May 8, 2006
Deliberate Practice
A Star Is Made, by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt
When someone is very good at a given thing, what is it that actually makes him good? The best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully is a process known as deliberate practice … Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task — it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome .. expert performers — whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming — are nearly always made, not born.
When it comes to choosing a life path, you should do what you love — because if you don’t love it, you are unlikely to work hard enough to get very good. Most people naturally don’t like to do things they aren’t “good” at. So they often give up, telling themselves they simply don’t possess the talent for math or skiing or the violin. But what they really lack is the desire to be good and to undertake the deliberate practice that would make them better.
May 8th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Interesting that you posted this article and the weight loss one. Both have to do with positive mental reinforcement. The brain is a computer, you just have to get it to execute the right program.
May 8th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
its probably not so much the “brain”, that is the conscious mind, but the unconscious mind, which needs to be reinforced…”follow your rules” f.e., it is not sufficient to HATE to not follow your rules, you have to LOVE to follow your rules…true affirmation happens in the unconscious mind