Deliberate Practice Myths and uses

According to a 2019 update to the framework by Ericsson and Harwell, here is a quick recaindividualizedp of what is  needed for deliberate practice:

1. Deliberate practice is individualised training, led by an expert teacher/coach.

2. Deliberate practice must be done with a clear short-term goal in mind, which must be challenging but possible to achieve.

3. Deliberate practice should include immediate feedback 

4. Only tasks that can be repeated can be practiced deliberately.

According to Eccles and colleagues, there are 7 key principles to follow:

1. Adhering to established training techniques. 

2. Starting existing skills, start from the basics and then build up (loading)

3. Pushing your limits. 1 step at a time.

4. Mental representations. The more efficiently you recall information, the better your decision-making will be from which performance standpoint.

5. Get accurate feedback on where you’re at in relation to your goals. Then take this feedback into account and modify your practice accordingly.

6. Purpose, effort and focus. Don’t go through the motions(automaticity) The very core of the original deliberate practice concept is that experts become experts because they avoid performing skills automatically, and instead try to find weaknesses to improve upon, even when their skill execution is already satisfactory.

7. Specific goals. Don’t be general but specific in your objectives and goals, preferably with a performance evaluation timeframe.

That said, Eccles and colleagues also outlined a few things to bear in mind, which also build on Ericsson’s original definition:

1. Deliberate practice is not just practice. Repeating an exercise for repetitions is not being intentional in our development.
2. It’s important to pay attention to all aspects of the skill we’re trying to improve. It might ot be immediately clear where improvements could be had, but this is      precisely why deconstructing skills to its most basic components could come in useful.
3. Deliberate practice is not      about ‘out-practicing’ others. More is not always better. Quality matters!

…What’s the catch?

Here’s a few     about deliberate practice and expertise:

1. Some of you may have heard      of the ‘10k-hour rule’ — that is, you can only become an expert in a      certain skill or domain if you practice is it for at least ten thousand hours. However, the amount of practice needed to become n ‘expert’ differs  from person to person.
2. Lombardo and Deaner (2014)      expand that the environment the athlete is in needs to support your      deliberate practice habits.
3. According to Coutinho and      colleagues (2016), unstructured practice and competition can be      just as important for skill development. Indeed, many would argue that competition, deliberate practice and unstructured practice work in tandem to produce expertise (MacNamara et al., 2016).

Eccles, D. W., Leone, E. J., & Williams, A. M. (2020). Deliberate Practice: What Is It and How Can I Use It?. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 1–11.

Lombardo, M. P., & Deaner, R. O. (2014). You can’t teach speed: sprinters falsify the deliberate practice model of expertise. PeerJ, 2, e445.

MacNamara, B. N., Moreau, D., & Hambrick, D. Z. (2016). The relationship between deliberate practice and performance in sports: A meta-analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(3), 333–350.