What is the basis of our success? Innate talent or effort? To answer this question, British journalist Matthew Syed, a former British table tennis champion, examines the achievements of the world's greatest athletes, musicians, doctors and other professionals. His conclusion may seem paradoxical: those we tend to think of as born with the mark of genius have thousands upon thousands of hours of dedicated, dedicated training under their belts. In this British Sports Book Awards-winning book, Syed talks about the thinking patterns that hinder the development of excellence , and about ways to overcome them. He explains how internal attitudes help or hinder us in solving simple and global problems, and shows how they can be changed.