I've heard and read about Deliberate Practice but never paid attention to it.

After coming across James Clear (of Atomic Habits fame), I decided to read through his articles and summarize them to learn.

What is Deliberate Practice?

It's a subset of practice, which is both "purposeful and systematic".

Reference: Deliberate Practice: What It Is and How to Use It

While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.

Reference: The Beginner’s Guide to Deliberate Practice

What it is not

Deliberate Practice doesn't mean you can do anything with enough time and effort. Genetics "influence performance, [but] they do not determine performance".

• Reference: The Beginner’s Guide to Deliberate Practice
• Reference: The Myth and Magic of Deliberate Practice

Purposeful

Being "purposeful" means having focused attention during practice.

Systematic

The biggest difference between a "simple repetition" and the Deliberate Practice is the "feedback".

There are two ways to get feedback.

1. Measurement (Effective): You need to quantify your success and track the progress. Examples include,
   1. Number of pages read in a book
   2. Pushup count (during a workout)
   3. Sales call count
2. Coaching: One cannot perform a task and measure at the same time
   • Coaches can find "small ways to improve"
   • Holds you accountable (for mistakes or not keeping up, etc)

Layering Skills

In "What it is not" section above, genetics doesn't determine performance.

James Clear talks about how Scott Adams, an average artist, and a run-of-the-mill jokester became successful.

• Reference: The Myth and Magic of Deliberate Practice

What Scott did was to combine two skills (drawing + writing jokes), which is a rare quality.

OP's Note: this struck me hard

Resources

• Deliberate Practice: What It Is and How to Use It
• The Beginner’s Guide to Deliberate Practice
• The Myth and Magic of Deliberate Practice
• CodingBlocks Podcast Episode #78 - Deliberate Practice for Programmers
• Book - Badass: Making Users Awesome

CodingBlocks podcast and "Deliberate Practice: What It Is and How to Use It" has more articles and books.

Featured iamge found via https://medium.com/the-mission/sucking-at-something-is-the-first-step-to-being-sort-ofgood-at-something-4c92cf0471db