What hackers can learn from Djokovic
cs.uni.edu
cs.uni.edu
his parents bankrupted themselves multiple times and borrowed money from anywhere they could, including the mafia, to support him and to get him on a tennis court and into a camp in Germany.
But more to the point, I don't necessarily think that making small improvements in my "game" are going to make much of a difference because I know that I'm nowhere near the top of my game, in any aspect of life. I'll strive to be better at any rate.
But the real question for me is what to concentrate on? Do I improve my current skills and get even better at it, or do I spend my time going over weak areas, to bring up my "average" of knowledge? The answer is it depends on whether I want to be generalist or an expert at a few things. Figuring that out is half the battle.
Edit: to tie it back to the tennis analogy, it's probably better to improve ALL aspects of one's game, like Nole, than to be a specialist like Roddick (great serve, but not much else)
"It's not quite true that Feynman could not accept an idea until he had torn it apart. Rather, the idea could not yet be part of his way of thinking and looking at the world. Before an idea could contribute to that worldview, Feynman wanted to turn over the idea, to see why it was true, from any angle that he could find...In other words, he wanted to connect a new idea to what he already understood and thereby extend his understanding" (http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/04/08/how-richard-feynman-t...).
Feynman wanted to understand problem from all angles and understand why something was true, not just that it merely was true. His approach resulted in a tight mental framework that enabled him to connect new ideas and build upon insights from the outside in -- breadth before depth (see http://jamesthornton.com/blog/how-to-get-to-genius).
Watch this TED talk by Sal Khan, the founder of the Khan academy, to see how filling in gaps of understanding can significantly accelerate your rate of progress (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM95HHI4gLk).
1. Confidence
2. Diet
3. Skills
he used to be depressed about playing the same era as Federer / Nadal but he realized late last year that he can beat these guys, and has rarely set a foot wrong since. The diet helped build his stamina, but most of the games this year stamina hasn't played a part (I would say the final in Miami was an exception).
he always had the skills - before this streak he was able to beat Nadal and Federer. I think it just came down to being confident enough to knowing he can do it all the time. He is also tactically the most brilliant player I have ever seen, but that has always been the case as well.
In short he stopped being a bitch
Because of that, diet, although an essential part of one's preparations, is best avoided as an interview subject.
I believe the key to life lies in your ability to continually change how you see the world. To continually expand your perspective, grow with epiphany, and raise your level of awareness. As Alan Kay is fond of saying, "A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points."