Match quality and originality

 

 

 

Josh Waitzkin was a chess prodigy.

 

He won the U.S. Junior Chess Championship at age 11. ​He became an International Master at age 16. And his life was made into a movie (“Searching for Bobby Fischer”) at 17.

 

But then, around the age of 18, Waitzkin quit playing chess because…

 

He got a new coach.

 

“I was a naturally creative, aggressive chess player,” Waitzkin explained.

 

But the new coach forced Waitzkin to play like the great chess players Anatoly Karpov and Tigran Petrosian—“the most positional, conservative chess players.” 

 

When he was forced to play in a way that didn’t align with his natural proclivities, Waitzkin said, “I lost my love for the game.” 

 

So, he quit.

 

He later took up martial arts, and after just 2 years of training, he won his first national championship in martial arts. 

 

Asked if he took anything from chess into the martial arts, Waitzkin said he leaned into his unique physical and mental traits:

 

“And in my observation of competitors in any discipline, this a fundamental idea. Those who succeed at the highest level, I think, basically manifest their unique character through their discipline.”

 

Takeaway 1:

 

Waitzkin said he was at his best (as a chess player then a martial artist) when his style aligned with his personality. 

 

This is known in economics as “match quality”—the degree of alignment between the traits of a profession and the traits of a person.

 

The NBA executive turned venture capitalist, Sam Hinkie, was asked how he thought about shaping his career path. 

 

Essentially, Hinkie said he tried to optimize for match quality.

 

“By nature,” Hinkie explained, “I think in decades, and I have a steady temperament.”

 

So, Hinkie thought, “Can you get to a place where there is leverage on that kind of thinking, where that kind of steady temperament is rewarded?”

 

Takeaway 2:

 

Waitzkin writes in his book, “The Art of Learning,” that “one of the most critical factors in becoming a high performer is the degree to which your relationship to your pursuit stays in harmony with your unique disposition.”

 

The music producer Rick Rubin is a good example of this.

 

Rubin is a voracious consumer of art. He’s constantly listening to music, reading a book, watching a movie, at a museum, or driving around just to look at beautiful architecture. 

 

“It’s all I do,” Rubin told screenwriter Brian Koppelman. “But not because it’s my job. It’s like, my job is my job because the person that I am loves to do those things.”

 

 

 

“It seems to me that each of us expressing our own originality is the essence of our art and professionalism.” — Jim Henson