Call it fate, call it luck, Karma, whatever. I was thinking about the topic of the effort needed to do science, and then see that Doug Natelson has a post up on the subject (Battle hymn of the Tiger Professor), and Chad has already responded to it (Physics Takes Practice). Which just leaves me with the tired sports metaphor. In light of the recent Packers victory in the Super Bowl, perhaps it’s fitting to use a quote from Vince Lombardi:

Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.

So it is with science, or any profession. It’s not enough to want to be good at something if you aren’t willing to do the work needed to perform at a high level. Is anyone really surprised to find out how much time professional athletes spend training? Or that the physically gifted ones who don’t have a good work ethic tend to fall short when they reach the professional level? Anyone who has played sports has probably had the realization that regardless of their initial skill level, getting better required doing drills and more drills, and mastering the basics was required before moving on — you can’t dribble a basketball between your legs if you can’t dribble at all. The approach to learning physics really isn’t any different.