How to be an expert

Good post!

It does however contains some potential misconceptions. Your brain does grow new neurons when you are old, but at a scale rather trivial compared to kids. Don't count on thse new neurons to hold your newly-mastered skill. They will not make you a native speaker of a new language.

Skill is developed by wiring, rewiring, and more rewiring, which for us mortals, per Ericsson, means "deliberate practice". If you work hard, you have a stab of reaching awesomehood. If you don't work hard, you are guaranteed to suck. The risks/benefits are clear. Work hard.

The problem is, some people's brains wire faster than others. And when speed is all the concern, some others are quickly deterred from attempting what they may eventually excel at. I think this is a problem of the education system. schools with big resources don't do as much to create experts as they do to attract them. /semi-rant

Basically, do anything, keep learning and expanding on it and you'll be an expert in the field relative to most others you work with. Do it with something you love and you'll come out on top.

I'd love to see a salary polling site that mashed wages over time with a person's level of interest in the job and time spent learning and training more on the subject.

"...schools with big resources don't do as much to create experts as they do to attract them."

You said a mouthful! Just imagine all our schools did just the opposite? Where they focused on helping people become experts and where recruiting was a foreign concept. How different would things be? It's a compelling idea.