Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool authored Peak with the intention of breaking the notion that "gifted" or "extraordinary" people are naturally born with an innate talent. In the course of their studies, they have not only proved this popular view wrong, but also pinpointed the true processes that make it happen. After looking through a multitude of people, they identified two types of practices that bring about the best improvement and skill in the most developed fields: "purposeful practice" and "deliberate practice." What distinguishes purposeful practice from deliberate practice is that purposeful practice is only pushing oneself past their comfort zone in order to improve, whereas deliberate practice takes it a step further and characterizes a more informed and instructed method. As Ericsson and Pool describe it, "Deliberate practice is purposeful practice that knows where it is going and how to get there" (98).
Firstly, deliberate practice requires a field of practice already developed and with a standard of excellence achieved earlier by past performers. They clearly allude to activities like sport, musical, or individual and team performance which have higher levels of competition than most hobbies people may have. Deliberate practice is seen in fields with "objective criteria" or a precedent for the best performances available (98). This explains its necessity of specific goals in order to improve specific elements of their performance. With well-developed fields, it is easier to set a standard of what should be one's target to improvement.
Secondly, mentors or teachers who can oversee a student's progress is required in deliberate practice. Teachers can help students improve themselves with specifically made activities for them. As mentioned earlier, when students have specific goals for improvement, teachers are able to adjust a plan to make it happen. This element of deliberate practice makes it so that the student gets feedback on what they do right or wrong. On one side, they can learn and continue, or on the other, search ways of addressing those problems.
To wrap it all up, a student's mental situation encompasses both these requirements. Like purposeful practice, deliberate practice still calls for one to push their own boundaries, which allows for a gradual step up in improvement. An important result of this is one's ability to incorporate old knowledge with new knowledge. The building of new skills modifies one's understanding of already learned techniques. To take it further, deliberate practice produces and develops one's "effective mental representations" which are key to becoming more precise and productive when trying to improve oneself (99). When people have the right representations to be aware of how well they perform, they are able to correct themselves and develop their skill more efficiently. With this information, Ericsson and Pool establish how the best performers truly reach the heights of what they do, and throughout Peak, they continuously prove the common belief of innate ability wrong.
Lara May Bacani
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ReplyDeleteI really like and support the argument of your book because I think it's true that someone's innate talent doesn't really mean much in a field of high competitivity unless that person pursues to invest time and practice to make them better. It kind of relates to the arguments in my book, Outliers, as well, and this particular subject speaks true to me because I've personally seen many people work hard at a talent they weren't naturally adept to as opposed to someone with a huge amount of giftedness but never expanded on it. I like that your book's argument really goes to show that practice makes perfect.
ReplyDeleteThis book intrigues me with its topics of innate ability, and how both the authors discuss its flaws. In many aspects of this type of ability, it is joyous thinking about the teacher situation that you discussed! Imagine always receiving the feedback you need, whether good or bad, to alter your actions for the following time. Although The Road to Character doesn't quite correlate to this type of mindset, we can consider their similar drive to beneficially modify one's way of living!
ReplyDeleteIt's great how everyone gets an opportunity to learn something new. Your definition of deliberate and purposeful practice is really important here, as it shows that many that have innate abilities still have a shot at going past their boundaries. It is all about pushing forward and not holding back, kind of like what's mentioned in Deep Work.
ReplyDeleteI definetely agree with your point that there are two types of practices. However the most beneficial one would be "purposeful practice" because we would be allowing ourselves to try new things by our own desire, rather than someone telling us to do so. I do agree with Genesis that having an inate talent allows people to go past their boundaries because it provides a sense of courage to do the impossible. The point that you have mentioned here is essential to the book at is often seen in our lives presently.
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