An analysis of the activities of world-class stars — from Olympic athletes to Nobel laureates — showed that those who did not choose a narrow field of activity too early achieved greater results.
Illustrative photo. Photo: Catherine Falls / Getty Images
A new study has shown that children with early achievements in sports and music usually do not become stars in adulthood.
The results of an analysis of thousands of adults in the fields of sports, music, academic science, and chess indicate that world-class performers — Olympic champions, renowned composers, Nobel laureates — often do not stand out in the early stages of life.
According to an article in the journal Science, only 10% of children with high early results went on to become elite-level adults. Most young talents lost their top status during their peak productivity period, and most outstanding adults did not stand out in childhood.
"There are those child prodigies who later become world-class performers during their peak productivity period," says Arne Güllich, a professor of sports sciences at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau in Germany and co-author of the study. "But this is the exception, not the rule."
Researchers defined peak years — the age when a person achieves the highest results: from 20 to 30 years for sports and chess, and an older average age, from 40 to 50 years, for science and music.
The results were consistent across all fields, based on data from nearly 35,000 adults from about two dozen previously published studies.
The analysis challenges the notion that success is achieved through a large number of hours of early, narrow, specialized training — a notion partly reinforced by the growth of elite competitive programs into which children are enrolled today for sports and other activities.
Ideas such as the "10,000-hour rule," popularized by author Malcolm Gladwell, often serve as a guide for coaches, athletes, and parents. This rule states that a person needs about 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery.
"Based on these ideas, many people make decisions concerning themselves and their children. For example, they start lessons early with a child in a particular sport or musical instrument in the hope of raising the next Tiger Woods or Yo-Yo Ma," says Brooke Macnamara, a researcher of human performance at Purdue University and co-author of the Science study.
The analysis showed that adult world-class performers engaged in diverse activities in their youth — they spent less time practicing in their primary discipline but dedicated more time to other pursuits.
Güllich formulates the main conclusion: encourage children to develop diverse interests rather than specializing too early.
It is optimal to engage in two additional areas besides the main discipline, he added. "This means you don't need to do as much as possible, for example, trying every musical instrument."
Developing diverse interests increases the chances of finding something you enjoy and in which you will succeed. And exposure to multiple activities in childhood can make a person a more adaptable learner in later life.
According to the researchers, excessive specialization at a young age also increases the risk of emotional burnout and overuse injuries, and in the long term, it is difficult to maintain achievements and health.
"The peak for many leading junior athletes comes too early," Macnamara noted.
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