Peak

Purposeful practice

Based off well-defiined goals, focus and constant feedback

Take well-defined goals and break it down into smaller to dos that are managebale

Must constantly be out of comfort-zone —> challenges should be done by trying different things, not trying harder.

Motivation should be based on challenge

Problem: trying hard and pushing limits isnt enough

Mental Representations

Mental representations are mentral structures that correspond to brain’s obj. of interest

Deliberate practice requires useful and efficient mental representation of success

Should be domain specific and constantly changing

Use the representations to evaluate yourself

*Deliberate Practice:

Based on teaching well-established and defined skill with practice that pushes beyond comfort level

Used for skills that people already know and effective techniques are already established

Remember: maximal effort outside of comfort zone is not pleasant

Must have well-defined goals to evaluate performance, feedback and mental representations

*On Job:

If pursuit does not fit deliberate practice, then add following to become purposeful

• Identify expert performers: be objective annd use peer judgement
• Identify what made them so good and use them for training

Try to practice on the job and learn as you work. Always push harder

Can do off-job simulations and incorporate deliberate practice

You must “do” the training rather than just aquiring the knowledge

In Life

You must find a good teacher that is accomplished and able to give good feedback

Need to be engaged and focused in practice rather than mindlessely repeating, copying or allowing mind to wander

• Use shorter sessions and eventually build to longer ones

If no teacher: focus, feedback, fix it. Break skills into components that can be repeated and analyzed

We can only form effective mental representations when we reproduce top performance, fail, find out why we failed, and improve

Best way to move beyond plateaus: change up stuff

• Find out which components in skill are holding back and push yourself more than usual (amateur tennis vs. expert tennis

Use habits to iimprove motivation: no distractions and short practices

To succeed you must have belief in success and also have social motivation via groups with similar motivations

Road to Extraordinary

Stages of child developing into professional

1. Child should be introduced to activity in playful manner and gradually introduced to actual role
   1. Parents are crucial: time, energy and lots of praise. Be disciplined and work hard
   2. Play-based training and motivation from older siblings will help
   3. Encourage intellectual pursuits: reading, science projects, etc.
2. Deliberate coaching
   1. Parents must institute deliberate practice measures
   2. Continually improve quality of teachers
3. Child commits by finding best of best teachers

Remember: creative geniuses develop creative use of past work, not always making something new