A month ago I took the boys to a hockey game. While we were there I met a very interesting fellow, sitting beside me, David Ben. International lawyer who left the practice to successfully pursue his life long goal of being a magician. Thanks to his recommendation, we now have tickets to the Luminato Festival of Arts, and Mac King who is taking time out of his vacation from his Vegas show to perform (and who David endorses as amazing).

David is also into social networking and blogs. I read through a host of his posts, and found the entry on Deliberate Practice and the premise that volume of practice is not the key to success in a chosen vocation interesting.

One of my pet peeves has always been listening to people who pontificate how long they have been involved with something as if the length of time at an activity warranted respect. We’ve all heard someone – who is not particularly good at the task – state, “I’ve been doing this for thirty-five years…”

My mental response is usually, “Well, if I had been doing it for as long as you have, and was still that bad, I’d want to consider an alternative career.” 

The reason they are bad is not because they haven’t put the time in, but because they have not done ‘deliberate practice’. Tugend cites Professor Ericsson’s notion of deliberate practice: “It involves spending hours a day in a highly structured activities to improve performance and overcome weakness.”

Based on the article ‘For the Best of the Best, Determination Outweighs Nature and Nurture’ in the New York Times.

But it does not follow, Professor Ericsson said, that everyone can become great, or even really good, in a given arena. First of all, you need to have parents willing to put in an intensive amount of resources and time in helping you excel.

In fact, research has shown that most people who are really outstanding in their fields don’t come out of nowhere. Top-notch musicians are usually born into families where music plays a dominant role. The same is true with sports or any other endeavour.

In addition, by studying those who have excelled, Professor Ericsson has found that they engage in something he calls “deliberate practice.” It involves spending hours a day in highly structured activities to improve performance and overcome weaknesses.

The theory is well supported by the Outliers and the 10,000 hour rule. As someone who has not played golf much in the last 3 years and is re-engaging, it also explains why simply running to the range and hitting balls has very little impact.

Never stops amazing me, watching people flail away with no coaching. I hope they are enjoying it, because the above surmises that enjoyment will be the only benefit. It also explains why it makes me feel like I am wasting time if I am not focused on a specific skill practice. Two weeks ago was my first game, and after the game (and affiliated warm-up on the driving range and putting green), I headed straight home and started pulling out my golf books to re-read the things that had gone rusty during my 3 year hiatus. Focus …

The above also explains why my music teacher made us practice 30 minutes a day, on the lessons he dictated for the week.