friends to have, what to read, what to watch on TV, what to eat, what music to listen to, what video games to play, what healthy or unhealthy activities to partake in, what university to attend, what job to take, who we date, who we marry and how we raise our kids. Wow. We have a lot of choices to make in life. 

Imagine that along your journey in life, while flipping channels, you happen to stumble upon a show about welding. Knowing very little about welding, you would normally just keep flipping. But something catches your attention. Your interest is piqued. And so you keep watching, listening with intent. The show covers all aspects of what it is like to be a welder, the art of welding and some of the most famous welders . In a matter of 30 minutes, your outlook on the world has changed. You are enthralled with the world of welding. 

What happened? Why do we flip through so many channels, ignoring almost everything? And yet, when and if we hit one topic that we find interesting, our attention is transfixed. To me, this is the result of your "welding" hidden genes being activated. This is the power of what our environment can do when it comes to helping us become remarkable. 

There is a lot more I could talk about when it comes to environment, especially the roles our parents play and the effect they have on their child's success. But I believe that is for another post. This post is dedicated to understanding how to become remarkable at something. We now know that in order to have a chance of becoming remarkable, we must be:

  • At a level five in the pyramid - finding our purpose and having all of the other levels of the pyramid covered are a pre-requisite
  • Understand what "genes" we are strong in, and what we are weak in. There is no point in pursuing your passion when you are simply not good at it. This will never result in becoming world-class.
  • Put ourselves in situations that allow for our environment to "activate" our "hidden genes". This can be done through parenting, school, the Internet, reading, being mentored, etc...

But there is one more thing we must talk about when it comes to becoming remarkable. All of the things we have talked about up until this point were about unlocking the ability to become remarkable. Now we are at that point. We have found our passion, unlocked our hidden genes, are in the right environment and are at the top of the pyramid. Now what?

I mentioned the phrase dedicated practice before. Now I am going to go into it, in a bit more detail.

Dedicated Practice (the 10,000 hour rule)

Both Talent Is Overrated, as well as Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, cover this rule in great detail. I won't go into it in great detail, just more of an overview. For a more in-depth review, check out this blog post. Also, check out this video from Malcolm talking about the 10,000 hour rule and how it applies to becoming remarkable.

What is interesting about dedicated practice is how different it is from normal practice. We have all heard of the saying "practice makes perfect" but this is actually incorrect. The correct statement is actually "perfect practice makes perfect". 

The idea of dedicated practice is that we have to constantly push ourselves to be better at what our craft is. Dedicated practice is about going to bed each night having learned more than you did that morning. It's about pushing your boundaries, making life difficult for yourself. Dedicated practice is usually not fun. And that's why many people don't do it.

Think about dedicated practice as extra things you need to do, beyond what is deemed necessary. Pretend for a second that you are a football player. Practice is what happens when you throw and catch the ball with your teammates.This practice is part of the game, expected and necessary, and trains you for game time. Dedicated practice is the work you put in off the field that makes the huge difference. Conditioning, weight training, eating, studying game tape, etc... The most remarkable football players are not the best pure athletes. They are the best dedicated athletes. This is an important distinction.

--

Dedicated practice is something you need to do in order to learn and perfect your craft. Only by putting in the time, competing hard and reaching a higher level of achievement can you become world-class (keep in mind there are exceptions to this all over the place, but this is a general blanket over training and success). 

Everything we talked about today will help us to better understand what makes remarkable people remarkable. This is a topic that could easily fill a few books, because of the enormous complexity of humans. But by better understanding how to unlock our passions, we can aim to become amazing at what we do. At any point in our lives we can choose to pursue greatness. And remember, if the remarkable people in your industry can achieve greatness, Sokanu.