What Is Deliberate Practice?
Discover the secrets of top performers
What makes a person an expert when lots of people spend thousands of hours practicing?
Before there was Malcolm Gladwell and Outliers, there was K. Anders Ericsson from Florida State University studying the application of a difficult type of practice that all experts seem to do. He noticed that it wasn’t just the total amount of time spent doing an activity (i.e. 10,000 hours), it was actually the time spent partaking in this particular type of practice that mattered the most.
The type of practice was aptly named deliberate practice and has been the core idea for expert acquisition since he introduced the concept in the early 90s.
“It’s not about the number of hours you put in, but the quality of those hours that matters.” — Anders Ericsson
Roots of Deliberate Practice
In the foundational article, “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance,” K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Romer provide a comprehensive understanding of deliberate practice and its role in the acquisition of expert performance.
Through their interviews with hundreds of performers, they revealed deliberate practice to be a structured and effortful activity designed to improve performance in a specific domain. It is characterized by being challenging, effortful, and not inherently enjoyable. The study supports the view that deliberate practice is a key factor in the acquisition of expert performance, emphasizing the importance of structured activities aimed at optimizing improvement.
“Purposeful practice is about striving to improve, concentrating on what you can do better and challenging yourself beyond your current limits.” — Anders Ericsson
The study sheds light on the importance of deliberate practice in skill acquisition, particularly in domains such as music, sports, and medicine.
It underscores the need for purposeful and systematic practice, especially powerful if starting in childhood, to optimize improvement and achieve expert performance. Multiple books in addition to Gladwell’s use this study as the foundation in which to explain how high performers get to where they are. My favorites are Talent is Overrated, The Talent Code, The Art of Work, and So Good They Can’t Ignore You, and Bounce.
These titles also help to disprove the talent “myth,” which states that some people are inherently born with certain abilities that help them acquire expertise. Deliberate practice proves that this is not the case and these innately talented individuals have simply accumulated more time spent in this “uncomfortable” state.
Moreover, these individuals are often drawn to their domain, displaying a “rage to master” their craft at an early age.
“The extraordinary dedication of the young Mozart, under the guidance of his father, is perhaps most powerfully articulated by Michael Howe, a psychologist at the University of Exeter, in his book Genius Explained. He estimates that Mozart had clocked up an eye-watering 3,500 hours of practice even before his sixth birthday.” — Matthew Syed in Bounce
Application Across Domains
The research also highlights the significance of deliberate practice in enhancing performance skills in various fields, including music, athletics, and medical education.
For example, in medicine, Ericsson emphasizes the need for ongoing commitment to skill development outside of direct clinical work, proposing deliberate practice as a means of enhancing competence and expertise. Additionally, the study supports the effectiveness of deliberate practice in facilitating communication skill mastery, particularly in the context of medical education and palliative care.
“With deliberate practice, anyone can become an expert in their chosen field.” — Anders Ericsson
Expert Versus Novice
Moreover, the study sheds light on the relevance, effort, and inherent enjoyment (for some) of deliberate practice, emphasizing its importance for improving performance and the effortful nature of practice. It also underscores the role of deliberate practice in distinguishing expert athletes from non-experts, particularly in the context of sports skill acquisition.
Ericsson noted, and many have echoed this sentiment over the years, that experts relish deliberate practice while novices avoid it. The reason is that deliberate practice is hard, frustrating, and monotonous over time.
“Successful individuals are not born with extraordinary abilities; they develop them through deliberate practice.” — Anders Ericsson
This idea can be freeing for many and proves that “talent is overrated.” What matters is your commitment to the process of getting better with the use of deliberate practice at the core of what you are doing.
You can apply deliberate practice to any domain, field, sport, or craft.
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