I don't get that difference between hard work and hard to do work. It says that the players who were spending time stretching their abilities were higher achieves than the ones who simply worked hard. Does that mean the average ones were working tirelessly to perfect their existing skills while the elite were going beyond that and testing their limits? So then were the elites simply satisfied with their current abilities so to speak and simply moving on to more challenging activities while the average ones wouldn't do that until their existing skills were absolutely perfect? I'm tired so maybe Im missing the obvious.

I love articles like this. It's just so hard to put the results into practice. I'm a programmer. I admit I focus on improving skills that are in my comfort zone most of the time. It has served me well and I see a lot of improvement in my work. I also spend some time working on things I'm not familiar with or not comfortable with but far less time that that which I already have at least a decent grasp of. I tend to improve by getting a passing knowledge of something new and building on it slowly by dissecting examples. Maybe I should spend more time on the skills I don't yet have a firm grasp of rather than perfecting my current skill set?

Interesting read for sure.