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Practice doesn't make perfect – but meditation might.

Researchers say that however hard some people try, they won't excel at their chosen job, sport or hobby.

This is because the key to perfection lies in the mind.

They key to success? The findings contradict the popular idea that 10,000 hours of hard graft make the difference between being good enough and being world class

They have shown that people who rise to the top have 'highly-integrated' brains finely-tuned for creativity.

The good news for those not naturally blessed is that mediation may help.

The advice from Alan Travis, a US neuroscientist and advocate of transcendental meditation, contradicts the widely-held belief that practice will, eventually, make perfect.

Some experts have even put a number on it, saying that 10,000 hours of hard graft make the difference between being good enough and being world class.

But Dr Travis, of the Maharishi University of Management in Iowa, said: 'Some people put in long hours and do not excel.

'It is a simple fact that some people stand out and we are trying to tease out why.

'We hypothesised that something must be different about the way their brains work and that's what we're finding.'

Key to Dr Travis theory something called brain integration.

In the highly-integrated mind, connections between various regions of the brain are strong, attention is keen and the brain is quick to spring into action when faced with a question.

When world-class athletes, top managers and professional managers have been tested, all have shown high levels of brain integration, Dr Travis said.

In his latest study, he showed that brain integration appears to spark the creativity that is often key to success.

Dr Travis, who led the study said people who want to excel in any field should consider learning transcendental meditation because it allows them to focus the mind

Engineers responsible for product development were highly creative, and the more imaginative and resourceful they were, the more integrated their brains.

Being full of ideas also went hand in hand with the ability to process information and make decisions quickly and a sense of being in control, the Creativity Research Journal reports.

Dr Travis said that brain integration may be 'the inner factor that leads to outer success'.

Co-researcher Yvonne Lagrosen, of University West in Sweden, said that optimising brain functioning should be a priority.

Dr Travis said: 'People who want to excel in any field should consider learning transcendental meditation.'

Once the provenance of hippies, the technique claims to wipe away anxieties and fears by helping people let go of their thoughts and enter a state of complete relaxation.

Dr Travis he has shown that when people lose themselves in the process, brain waves change in a way found in highly-integrated minds.

His advice contrasts with the idea popularised in the best-selling book Outliers, that 10,000 hours of practice is the secret of success.

Studies have shown that world-leading sportsmen, composers, authors, chess players and even master criminals, have all put in that amount of effort.

Examples of those who have put in their 10,000 hours include the Beatles.

Before breaking America in 1964, the Fab Four put in many, many hours on stage in Hamburg.
Instead of playing hour-long gigs now and then, as they had in Liverpool, they performed for up to eight hours a night, seven days a week.

By the time they hit it big, they had performed live an estimated 1,200 times – more than most modern bands rack up in their entire careers.