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Idea · A CLOSER LOOK

Deliberate practice

Practice informed by expertise

ABOUT THIS IDEA

In Ericsson's framework, deliberate practice is a specific form of purposeful practice, informed by established knowledge of expert performance and effective training methods, often with a qualified teacher.

The narrower definition matters. Expert-informed exercises, feedback, and correction distinguish deliberate practice from simply accumulating hours.

A CLOSER LOOK

The story behind it.

In Ericsson's framework, deliberate practice is a specific form of purposeful practice, informed by established knowledge of expert performance and effective training methods, often with a qualified teacher.

Training designed around performance

In Ericsson’s account, deliberate practice uses activities specifically designed to improve performance in a developed field, with feedback and correction rather than simple repetition.

Expertise has structure

The concept draws on domains with established ways to identify skilled performance and train toward it. It is narrower than any difficult or attentive practice session.

START HERE

Ericsson & Harwell · research paper (opens in a new tab)

Source for Deliberate practice: Ericsson & Harwell · research paper.

Sources for this closer lookEricsson & Harwell · research paper (opens in a new tab)

FOLLOW THE CONNECTIONS

There’s a thread here.

HOPPER THREAD · 3 CONNECTIONS

When trying harder needs a better plan

Belief, commitment, and practice answer different questions. Follow a reading path that makes those differences useful rather than declaring one book the answer to learning.

Updated edition cover of Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, with blue title lettering and colored horizontal bandsGrit by Angela Duckworth, with red title lettering and gray arrows pointing in different directions on a white coverComplete turquoise Vintage cover with diver on a board, Peak title, and both Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool named.Original explanatory diagram for Deliberate practice. In Ericsson's framework, deliberate practice is a specific form of purposeful practice, informed by established knowledge of expert performance and effective training methods, often with a qualified teacher.

Explore the original.

Follow the original source to explore the work in its own context.

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Sources & credits

Introductions are grounded in the sources below. Collection notes and reading prompts provide an editorial starting point; personal opinions are identified in the collection’s content.

Original explanatory diagram for Deliberate practice. In Ericsson's framework, deliberate practice is a specific form of purposeful practice, informed by established knowledge of expert performance and effective training methods, often with a qualified teacher.

Hopper Labs · original explanatory diagram; see cited research

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