The Talent Code

Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How.

Daniel Coyle | 4.34 | 20,395 ratings and reviews

Recommended by Rupert Murdoch, Peter Attia, Jason Fried, and 7 others. See all reviews

Ranked #7 in Violin, Ranked #17 in Sports Psychology — see more rankings.

What is the secret of talent? How do we unlock it? In this groundbreaking work, journalist and New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle provides parents, teachers, coaches, businesspeople—and everyone else—with tools they can use to maximize potential in themselves and others.

Whether you're coaching soccer or teaching a child to play the piano, writing a novel or trying to improve your golf swing, this revolutionary book shows you how to grow talent by tapping into a newly discovered brain mechanism.

Drawing on cutting-edge neurology and firsthand research gathered on journeys to nine of the world's talent hotbeds—from the baseball fields of the Caribbean to a classical-music academy in upstate New York—Coyle identifies the three key elements that will allow you to develop your gifts and optimize your performance in sports, art, music, math, or just about anything.

• Deep Practice--Everyone knows that practice is a key to success. What everyone doesn't know is that specific kinds of practice can increase skill up to ten times faster than conventional practice.

• Ignition--We all need a little motivation to get started. But what separates truly high achievers from the rest of the pack? A higher level of commitment—call it passion—born out of our deepest unconscious desires and triggered by certain primal cues. Understanding how these signals work can help you ignite passion and catalyze skill development.

• Master Coaching--What are the secrets of the world's most effective teachers, trainers, and coaches? Discover the four virtues that enable these "talent whisperers" to fuel passion, inspire deep practice, and bring out the best in their students.

These three elements work together within your brain to form myelin, a microscopic neural substance that adds vast amounts of speed and accuracy to your movements and thoughts. Scientists have discovered that myelin might just be the holy grail: the foundation of all forms of greatness, from Michelangelo's to Michael Jordan's. The good news about myelin is that it isn't fixed at birth; to the contrary, it grows, and like anything that grows, it can be cultivated and nourished.

Combining revelatory analysis with illuminating examples of regular people who have achieved greatness, this book will not only change the way you think about talent, but equip you to reach your own highest potential. less

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Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The Talent Code from the world's leading experts.

Peter Attia Founder/Attia Medical[One of] the books I’ve read the most. (Source)

Rupert Murdoch CEO/News CorporationGreat reading. The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle. Forget genes! Greatness isn't born, it's grown - the hard way. (Source)

Jason Fried Co-Founder/BasecampHighly recommend reading The Talent Code. Wonderful book w/ great insights. (Source)

Bill Liao The human world occurs in language so best get good at it! (Source)

Virginia LeBlanc Question: What books had the biggest impact on you? Perhaps changed the way you see things or dramatically changed your career path. Answer: The Art of War by Sun Tzu Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, M.D. Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle Divergent series by Veronica Roth A mash up, I know…some simple others profound but just as important, eye-opening, and affirming. These and so many more helped change how I see things, my thinking and being, and helped to understand... (Source)

Dan Pink Recommends this book

Bogdan Lucaciu Greatness can be cultivated through deep practice, ignition and master coaching. (Source)

Rankings by Category

The Talent Code is ranked in the following categories:

#64 in Anatomy
#39 in Coaching
#62 in Discipline
#38 in Learning
#67 in Negotiation
#61 in Personal Branding
#31 in Recruiting
#40 in Studying
#84 in Success

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