ABSTRACT
Grounded in the theoretically based research of D. H. Feldman and L. S. Vygotsky, this chapter focuses on the ordinary parts of life that contribute to extraordinary achievements. Feldman's arid Vygotsky's theories are psychosocial theories because they embed the individual within a sociocultural field in describing human development. The chapter proposes that researchers study the ordinary because it serves as a key to unlocking the story of advanced development and, occasionally, extraordinary development. It investigates the ordinary activities of people who are extraordinary. Extraordinary achievements in various domains are produced by a relatively small number of people. Time presents a number of difficulties to the study of the development of extraordinary accomplishment. Studying the ordinary is fraught with many difficulties that reduce the probability of research. Two such elements, among many, are power and time. The ordinary events of living in various situations become the key to understanding the development of advanced and extraordinary accomplishment.
