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We live in a society whose default thinking is: More is always better than less.
I can super-size my lunch for an extra 59 cents or get a 36-ounce soda instead of a 16-ounce soda for a quarter more. But unfortunately, this has not led to people enjoying their lunch more or made them feel better physically.
On the contrary, it has led us to become the most overweight society in history and caused many health-related illnesses.
This better way of thinking infiltrates all areas of our lives (music, education, athletics, etc.).
10000-hour rule
But unfortunately, it gives many people false hope that it will lead to success in their endeavors. For example, you have heard of the 10,000-hour rule of achieving expertise. Many of you may subscribe to this belief.
The problem is that few realize that the study of this notion or “rule” came from never pinpointing the number of hours, as it just as quickly could have been 8,000 or 12,000. But, more significantly, it focused not on general practice but on a specific exercise called deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice
This kind of practice differs significantly from what most people do in or at their practices.
The primary focus of the usual way people practice is repetition. However, deliberate practice is highly structured to include mental and physical components, aiming to improve performance or acquire new skills. It requires concentrated effort at all times and is driven by a purpose.
Feedback
There are several hallmarks of deliberate practice, but one of the most important, in my opinion, is receiving immediate informative feedback. Without adequate feedback about your performance during training, maximum learning efficiency is impossible, and your improvement will be limited.
This is Why seeking out experts is the quickest way to speed your development in any pursuit. But, unfortunately, you may also develop bad habits without proper immediate feedback.
Bad habits are acquired just as easily as good ones and are much harder to unlearn. As a result, it’s not uncommon to be held back by more bad habits than good ones that you have not developed yet.
When I was growing up, my good friend and classmate, Sari, and I started taking piano lessons from the same woman. We went to the same classes and practiced for approximately the same time between tasks. Within a few months, Sari was finishing his third lesson book, and I was coming up finishing my first book.
I wondered how that could be. Sari’s family was no more musical than mine, and we received instruction from the same person. I now know even if I practiced twice (or three or four times) as many hours as Sari did back then, I would not have kept up with him because he went to learn to play, and I went to please/appease my parents.
With my attitude towards playing the piano, even as mentioned earlier, 10,000- hours of practice likely would not have gotten me above average.
General practice
I see many good young athletes working out most days. Still, very few are approaching their workouts deliberately, fueled by purpose.
Unfortunately, most of them think showing up and going through the motions will get them where they want to go, but by the time they realize they are on the wrong path, it is too late to recover.
‘The average practice a lot, the good practice hard, but the exceptional practice smart and purposefully.’
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