Deliberate Practice

In studies of how experts become great at what they do, psychologists have found some interesting patterns. One important finding is that anyone who aspires to become an expert in any field must devote a huge amount of time toward that goal. The time needed has been estimated very approximately at ten years of full-time pursuit. But equally interesting to me is the structuring of lifestyle necessary to meet this demand. What's required is that a person devote several hours each day to the task, a daily regimen called deliberate practice. I love to tell my students about studies of expertise and about deliberate practice in particular. I, and they, can learn to structure each day to make room for the pursuit of greater skill, greater competence, perhaps expertise, and maybe even world class ability. Getting up at six to run at a snail's pace is light years from world class, but in terms of the deliberate practice pathway, the concept is just the same.