(Deliberate) practice makes perfect: how to become an expert in anything

(Deliberate) practice makes perfect: how to become an expert in anything

by Aytekin Tank

According to Ericsson, becoming an expert in something isn’t just a matter of clocking up thousands of hours. What distinguishes a virtuoso violinist or an Olympic athlete from the rest of us is how they spend these hours.

Enter deliberate practice.

Deliberate practice is focused, consistent, goal-oriented training. It favours quality over quantity. It knows not all practice is created equal.

There’s a common assumption that talent is something we are, or aren’t, born with.

But Ericsson believes that genetics play less of a role than we think.

Take Mozart. Almost anyone would consider him to be a musical genius. But according to Ericsson,

“If you compare the kind of music pieces that Mozart play at various ages to today’s Suzuki-trained children, he is not exceptional. If anything, he’s relatively average.”

He claims that Mozart achieved mastery not due to inherited talent, but because he practiced long and hard from a very young age.

I admittedly want to challenge this bit:

There is significant evidence to show that working memory is heritable, and that cognitive ability as a child plays a role in adult achievement.

But I need to look into some of the Savant stuff more...as someone who doesn't think memories are stored in the brain I'd be curious to see how we might vigorously improve memory via spiritual/esoteric means...OTOH we may just find mundane things like getting enough sleep result in incredible shifts.