Deliberate Practice Definition
I’ve touched on deliberate practice before, but I finally got around to reading the article that (apparently) kicked off the question of “when someone is very good at a given thing, what is it that actually makes him good“. In the article is a great definition of deliberate practice:
Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task — playing a C-minor scale 100 times, for instance, or hitting tennis serves until your shoulder pops out of its socket. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.
And, to touch on something I firmly believe in with work: you can only succeed (work-wise) if you care about what you’re working on.
Ericsson’s research suggests a third cliché as well: when it comes to choosing a life path, you should do what you love — because if you don’t love it, you are unlikely to work hard enough to get very good. Most people naturally don’t like to do things they aren’t “good” at. So they often give up, telling themselves they simply don’t possess the talent for math or skiing or the violin. But what they really lack is the desire to be good and to undertake the deliberate practice that would make them better.
Tags: deliberate practice, talent, working