On Applying Deliberate Practice

This week’s book learning is from Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin.

We went through a series on deliberate practice 3 months ago. Very simply put, deliberate practice is a regime designed by a coach that is repeatable, provides instant feedback and is inherently painful. While this is easy to imagine if we are training for a sport or a musical instrument, it’s harder to understand how it applies at work. Luckily, Colvin helps us with the question..

Let’s imagine we are working on a presentation at work.

Before work	Set “process” goals e.g. I will ensure I will ask for the audience’s expectations
	Create a plan e.g. I will ask for expectations at the start and re-check at every break
	Believe in yourself and the fact that all this work will pay off
During work	Observe yourself closely e.g. elite marathon runners focus really hard on themselves during a race by counting breaths, strides etc while ordinary runners try to focus on other things. This enables elite runners to find more practice opportunities by asking “Could I be pushing myself more here?”
After the work	Self evaluate e.g. How did I do when compared with 1) Steve Jobs and 2) my previous performance?
	Take responsibility for everything that went wrong
	Plan for next attempt i.e. Experiment with a new technique during the next attempt

 

Sketch by EB

The simple insight here is that anything that we have done well in our lives has consciously or unconsciously involved deliberate practice. It requires a discipline to view what we do as opportunities to learn, to prepare intensely, reflect and incorporate learnings in our next attempt.

My biggest objective this new year is to apply deliberate practice in every aspect of my life. I plan to keep a daily log of all my practice activities to ensure I keep focus on improving my “process.” I will keep you posted on how it goes..

Here’s to deliberate practice this week and wishing you a great start to 2013!