When you are functional, achievement is easy.  Many people who achieve excellence appear to make it appear easy, and it is, because their bodies and minds are configured for it.  This happens as a result of the manifold factors that contribute to functional development.  Sometimes that involves hard work and dedication and sometimes not

Excellence is something that many strive for in all fields of endeavour. It can only be achieved through a well developed human resource. Whether that is manifest in an individual or a group of people working together, the bottom line to success is functional development. The necessary functions have to be developed.

Excellence requires a foundation of excellent core functionality. The skills that a person uses to achieve excellence are built on top of this foundation. People with good overall core functionality have more opportunities at their disposal with what areas they can dedicate their career to and aspire for excellence in. As a general rule the more you do, the more you can do, or the more functional you are, the greater your options. When you are functional, achievement is easy. 

It should be possible to improve performance by improving the level of functional development (or developmental potential), rather than through relentless training and practice.  While training and practice are still required the focus for improvement should be on functionality rather than rote training.  This should apply to all skills, trades, professions, performing arts, sport.

We often refer to a person's potential. This is what we consider a person to be capable of doing with their life in terms of career/achievement. Potential is directly related to core functionality. The degree of development of the core functions determines potential.

Developmental potential is a combination of core functionality and intellectual development.

It is often assumed that a person's potential is somehow fixed.  That not need apply: developmental potential can be improved by working on core functionality and intellect  The higher the developmental potential, the easier it is, with a small amount of training in a skill, for a person to achieve.  Those with greater potential are able to achieve excellence so the prospect of achieving excellence can be improved by increasing developmental potential.

Sport is one area in which developmental potential plays a big part.  Natural sportspeople easily outperform their peers and have star studded careers. Small differences in physiological acuity and micro-muscle configurations correspond to big differences in performance which no amount of training can compensate for.

Excellence in sport specifically requires physiological acuity of the body or 'body grip'.  With body grip comes muscular connectivity between chest and limbs and enhanced control of the body.

Excellence in sport usually involves endless and often mindless hours of rote training.  It should be possible to reduce and shortcut much of that by focusing on improving developmental potential, and taking a more 'intelligent' route towards excellence.

Excellence in Performing Arts shares the sporting requirement for body grip, but in addition requires vocal and facial acuity.  With some exceptions such as dancing, the voice and facial expressions are the tools of the trade in performing arts. Less obvious is the need for body grip which is essential for good vocals and enhances movement and characterization on stage.

The performing arts more than any other area only opens up opportunities to those who have the natural ability, or developmental potential.  As with sport it should be possible to improve performance by focusing on increasing developmental potential and reducing the need for rote learning. 

This covers a lot of disciplines which cannot be clearly defined in terms of functionality, but achievements in business and science probably have greater influence and meaning in society than the performing arts or sport. As a whole achievers in these areas do not need to have any particular functionality, that depends on their field of expertise, but they all need some area of advanced functionality, whether it be physical in having a particular skill, or vocal, in communicating ideas. Certainly a feature of success in any area of innovation is emotional fitness which enables these people to endure uncertainty, conflict and opposition long enough to prevail.

Vocal acuity enhances verbal communication skills providing vocal interest, stamina and other characteristics that make the person appealing to listen to, which results in success in sales,law or leadership.

Body grip enhances physical presence, ability to deal with stress and other characteristics that result in leadership success. 

In reality we all end up with varying levels of acuity in various areas.  Those characteristics help determine what career we end up following.