Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We review published papers and synthesize developmental patterns of international top scientists, musicians, athletes, and chess players. The available evidence is highly consistent across domains: (i) Young exceptional performers and later adult world-class performers are largely two discrete populations over time. (ii) Early (e.g., youth) exceptional performance is associated with extensive discipline-specific practice, little or no multidisciplinary practice, and fast early progress. (iii) By contrast, adult world-class performance is associated with limited discipline-specific practice, increased multidisciplinary practice, and gradual early progress.