A study of 1,200 musicians showed that kids who had their destinies chosen for them were far more likely to quit later down the road.Įxploring Employment: What Season Are You In?īefore you start putting in the work to become a master at something, you need to explore long enough to find out what’s motivating you. However, an externally-imposed specialization is far less likely to be a good fit than one you choose for yourself. Eager parents try to get their kids to skip the era of exploration by choosing lifelong pursuits for them as early as possible-often a particular musical instrument or sport. Second, a period of exploration increases your chances of discovering a pursuit that’s a good fit for you-something that suits your inherent talents and that you’re excited about pursuing.Įxtending this idea, Epstein suggests that parents should nurture exploration in their children, allowing them to discover their own likes and dislikes. Despite arguments to the contrary, teaching kids chess or piano doesn’t somehow make them smarter in school.) Experience can transfer proportionally to the number of similar elements shared by two activities-near transfer is a valuable learning tool, but far transfer has been largely debunked. The former is near transfer while the latter is far transfer. You can use your experience with one musical instrument to help learn another, but it doesn’t make you better at math. Psychologists first distinguished between “near transfer” and “far transfer” of learning in 1923. (Shortform note: Science shows that there are limits to how far skills can transfer. The most exceptional students typically spread their practice time across three instruments. Instead, what set them apart was the number of instruments they knew how to play. Basic training in a wide range of activities teaches a unique kind of skillset-one founded on instincts and principles that apply across disciplines rather than habits that apply in only one context.Ī study conducted at a high-level music boarding school found that the highest-performing students didn’t practice more than others, took fewer formal lessons, didn’t start playing at a younger age, and didn’t even come from musical families. Musicians, entrepreneurs, and athletes alike benefit from a period of early exploration, for a couple of reasons.įirst, Epstein establishes the principle that broad learning teaches transferable skills. Stage 1: Explore and ExperimentĮpstein asserts that the first step to mastery is an era of exploration and experimentation with different activities-a “sampling period,” as he calls it. We’ll examine each of these life stages in turn. Instead of picking one skill and trying to stick with it for your whole life, Epstein suggests that you:

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