THE SCIENCE OF IMPROVEMENT
Inside the brain, neurons account for almost every class of mental phenomenon…memory, emotion, muscle control, sensory perception, and so on. But there ARE questions neurons can’t explain: Why does it take so long to learn complex skills? Why does it take so much practice to become great?
It turns out that this slow, patient persistence produces a white, pearlescent substance called myelin. Within that myelin, according to new research, lies the seed of talent.
Myelin is a sausage-shaped layer of dense fat that wraps around the nerve fibers. Myelin works the same way that rubber insulation works on a wire, keeping the signal strong by preventing electrical impulses from leaking out.
The myelin gets thicker when the nerve is repeatedly stimulated. The thicker the myelin gets, the better it insulates and the faster and more accurately the signals travel. Myelin controls the impulse speed, and impulse speed is crucial. The better we can control it, the better we can control the timing of our thoughts and movements, whether we’re running, reading, singing or, perhaps more to the point, hitting a wicked topspin backhand.
Scientists believe this myelin building through repeated activity is what separates the masses from the great athletes; the athletes’ neuronal pathways for their specific skills have been turned into superhighways.
Neurologists theorize that Myelin provides the common link between the Spartak kids, the Dominican baseball players and all the other hot spots on the talent map… a link all the more interesting for the fact that few people outside this branch of neurology know it even exists.
Put simply: Want to achieve greatness? Build More Myelin.
Inadvertently, this science is producing a very empowering message. There’s no cell type that geniuses have that the rest of us don’t. The problem isn’t our inadequate genes or lack of gifts but our inability, so far, to tap into what we already have.
Research shows that the uppermost achievers constantly redefine their own limits through repeated attempts to reach beyond their current level. In other words, they practice at their craft in way that doesn’t take no for an answer.
What they may not even know, is that the more they push themselves, the more myelin they build, and the more myelin they build, the more obstacles they overcome.
In a nutshell, our muscles and brain adapt to the demands we make of them.
Armed with this knowledge, many will realize that greatness is within reach. The question that has to be answered is, what are you willing to do to get there?
