A really powerful insight from M Night Shyamalan (director of The Sixth Sense):
The ideal point of performance is where our instinct, and our craft / experience, cross.
- When we are younger, we have instinct, but not enough craft / experience to execute on it.
- At some point, we have enough craft / experience to really execute well on our instinct — that is our peak performance.
- However, as we grow older, we tend to rely more and more on our craft / experience as a way to protect ourselves. Success makes us conservative, and we take fewer risks.
The trick then is to consciously avoid over-relying on craft / experience to the detriment of our instinct.
It’s a neat way of putting it 🙃
