The Deliberate Practice Myth

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We hear a lot about deliberate practice, right? Some of us even read books about it, but why aren’t we teaching it in schools as a fundamental skill? Why haven’t we all learned how to do it for music, theater, science, math, sports, debate club, anything, actually everything?

And all of us can do it if we want even though we were never taught it in school. There are many misunderstandings about using cognitive science in day to day teaching and learning. Seriously, in 1988, and that is 5 years before the first deliberate practice study was published, a researcher published an article in a scientific journal going on and on about why the education system had not adopted a proven tool of learning called spacing. He tried to figure it out, but here we are over 30 years later and it is still not being taught in school to kids.

When it comes to deliberate practice one really common reason to reject it comes up, and it has nothing to do with the accuracy of the science, or the benefit it produces, so people believe it but still have an objection. This myth is what stands in the way some of the time. . .

. . .I hear it most commonly from parents and teachers – I don’t need my kid/students, or myself to be Mozart or Tiger Woods. We don’t need to be working like crazy on some particular skill for 20+ hours a week. I just want my child to get decent grades and I want to do a decent job at work and that makes us happy. . .

. . .But they’ve only heard the ‘you can do what they did’ part. They didn’t hear the ‘we’ve figured out what they do to get better every step of the way and you can do that too part!”. . .

. . .There is no need to put the rest of one’s life on hold to try and be the next super-duper best in the world at something. DP isn’t just for the elite. It isn’t only to become Tiger Woods. To paraphrase the excellent book, Talent is Overrated – do a little and get good, do more and get great, do a lot of it and be world class.

Why not try doing 5 minutes of it every practice? You’ll notice the difference within a week, and likely less.

Sure, it’s more intense to focus like that, but it will take less time for way better results, so there is plenty of time for rest and relaxation. Also, as we build knowledge to get better we also build the learning process, so it becomes easier and easier.

And think about the immediate benefit of making practice more efficient. Much more done in much less time. This can actually allow people to practice less and get better than before. Start with that, and if we stay there then great, enjoy the ride. If there is motivation to do more, which is very likely to happen without any further intervention, then do more. Whatever makes you happy (you’ll find that getting so good it surprises you makes you happier than you ever imagined, so you’ll likely want to do more to get more of that feeling and then it will make you even happier) I call this the upward spiral of deliberate practice.

So what should we do?

We should learn the fundamentals of deliberate practice. Like that it requires we find solutions even if those solutions are wrong, learn from that and try again.

Not for large projects – that is not practice per se, that is performing, but for the moment to moment work we do in the practice room, or athletic field or studying. Minute to minute. “What did I just learn, did I understand it, should I go back and check a section to understand it better?”

Sounds annoying doesn’t it? Well, that is what I call the burn of learning, or The Blearn. Feel the Blearn.

.Do it for awhile and the Blearn becomes less intense and we get used to working that way. In fact it not only becomes easier, but fun.

It becomes fun because we get better and better and smarter at what we are doing. Doing just a little DP will do that and the brain loves getting better at stuff. Seriously, wouldn’t it be cool to dominate that performance, ace that test, win that game in crunch time? That is what will start to happen in small ways at first then larger.

Let passion dictate how much of the work is done after we start working that way. If we want to do a little, which will still put us head and shoulders above most others, then fine. If we love the massive improvement and want to do more than have at it.

It has been clear to me in decades of teaching, and the scientific literature supports this, that getting better at stuff creates a passion to learn more about that stuff. Could this be where all learning passion comes from? Is none of it inborn, but influenced from a very young age? I’m not sure, but I have my suspicions.

I’m Gregg Goodhart the learning coach and you’ve got all the talent you need, so get to work.