The author of this concept is Anders Ericsson, a Swedish professor of psychology at Florida State University in the US who is a world-renowned authority in the field of research focused on expertise and performance. Deliberate practice involves leaving our comfort zones and trying new activities beyond our current abilities. Based on three decades of research, Ericsson says that repeating activities we have already mastered can't help us improve.
10,000 hours is not enough
The concept of deliberate practice served as the basis for the "10,000-hour rule" meaning that if you spend about 10,000 hours practicing an activity, you will become an expert. The rule was defined by a Canadian journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell in his book entitled Outliers. Anders Ericsson, however, claims that his original research was misinterpreted and 10,000 hours alone are not enough to achieve sufficient expertise. We can only improve if we have clearly defined goals and cooperate with a "teacher" who will help with a plan to reach those goals.
In his new book entitled Peak: Secrets From The New Science of Expertise, Ericsson describes the principles of deliberate practice in plain language. We can read, for example, that the only factors that are genetically determined that are not possible to improve by practice, and still have a significant impact on productivity, are body height and size. A direct connection of performance and intelligence does not exist either.
The book has many tips for setting goals, working with feedback, detecting patterns of behavior and motivation on how to succeed in any task or discipline that are not intuitive at first glance. Besides practical advice, Ericsson also demystifies various actions of leading experts ranging from violin virtuosos, businessmen and brain surgeons to athletes.
Book
ERICSSON, A. - POOL, R .: Peak: Secrets From The New Science of Expertise. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 2016, 363 p.
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