A THREAD on key ideas from the book
"Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise" by Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool:
1/
Learning isn’t a way of reaching one’s potential but rather a way of developing it.
"Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise" by Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool:
1/
Learning isn’t a way of reaching one’s potential but rather a way of developing it.
2/
A world in which deliberate practice is a normal part of life would be one in which people had more volition and satisfaction.
A world in which deliberate practice is a normal part of life would be one in which people had more volition and satisfaction.
3/
Deliberate practice is deliberate, that is, it requires a person’s full attention and conscious actions.
It isn’t enough to simply follow a teacher’s or coach’s directions.
The student must concentrate on the specific goal for his or her practice activity.
Deliberate practice is deliberate, that is, it requires a person’s full attention and conscious actions.
It isn’t enough to simply follow a teacher’s or coach’s directions.
The student must concentrate on the specific goal for his or her practice activity.
4/
Purposeful practice in a nutshell:
Get outside your comfort zone but do it in a focused way, with clear goals, a plan for reaching those goals, and a way to monitor your progress.
And figure out a way to maintain your motivation.
Purposeful practice in a nutshell:
Get outside your comfort zone but do it in a focused way, with clear goals, a plan for reaching those goals, and a way to monitor your progress.
And figure out a way to maintain your motivation.
5/
“The New Year’s resolution effect”— it’s why gyms that were crowded in January are only half full in July and why so many slightly used guitars are available on Craigslist.
“The New Year’s resolution effect”— it’s why gyms that were crowded in January are only half full in July and why so many slightly used guitars are available on Craigslist.
6/
The reason that most people don’t possess extraordinary physical capabilities isn’t because they don’t have the capacity for them, but rather because they’re satisfied to live in the comfortable rut of homeostasis and never do the work that is required to get out of it.
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The reason that most people don’t possess extraordinary physical capabilities isn’t because they don’t have the capacity for them, but rather because they’re satisfied to live in the comfortable rut of homeostasis and never do the work that is required to get out of it.
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They live in the world of “good enough.”
The same thing is true for all the mental activities we engage in.
They live in the world of “good enough.”
The same thing is true for all the mental activities we engage in.
7/
You don’t build mental representations by thinking about something; you build them by trying to do something, failing, revising, and trying again, over and over.
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You don’t build mental representations by thinking about something; you build them by trying to do something, failing, revising, and trying again, over and over.
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When you’re done, not only have you developed an effective mental representation for the skill you were developing, but you have also absorbed a great deal of information connected with that skill.
When you’re done, not only have you developed an effective mental representation for the skill you were developing, but you have also absorbed a great deal of information connected with that skill.
8/
The main thing that sets experts apart from the rest of us is that their years of practice have changed the neural circuitry in their brains to produce highly specialized mental representations, which in turn make possible the incredible memory, pattern recognition,...
The main thing that sets experts apart from the rest of us is that their years of practice have changed the neural circuitry in their brains to produce highly specialized mental representations, which in turn make possible the incredible memory, pattern recognition,...
...problem solving, and other sorts of advanced abilities needed to excel in their particular specialties.
9/
In a field you’re already familiar with—like your own job—think carefully about what characterizes good performance and try to come up with ways to measure that, even if there must be a certain amount of subjectivity in your measurement.
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In a field you’re already familiar with—like your own job—think carefully about what characterizes good performance and try to come up with ways to measure that, even if there must be a certain amount of subjectivity in your measurement.
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Then look for those people who score highest in the areas you believe are key to superior performance. The ideal is to find objective, reproducible measures that consistently distinguish the best from the rest, & if that ideal is not possible, approx. it as well as you can.
Then look for those people who score highest in the areas you believe are key to superior performance. The ideal is to find objective, reproducible measures that consistently distinguish the best from the rest, & if that ideal is not possible, approx. it as well as you can.
10/
One of the best ways to create and sustain social motivation is to surround yourself with people who will encourage and support and challenge you in your endeavors.
One of the best ways to create and sustain social motivation is to surround yourself with people who will encourage and support and challenge you in your endeavors.
