Glenn McGrath (Australian Cricket Legend) was once asked why he was such a great bowler. He said because my action was repeatable. If my action was repeatable, my delivery is repeatable and i have to be able to so the same thing day in and day out.
There was a time in Shane Warne's career when he could no longer bowl a googly because he had problems with his shoulders. He had flipper but that wasn't working too well. All he had was a leg break and he just bowled and bowled and bowled. He practiced hard when no one was watching.
It is often said that "Genius obscures hard work". The greatest in the world have a set of routines that they practise, that allows them to deliver peak performance. It is those little, simple things that one needs to perfect and rigorously keep doing even when nobody's watching.
In our keenness to do greater, difficult things, the idea that 'doing simple things matters' often takes a backseat.
In the quest to give importance to seemingly smaller (but actually important) skills, here's my sketch representation of things that require zero talent but are important in defining one's trajectory.
Do you agree with this list ? What else would you add ?
My Sketchnote:
