How you can become an Expert through purposeful, deliberate practice
Eleanor Maguire of the cab driver studies found that the taxi drivers who passed the knowledge exams put in twice as many hours of studying than those who didn't pass the exams. Ericsson and his colleagues found that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice, which takes several years, to become an expert.
This rule of thumb has applied to superstar musicians, mathematicians, athletes, as well as experts in many other professions. Although the 10,000 hour rule has been debated, for example, some researchers argue that the number of hours needed to become an expert differs based on the knowledge and skills in different areas, such as games, sports, music, and professions. But researchers generally agree that people who become experts practice more often than those who don't.
However, people with world class skills don't just practice harder and longer than others to learn their craft. They also practice better, in a more focused, strategic, and structured way to increase their knowledge and skills in a specific domain. It's the quality as well as the quantity of hours of practice and experience that turns someone into an expert.
Understanding how to practice better matters not only to individuals, it also matters to organizations and societies. Just consider how much time that people, organizations, and societies spend on education and experience. Billions of dollars are spent every year on leadership development programs globally. Undergraduate students in the US often graduate from public and nonprofit colleges with quite a bit of debt. With all this time and money going into training, education, and experience, you'd think that we'd have more experts than we know what to do with.
But here's the thing. Merely sitting through classes or leadership development programs does not count as learning. And going to work every day and doing your job doesn't count as experience if you're spending a lot of time just going through the motions.
To become outstanding in a particular area of expertise, requires that you engage in focused, intensive, and organized practice, day after day, and year after year. It requires delayed gratification and a lot of willpower. And that's why most people settle for good enough.
Good enough is okay in many areas of our lives, but it's not okay if people are depending on us to do our jobs with a high level of expertise.
Now people who engaged in intensive practice have the willpower to resist short term temptations, so that they can achieve their long term goals. Researcher Roy Baumeister warns that willpower is a limited resources, so we have to use it wisely. And here's what he has to say about willpower. People who engage in intensive practice have developed the willpower to resist short term temptations so that they can achieve their long term goals. Researcher Roy Baumeister warns that willpower can be depleted. You can think of willpower as filling a bucket. It doesn't matter what you use your will power on, the bucket gets emptied a bit each time you use it.
This means that if we use a lot of willpower in one area, we'll feel like we have less willpower available to use in another. And that's why people who are experts in one area are often mediocre in several other areas. It's also why successful people often do their hardest work early in the day, before the distractions of the day kick in and their will power begins to dwindle.
For example, you can develop good habits so that you don't wear yourself out making so many decisions everyday. That's why Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, wears the same light gray t-shirts and dark gray sweatshirts most of the time.
He says he wants to save his energy for the more important decisions he has to make everyday.
You can also manage the environment around you so you don't have to engage your willpower. For example, you can keep unhealthy foods out of the house, so you don't have the option to eat them at home. Or, you can install an app that won't let you search the Internet when you should be working. We'll discuss these strategies as well as others for increasing your willpower later in this course when you start working on your action plan.
Now we'll turn to five steps for becoming an expert through purposeful, deliberate practice.
These steps include, first, identifying your purpose. Second, creating a mental representation of excellence. Third, developing your step-by-step strategy. Fourth, practicing with precision and push. And fifth, measuring your progress.
Okay, so first you need to choose a meaningful purpose.
To commit to the rigorous of intensive practice, you need to sincerely believe that your long-term goal is worth the time, toil, and sacrifice it requires. Although most people stop practicing once the practice gets too difficult, or is no longer enjoyable, experts continue to practice to develop their outstanding talent.