Improve your skills through deliberate practice
What is Deliberate Practice?
Deliberate practice refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.
While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.
The greatest challenge of deliberate practice is to remain focused because the natural tendency of the human brain is to transform repeated behaviors into automatic habits.
For example, when you first learned to tie your shoes you had to think carefully about each step of the process. Today, after many repetitions, your brain can perform this sequence automatically. The more we repeat a task the more mindless it becomes.
The thing is: after a while, we begin to carelessly overlook small errors and miss daily opportunities for improvement.
Mindless activity is the enemy of deliberate practice. The danger of practicing the same thing, again and again, is that progress becomes assumed. Too often, we assume we are getting better simply because we are gaining experience. In reality, we are merely reinforcing our current habits—not improving them.
Claiming that improvement requires attention and effort sounds logical enough.
Perhaps the greatest difference between deliberate practice and simple repetition is this: feedback.
The first effective feedback system is measurement.
The things we measure are the things we improve. This holds true for the number of pages we read, the number of pushups we do, the number of sales calls we make, and any other task that is important to us. It is only through measurement that we have any proof of whether we are getting better or worse.
The second effective feedback system is coaching.
One consistent finding across disciplines is that coaches are often essential for sustaining a deliberate practice. In many cases, it is nearly impossible to both perform a task and measure your progress at the same time.
Good coaches can track your progress, find small ways to improve and hold you accountable to delivering your best effort each day.
Here you have a list of possible questions to ask a mentor: 10 Questions to ask a mentor
Deliberate practice refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.
While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.
The greatest challenge of deliberate practice is to remain focused because the natural tendency of the human brain is to transform repeated behaviors into automatic habits.
For example, when you first learned to tie your shoes you had to think carefully about each step of the process. Today, after many repetitions, your brain can perform this sequence automatically. The more we repeat a task the more mindless it becomes.
The thing is: after a while, we begin to carelessly overlook small errors and miss daily opportunities for improvement.
Mindless activity is the enemy of deliberate practice. The danger of practicing the same thing, again and again, is that progress becomes assumed. Too often, we assume we are getting better simply because we are gaining experience. In reality, we are merely reinforcing our current habits—not improving them.
Claiming that improvement requires attention and effort sounds logical enough.
Feedback is everything
Perhaps the greatest difference between deliberate practice and simple repetition is this: feedback.
The first effective feedback system is measurement.
The things we measure are the things we improve. This holds true for the number of pages we read, the number of pushups we do, the number of sales calls we make, and any other task that is important to us. It is only through measurement that we have any proof of whether we are getting better or worse.
The second effective feedback system is coaching.
One consistent finding across disciplines is that coaches are often essential for sustaining a deliberate practice. In many cases, it is nearly impossible to both perform a task and measure your progress at the same time.
Good coaches can track your progress, find small ways to improve and hold you accountable to delivering your best effort each day.
Here you have a list of possible questions to ask a mentor: 10 Questions to ask a mentor
Wrapping up
Deliberate practice is not a magic pill, but if you can manage to maintain your focus and commitment, then the promise of deliberate practice is quite alluring: to get the most out of what you've got.
About Daniel Vukasovich
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