has faded. Are you committed to the craft, or will you quit
when it gets too hard?
The ultimate goal of practice is to reach a state of what
K. Anders Ericsson calls “eminent performance,” when a
person goes “beyond the knowledge of their teachers to
make a unique innovative contribution to their domain.”^22
We all want to do something that we are good at, that the
world in some way recognizes, but the point of practice is
never just about skill acquisition. It’s about making a
contribution to the world. Which is why when we are in the
midst of pursuing our calling, we must not only ask if this is
something that we are good at, but if it is something good.
We need more than excellence to satisfy the deepest
longings of our souls.
Which should raise the question: Is it, perhaps, possible
to succeed at the wrong thing?
It is, indeed.
The Curious Case of
William Hung
If you were to do a Google search for “American Idol
rejects,” you would instantly retrieve a list of names that will
forever live in Internet infamy. Toward the top of that list
sits, of course, Stephanie Fisher, the awkward grad student