Wikipedia records Bobby Fischer’s achievements as follows: Robert James “Bobby” Fischer was the eleventh world chess champion. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer’s achievements are legendary. At 13, he won a brilliance that became known as the Game of the Century. Starting at age 14, he played in eight US Championships, each winning by at least one point. At 15 and a half years old, he became the youngest Grandmaster and the youngest World Championship Candidate up to that time. He won the 1963-64 US championship 11-0, the only perfect score in tournament history. In the early 1970s, he became the most dominant player in modern history, winning the 1970 Interzonal by a record 3½-point margin and winning 20 straight games, including two unprecedented 6-0 sweeps in the Matches. of Candidates. According to research by Jeff Sonas, by 1971 Fischer had separated himself from the rest of the world by a greater margin of playing skill than any other player since the 1870s. He became the first official FIDE world number one chess player in July 1971, and its total of 54 months at number one is the third longest of all time.
Just like Bobby Fischer, Micheal Jordan was also a phenomenal achiever. By acclaim, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Jordan was one of the most marketed athletes of his generation and was instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. He quickly emerged as a star in the league, entertaining crowds with his prolific annotation. His jumping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames “Air Jordan” and “His Airness of Him”. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that up with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a “triple win.” Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the start of the 1993-94 NBA season to pursue a baseball career, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997 and 1998), as well as to an NBA championship. record 72 regular season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season.
The hallmark of people like Bobby Fischer, Michael Jordan, and other phenomenal achievers is that they always delivered great performances. Although the field of competitive sports offered a simple example, every field of human endeavor is replete with examples of phenomenal achievers. Phenomenal people are people who can deliver. This ability to deliver phenomenal results even against all odds is what sets phenomenal people apart. What makes some people perform at a superlative level week after week when others languish on the shallow shores of mediocrity? In this issue we will examine the anatomy of phenomenal success.
NO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS
The first thing that needs to be boldly underlined is that there is no overnight success. Although the likes of Bobby Fischer, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods became household names at very young ages, statistics show that they had already racked up enormous hours of practice and competitive action before pulling off their stunts. Record books show that by the age of thirteen, Bobby Fischer had already played more chess than most grandmasters. Tiger Woods was introduced to the world of competitive golf at a young age. Scientists have devised what has been called the ten-year rule. In a nutshell, they posit that it takes ten years of quality practice for anyone to achieve expert status in any field. However, the ten year rule assumes that one is putting in at least two hours of quality practice in a day. What this means is that if you dedicate yourself to practicing any skill of your choosing for at least two hours a day for ten years, by the time you reach the age of ten you will have reached a level of skill refinement associated with experts in that field. . If you spend two hours a day studying financial economics, or labor law, or South African history, or any other subject at the end of ten years, you will be world class in that particular field. By putting in eight hours a day where others put in two hours, you’ll be world class in just over two years. The trick is not the number of years, but the number of daily quality hours spent searching. One needs to be totally dedicated to achieve this.
APPROACH
The second parameter that separates mediocre from phenomenal is focus. Most mediocre people are wandering generalities, while phenomenal people are significant details. Most people make the mistake of spreading their efforts and resources across a wide range of activities, while the phenomenal ones focus on a specific agenda. Oprah does nothing but talk shows. Tiger Woods is all about golf. Bobby Fischer was totally devoted to chess and chess alone. Each of us has a certain area called a zone of excellence, which is the area where we tend to show the greatest promise of excellence. Instead of trying to be jacks of all trades, the phenomenal ones focus on their areas of excellence to the exclusion of all else.
Feed Back and Continuous Improvement
Mediocre people tend to examine their performance only when there are problems or failures. This is the post-mortem approach to feedback. However, the phenomenal seek continuous feedback. When they do well, they examine their performance to identify why they did well so they can replicate the success. When they fail, they also examine their performance so they can learn from the failures and avoid similar pitfalls. Phenomenals learn from both their successes and their failures, so they are able to minimize repeated mistakes while regularly reproducing successful performances. Excellence becomes a habit because they have designed their lives to allow them to consistently perform at the highest level.
