The Making of Greatness, Part 1
WARNING! Spoilers for Hikaru no Go
“Greatness isn’t born. Greatness is made.”
I’ve often seen such assertions made in the tag lines of motivational speaking programs and self-help books, who endlessly extol the virtues of hard work and self-application, and applaud the accomplishments of self-made men and women. All great achievers share in common the characteristics of bold initiative, strong work ethic, and exceptional talent. But how much of this grand narrative is accurate, and what important details are hidden beneath the tall tales of self-actualization?
That is the question Malcolm Gladwell poses in his latest book Outliers. He profiles stories of success, from elite athletes to billionaire company chairmen to famous musicians to history changing scientists, investigating their upbringing and social environments, and discovers hidden advantages common among these great achievers. I’ll let you read the book for yourselves for the accounts of their stories, but this being an anime/culture blog I think it’s appropriate to talk about an anime. Hikaru no Go falls in the shounen sports tournament tradition but eschews crazy superpowers and overreactions for a focused and realistic approach to the game of Go and its players. By applying Outliers‘ perspective to the protagonist, Hikaru Shindo, I’ll show that his success is not solely achieved through his effort alone, nor an accident or miracle of “innate talent”, but a concerted effort of a whole community of people that supported, nurtured, and directed Hikaru’s interest in the game.
If Hikaru Shindo were a real person of historical interest, a great many books would be written about him. An opening paragragh to one of these historical scripts might go like this:
As a 5th grade boy, Hikaru began cultivating an interest in Go, a traditional East Asian board game where two players place black and white stones on the gridded board to surround and control as much territory as possible. He quickly immersed himself into the game and developed remarkable talent for it, transcended the skill level of his school Go club, gained enrollment in the competitive Insei program (school for young Go players aiming to turn professional), and eventually passed the grueling pro examination, accomplishing all this only two years after he first picked up his first stones. With no formal teaching or special family support, friends and rivals marveled at his lightning quick ascension and acknowledged his natural genius for the game to explain Hikaru’s meteoric rise in the Go world.
But that isn’t the whole story.
A truly haunting tutor
Outliers teaches us that to look for a different truth hidden in the details. The audience of the anime already knows Hikaru’s biggest secret: In 5th grade he encountered a ghost named Sai, a centuries dead Go teacher and possibly one of the greatest Go players of all time. Sai “possessed” Hikaru so that only the boy could see him, and Sai became Hikaru’s omnipresent mentor and friend. They spent many evenings after school playing Go and Shindo’s interest in the game grew exponentially.
Already we see a stupendous supernatural advantage to explain the boy’s Go strength. However, Shindo just plays for fun and often lets Sai play (and crush) other opponents. A chance meeting at a Go salon sets the boy on the path of Go excellence; he meets Akira Toya, a boy Hikaru’s age with tremendous (and naturally developed) Go skill. After a couple other encounters, so impressed is Hikaru with Akira’s intensity and dedication, that his own passion was ignited and strived to someday face Toya on equal terms. The rivalry spurns each to push on to greater and greater heights.
Daunting competition
Here are two extraordinary influences, sprouted from two chance encounters, that shaped Hikaru’s early Go career. With Sai’s guidance and the beckoning of a worthy rival, the boy explores numerous avenues for playing Go: afterschool activities include attending beginner Go classes, rebuilding his school’s Go club, reading Go periodicals, playing at Go salons, and studying in the Insei program. Weekends are spent visiting Go exhibitions, playing tournaments, and visiting the Go Association. He spends every day of summer vacation at a public library computer playing opponents online. Hikaru has a thirst for all things Go, and luckily his community is only too happy to satisfy. On top of all the activities listed before, he and Sai still play at home every evening. It might be a conservative estimate to say he plays Go at least 4 hours every day. Now that’s a number we can make some use of.
Outliers examines practice time as a forecaster of ability. Among skills varied as playing a sport, computer programming, or performing music, the book finds nearly perfect correlation between amount of lifetime practice and success. Of particular interest is the number 10,000, the number of hours of practice that Outliers estimates is required for mastery of a complex skill set. “Practice” means focused, single-minded activity towards improvement, usually compiled over a 10 year period. If we apply Hikaru Shindo’s 4 hours of daily play and study across the two years between when Hikaru started to when he attained pro status:
4 hours X 365 days X 2 years = 2920 hours
Argh! Math!!
A modest initial estimate yields an astounding 3000 hours of practice! Also note that Hikaru’s quality of practice is stellar; he has best possible teacher with centuries of wisdom willing to play at any time, and is pushed by the fiercest competition, Sai himself, the Insei, and the specter of Akira. From practice alone he’s well on the way to world-class expertise. (I actually believe I’m underestimating Hikaru’s practice time; Sai even remarks once that Hikaru’s development is slow considering how often he plays!)
A brilliant instructor, the motivating flames of rivalry, and good ol’ fashioned hard work are meaningful pieces of this puzzle, but this picture of a phenomenon isn’t yet complete. Since this post is nearing 1000 words and has plenty already to digest, I’ll end Part 1 here. Comments, questions, qualifications, crushing criticisms? I welcome them. Next time we’ll look closer at the role of Hikaru’s family in his development as a Go player, the social connections that paved the path, and the cost of pursuing greatness.
Luck.
Fortune is what allows for the assemblage of such a cast, nay, a community of characters that made tremendous contributions to our protagonist.
Self-help literature too often over-sells the role of individual effort as a key determinant of success, especially since the effort must mean the adherence to the peddled advice (be it in the form of habits, irrefutable laws, rules, etc).
Most of these books suffer (knowingly or not) from survivor bias. They fail to account for all the unsuccessful people who followed the same advice, adhered to the same rules, and practiced the same habits.
While I enjoyed reading Gladwell’s Outliers, I think you’d find Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Fooled by Randomness, and The Black Swan even more insightful (and perhaps more rigorous or at least theoretically sound).
I like where this is going. The finite examination of a ‘numbers game’ is a solid item to make basis off of. I am familiar with the series and realize how much time Hikaru does put into play and practice, but I never considered that he possibly doesn’t have some special quality about him, but I think that can be attributed to luck alone; the pieces fall into place.
Now, with what ghostlighting mentioned, “Self-help literature too often over-sells the role of individual effort as a key determinant of success”
This theme or wonderment has been dawning on me recently, and I’ve always been a believer that we have the most control over our lives, and that is the only thing which matters… but sadly, I’m realizing it isn’t. Our environment and relations play such huge catalysts in our game, that it’s actually rather selfish to think ‘we can do it all ourselves, we write our own destiny, we make the changes’ … We may be driving the bus, but we aren’t the bus, nor the road, nor the city. Sometimes we need catalysts to stimulate direction.
I shall ponder this perspective some more. Looking forward to this series. ^^
Cheers
Personally I despise self-help books just because of the bullshit that they usually spew, but I am a believer in the idea that anyone can rise up by themselves to become successful. I generally view self-help books as motivation in disguise. If someone reads a self-help book, then they usually feel inadequate themselves to take on the task themselves, and a self-help books provides the motivation for them to do so.
But the problem that you point out in all this is a lack of any true passion for what they’re doing. For Hikaru, that passion comes from a variety of sources, and though his passion may come from numerous external sources, there are just as many people who can find true passion from other sources, or perhaps even an internal source. I look forward to reading the rest of this!
The 10000 hour value seems to pop up in several places. As a vague estimate of how long it takes to master something, it isn’t often disputed. It’s one of those figures that backs up the idea that hard work is an important ingredient for achieving something great.
I can’t say I’m an expert on self-help books, since I’ve never read any, but I do think motivation is an incredibly important factor in achieving greatness, and I’ve recently become a fan of Daniel Pink’s idea that the three conditions that aid motivation are autonomy, mastery and purpose. Interesting, he talks about them from an external point of view, as an employer wanting to maximize the productivity of his employees.
@ghostlightning
To put my overarching argument in not as many words, essentailly yes. Luck and circumstance get glossed over in the lore of success that people want to weave; instead they should acknowledge such advantages exist and use that knowledge to fix arbitrary systems of advantage where they can.
Admittedly I haven’t read either of Taleb’s works, so that’s something to do. I realize Outliers isn’t rigorously satisfying as scientific theory, but I liked the narrative style he employed, so much I attempted to repurpose it to talk about anime here.
@RyanA
The advantage of talking about Hikaru no Go is because its so realistic in nearly every aspect of player development and community, no doubt helped by the oversight of real Go professionals and basing the story around real life institutions.
It’s also unique in that Hikaru never develops crazy abilities or skills no one else can reproduce. He can memorize a game early on, but it’s not such a special skill because many high level players can do so. I do think Hikaru is unique in one way that’s the same for all great achievers, but that’s something I’m saving for later installments
@Mystlord
One of the most important keys to success are opportunities. What people do with their opportunities is important, but its also important to acknowledge that not all people get the same opportunities.
Think of all the other people who met and played Akira Toya in that Go salon, but how many of them turned that experience into unfaltering motivation for improvement? That’s his real power.
@Sorrow-kun
I think it’s fair to qualify that 10,000 hours is a good rule for already established and explored disciplines, but one needs considerably less time in a new field ripe for discoveries. Think nuclear physics during the early last century. One only needed to tinker around a bit with a chemistry set to discover something new and find “success”. As the field became more developed, you needed more study and work to discover further insight; literally climbing up the shoulders of giants.
Outliers touched on a similar keys that are in common among what most people consider “good” work: autonomy, purpose, and a clear correlation between effort and success. Motivation is all in the head, and money just complicates matters. I guess it’s the job of employers, managers, and motivators in general.
@kadian1364
Oh don’t get me wrong. Gladwell has many detractors, but I’m not one of them. The guy can write. His essays read very well and make almost anything interesting AND accessible. You may find HIS essays on Taleb quite good reads as well.