“There have been many studies of elite performers — international violinists, chess grand masters, professional ice-skaters, mathematicians, and so forth — and the biggest difference researchers find between them and lesser performers is the cumulative amount of deliberative practice they’ve had. Indeed, the most important talent may be the talent for practice itself...the most important way in which innate factors play a role may be in one’s willingness to engage in sustained training...top performers dislike practicing just as much as others do. (That’s why, for example, athletes and musicians usually quit practicing when they retire.) But more than others, they have the will to keep at it anyway.”


Atul Gawande, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes On An Imperfect Science

TODAY'S WORD

Bouffage: A satisfying meal; from Old French bouffer to swell. Any meat that, eaten greedily, fills the mouth, and makes the cheeks swell.

Tonight my wife cooked lamb in a mustard sauce. It was quite a bouffage!