Laszlo Polgar is a father who raised his three daughters to be chess prodigies on purpose! He ran an experiment where he tried to establish that genius people are made, not born!
This article describes the experiment in more detail. To summarize:
- Hard work: You obviously need effort since you are trying to create genius, not rely on talent, not just from the three Polgar sisters, but from the father too who coached them.
- Deliberate Practice: It’s similar to the effort mentioned in #1 but more refined. Deliberate practice is about being conscious about how labor is invested behind the craft. Measuring and tracking your progress and being intentional about improvement.
- Specialization: Focus on one thing. It’s easier to be a genius at one thing than multiple things.
- Head start: The earlier you start the bigger the advantage you get from deliberate practice.
While the Polgar experiment has been successful at creating chess genius, it’s unclear if such results can be pulled off at any domain. It’s nonetheless an interesting experiment!