Once a skill becomes instinctive, performance improvement also tends to level off. Without intelligent intervention, we slip into autopilot mode, believing we are gathering in experience when in reality we are merely locking in rote routine. Familiarity is not synonymous with competence, and neither is self-reported comfort levels nor exhibited confidence. Once labeled ‘expert’, we humans often stop stretching, halt seeking candid feedback, and cease refining our craft. Result? Our tenth year frequently all too closely resembles the second. We become robotic, operating mechanically by reflex.
The cure? Deliberate practice, a concept popularized by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, is the exact opposite of autopilot. Deliberate practice is structured to focus on correcting weaknesses and coach with immediate, accurate feedback. Deliberate practice is repetition with ongoing refinement; deliberate practice is designed to take you beyond your current abilities, to force you into your un-comfort zone until you master that next level… and then promote you upward to the next level of awkwardness!
Closing Quotes:
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” – Peter Drucker, 1909-2005
“To improve, you must intentionally seek out the zone where you fail 15% to 20% of the time. If your error rate is zero, you aren’t learning anything new; you are just executing an existing script.” – Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code
“The danger of the ’10 years of experience’ myth is that it mistakes tenure for talent. If you aren’t actively dismantling your routines, you aren’t growing; you are just solidifying your current limitations.” – Adam Grant, Think Again
“Mastery requires an immediate feedback loop. Without a mirror, a coach, or a metric to instantly highlight the delta between your performance and perfection, you are practicing in the dark.” – Geoff Colvin, Talent is Overrated
“People believe that because they have been doing something for a long time, they must be good at it. This is a profound error. Experience without deliberate practice leads to a plateau, not to mastery.” – K. Anders Ericsson, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
