After reading part 1 of ‘Talent is overrated, Hard Work is Not,’ I hope you have noticed that the connection of being successful in any particular field is due to the environment, the upbringing and the person itself.
Have you heard of the famous educational psychologist and chess teacher named Laszlo Polgar? He is the father of the famous Polgar sisters: Zsuzsa, Zsofia, and Judit. What is so special about him you might wonder? Polgar studied intelligence when he was a university student; he went through biographies of hundreds of life stories about geniuses and formed the conclusion that these geniuses were not born, but educated and trained since young.
As a result, he became a strong advocate of hard work. When the girls were at the age of four, official chess training commenced for them. They were home schooled and from their own testimonies, they never found chess to be boring. They found it very exciting and looked forward to their chess practice each day. Their father, Polgar, had internalised their inner motivation and sparked their curiosity to learn more about chess and made it a point for his girls to have purposeful practices.
In August 1981, Zsuzsa won the world title for girls under sixteen at the age of twelve. Less than two years later, in July 1984, she became the top-rated female chess player in the world. In January 1991, she became the first woman player in history to reach the status of a Grandmaster. In 1980, Zsofia won the Under Eleven Hungarian Championship for girls at the age of five. She went on to win the gold medal at the World Under Fourteen Championships in 1986 and numerous gold medals in chess Olympiads and other prestigious championships.
In 1988, Judit won the World Under Twelve Championships in Romania. It was the first time in history where a female won an overall world championship. Three years later in 1991, Judit became the youngest ever Grandmaster in history.
This whole idea reflects back on this quote, “Give a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime.” Polgar had imbued and taught his children about hard work, and I believe in teaching our children and even ourselves that hard work pays off and is rewarding. Polgar had taught his daughters well, and I too understand that probably not all parents have the time or know the techniques on how to train their children to be a genius. Therefore, the least we can do is to educate them about hard work, perseverance, and tenacity.