"Intuition is the result of nonconscious pattern recognition," Dane tells me. However, his research shows that, while logging hours of practice helps us see patterns subconsciously, we can often do just as well by deliberately looking for them. In many fields, such pattern hunting and deliberate analysis can yield results just as in the basketball example--high accuracy on the first try. And that's where, like the dues-paying presidents or overly patient programmers, what we take for granted often gets in the way of our own success. Deliberate pattern spotting can compensate for experience. But we often don't even give it a shot. This explains how so many inexperienced companies and entrepreneurs beat the norm and build businesses that disrupt established players. Through deliberate analysis, the little guy can spot waves better than the big company that relies on experience and instinct once it's at the top. And a wave can take an amateur farther faster than an expert can swim. It also explains why the world's best surfers arrive at the beach hours before a competition and stare at the ocean. After years of practice, a surfer can "feel" the ocean, and intuitively find waves. But the best surfers, the ones who win championships, are tireless students of the sea. O'Connell says, "One of the main things that you do when you learn to compete is learn how to pick out conditions. Know that the tide is getting higher. Counting waves, how many waves come into a particular area that fit your eye that you want to ride."