Caitlin Craig TC Chapter 5

Chapter Summary: To acquire skill one must immerse themselves in deep practice, but before they can do that they must have the desire or motivation.  This is what Coyle describes as the ignition.  Ignition is the energy that kindles the fire of hard work or deep practice, and keeps it burning.  Coyle claims there are primal cues which serve as ignition, these are: safety, future belonging,  and scarcity/exclusivity.  An argument he brings up is that many successful actors, musicians, authors, and political leaders had an early death of a parent in their lifetime.  This sparked the primal cue of safety.  A tragic event like this can be a "spring board of immense compensatory energy", it propels them to focus on overcoming obstacles and moving forward with a new determination.  The second primal cue of future belonging is outlined by the phrase, "better get busy".  When we see others, like us, succeeding, we want to succeed too; we want to be a part of the club.  An event like this can spark and fuel determination like no other primal cue as supported by the mass arrival of many Korean women golfers.  They saw a woman succeed who resembled them, and shared the same blood, in result they gained the desire to play golf.  Exclusivity can be better described as a lottery.  When there was a lottery for the students of the PS 233 Music School, children who had no idea what a violin was, were ecstatic when finding they were picked to participate.  This excitement and spark of desire to learn and be a part of an exclusive group is what determined the music school's success.  Ignition is a means of propelling motivation and the production of myelin.  
Key Terms: Ignition, automaticity, unconscious mechanisms a.k.a. primal cues: safety, future belonging, and scarcity/exclusivity.
Key Concepts: "Better get busy!" "you're behind, keep up!"  Primal cues are what spark the motivation and desire that people need to continue deep practice.
Making Connections: I know that I have been influenced by many primal cues, specifically the one of future belonging.  I remember in elementary school all my friends participated in musicals, and played instruments. I became a little bit jealous, and decided that if they could do it, I could do it even better.  So I asked my mom to enroll me in piano lessons, and that's what propelled me to begin singing.  I saw that future belonging, and it sparked the ignition within me to practice.  I think that it would be interesting to build a vocal studio around these primal cues, and see how well students succeed.  In a future voice studio I might have my students do an "audition", this would serve to work as a the primal cue of scarcity/exclusivity.