gio valiante

“the next national or world championship. I had spent the years between ages fifteen and eighteen in the maelstrom of American media following the release of the film Searching for Bobby Fischer, which was based on”
― Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

“Musicians, actors, athletes, philosophers, scientists, writers understand that brilliant creations are often born of small errors.”
― Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

“This might sound like a dream for a seventeen-year-old boy, and I won’t deny enjoying the attention, but professionally it was a nightmare. My game began to unravel. I caught myself thinking about how I looked thinking instead of losing myself in thought. The Grandmasters, my elders, were ignored and scowled at me. Some of them treated me like a pariah. I had won eight national championships and had more fans, public support and recognition than I could dream of, but none of this was helping my search for excellence, let alone for happiness. At a young age I came to know that there is something profoundly hollow about the nature of fame. I had spent my life devoted to artistic growth and was used to the sweaty-palmed sense of contentment one gets after many hours of intense reflection. This peaceful feeling had nothing to do with external adulation, and I yearned for a return to that innocent, fertile time. I missed just being a student of the game,”
― Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

“Of course there were plateaus, periods when my results leveled off while I internalized the information necessary for my next growth spurt,”
― Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance