

What hackers can learn from Djokovic - sshrin
http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2011-07.html#e2011-07-03T13_16_19.htm

======
nikcub
and for those of you who complain about being born outside of the USA, or
living outside of the valley - Djokovic grew up practicing tennis in empty
swimming pools in Belgrade while the city was being bombed by Nato and the
entire region was at war

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.

------
mirkules
I read that Djokovic chalks up his awesome winning streak to a change in diet,
particularly a no-wheat diet (I think he said he was allergic).

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)

~~~
espeed
Feynman would probably say establish a rock solid base, fill in the gaps in
your understanding, and explore all of the components surrounding your areas
of interest (e.g. read the sources cited in the footnotes :-).

"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...](http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/04/08/how-richard-feynman-
thought/)).

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>).

------
deadmansshoes
Strangely no mention of his new gluten-free diet as a factor, which has
apparently led to increased strength and new-found boundless energy.

~~~
briguy
While this blog post is well written and has a good point, I have seen several
interviews with him and for some reason, every time the reporter quizzes him
on the effects his new Diet/Fitness have had on his tennis, he is very quick
to change the direction of the interview to his actual play. It is either
something personal (perhaps change of diet does not give much street cred) or
some PR person telling him, however it is quite obvious that he is trying to
direct the public opinion........I have no basis for this, however it almost
feels like his nutritionist was doing a bunch of interviews taking all the
credit and when everyone started asking him for comment he feels compelled to
take the credit back.

~~~
Someone
An explanation could be that it is not a good idea for sportsmen to say that
they improved rapidly after a diet change. It is very easy to get associated
with a rumor of being 'liberal' in diet choice, but almost impossible to get
rid of it.

Because of that, diet, although an essential part of one's preparations, is
best avoided as an interview subject.

------
espeed
Bravo. Well said! I especially liked "Learn a new language, or a new paradigm,
and change how you see the world."

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."

------
svec
Djokovic said "hard work" was behind his success several times while taking to
McEnroe. So his few percent here and there were not easy to come by, but
obviously well with it.

~~~
svec
Oops. Typo, that should read: "...obviously well worth it."

