Greatness is rarely a lightning strike. It is usually the compound interest of hours spent doing the hard thing—again and again—until skill becomes instinct.
Exceptional performers often share a hidden gift: access to enormous amounts of deliberate practice at the right moment. They are in a place where time is available, mentors exist, and repetition is unavoidable.
Practice alone isn’t the full story, because not every hour counts. The work has to stretch you, correct you, and keep raising the standard. But without that volume, natural talent hits a ceiling. The point isn’t to worship a number. It’s to see how excellence is manufactured: by environments that make intense practice possible, and by people who endure it long enough for it to change them.