Episode Details

How do we get talented?

Part 2 of "How To Get Talented" is a bit of a shocker.

You realise that talent is only the stuff you can't do. If everyone can do what you can, then it's not really a talent.

Ok, so that's the spoiler, but listen or read anyway.

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In this episode Sean talks about

Part 1: Pattern recognition and energy Part 2: How can you achieve a ton of talents Part 3: Is all talent inborn?

Read online: https://www.psychotactics.com/three-definitions-talent/

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Definition No.2: Talent is merely high speed pattern recognition.

What is 11 x 13? 143.

What is 11 x 27? Yes, it's 297.

And just for good measure, what's 11 x 45? If you said 495 in a flash, you'd have the right answer.

However, the chances are you were slightly flummoxed by the questions

You could clearly see that we were dealing with the 11 times table, but it made no sense whatsoever when you had to multiply these random two digit numbers with 11. And yet a 10-year-old could do it quite quickly. I know this to be true because I teach willing 10-year-olds this simple maths trick.

Let's start at the top, okay?

First, let's look at the numbers. What's 2 + 7? OK, so take that 9 and stick in the centre, of the 2 and 7. What number do you get? Sure it's 2-9-7. Now, what's 11 x 27? It's 2-9-7.

Confused? My brain took a little time to work out the system as well

So let's take a simpler example where you already know the answer. What's 11 x 12? It's 132, right? So what we did was take the 1 + 2, and we got 3. We stuck that number 3 in between the 1 and the 2. And we got 1-3-2.

Okay, so what's 11 x 44? 4 + 4 = 8. So that's 484.

What's 11 x 33? 3 + 3 = 6. So it's 363.

Once you have the pattern, you can pretty much multiply any two digit number by 11 and get an answer in seconds

And what you've done is acquire a talent. An witty-bitty talent, but a talent nonetheless. And the way we've gone about it is to isolate the pattern and then roll it out slowly. At this point, your brain can figure out the pattern no matter what two digit number you multiply with 11.

A similar concept applies to just about any skill

Take drawing for example. Many, if not most of us, say we draw like a six-year-old. And you know what? You're right. You draw like a six-year-old because you stopped drawing when you were six. You can walk into any school on the planet, and you'll find that kids love drawing.

Give them a set of crayons, chalk, even a piece of coal, and they'll be drawing endlessly. But ask them to do maths or grammar, and they look at you like you're a banana.

However, that kid gets a packed lunch and is sent off to school. The years whizz by and those kids are 10. Ask them about grammar, or multiplication tables, and they can give you pretty solid answers. But ask them to draw and notice what happens. They draw like six-year-olds.

Talent is about pattern recognition

Those kids were given patterns that involved algebra and grammar, and so they picked up on those patterns. Music? Arts? Clay modeling? All the stuff they did right at the start? Well, that's for babies, isn't it? And this is how we go about life. We learn or are given patterns, and we dump the others. Or at least put them in cold storage. Some patterns are crucial, so we keep refining them.

Take eating with a spoon, for instance.

When you were a year old, trying to get a spoon full of mashed potato from the plate to your mouth was a major issue. Given a chance to "do your own thing" the potato mash would be partly on your face, on the ground and the dining room floor would look like a potato war zone.

Now you're able to use a fork, knife and conduct a conversation while trying to look up Facebook on