It is like the training of a distance athlete. She can train hard every day getting reps on the track, circling away, formatively targeting certain outcomes for each lap that she runs on the track on a certain day with the summative goal of running a certain time in the big race. Over time it is assumed that she will make great gains in the sport.
However, if our runner were a robot, would she win? Did Lebron James carry his Cavaliers to the pinnacle of greatness over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals last year in a robotic way? Was Ali the greatest boxer, or did he just want to be that and so it became true due to the size of his heart?
So also for our runner, robotic workouts to achieve great gains in the sport of distance running are not in themselves enough to bring success. Robots don’t run sub four minute miles. They would in fact most likely fall to pieces at that rate of speed on the track. I don’t think that C-3PO could have run a sub four minute mile, and he is the most heart-filled robot I know about.
Our athlete must want to train until she becomes strong enough to challenge other strong runners. She must want to be there on the track every day. She must want to get better at her sport. Without the quality of wanting to become better at it, without that internal quality that is more centered in the heart than in the body, our athlete cannot gain mastery.