You Can Achieve Whatever You Set Your Mind To — No, Really!
Young children learn by playing, and the joy of learning is not different from the joy of playing. And a lot of our abilities are acquired this way, before any formal schooling! In this early stage, the performance limit is the fun limit. Children deprived of fun are also deprived of development.
Later on, learning requires effort, and the reward is no longer a side effect of the play. It requires thriving to meet some standard, self-imposed or otherwise, which is why children benefit from schooling, if the discipline is rigorous enough.
For those of us not engaged in world-level competition, the practical question is whether purposeful and honest practice is a good investment or not. This article states that it is, and my personal experience leads me to agree.
