Four connected elements
Purposeful practice combines a specific goal, focused attention, feedback, and movement beyond a comfortable level of performance. Each element changes what happens during repetition.
Idea · A CLOSER LOOK
Purposeful practice
ABOUT THIS IDEA
Practice with specific goals, focused attention, feedback, and work beyond your current comfort zone. It can be purposeful without meeting the narrower requirements of deliberate practice.
Those features make practice purposeful; calling it deliberate requires the additional conditions described in Ericsson’s research.
A CLOSER LOOK
The story behind it.
Practice with specific goals, focused attention, feedback, and work beyond your current comfort zone. It can be purposeful without meeting the narrower requirements of deliberate practice.
The next attempt changes
Feedback provides information that can alter the following attempt. A session becomes a sequence of adjustments toward a particular improvement.
START HERE
Ericsson & Harwell · research paper (opens in a new tab)Source for Purposeful practice: Ericsson & Harwell · research paper.
Sources for this closer look
Ericsson & Harwell · research paper (opens in a new tab)Explore the original.
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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.
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Discover the person. Follow the work.
PersonAnders Ericsson
A related idea with a broader definition than deliberate practice.
START WITHPeak
LearningPractice
BookPeak
Compare goals, feedback, and focused effort with deliberate practice.
EXPLORE THIS WORKAnders Ericsson
LearningPractice
BookA Mind for Numbers
Connect practical study habits with a specific learning goal and useful feedback.
EXPLORE THIS WORKBarbara Oakley
LearningPerformance
IdeaDesirable Difficulty
Both invite challenge in the service of improvement, while describing different frameworks.
START WITHExplore the original
LearningPractice
BookMindset
Connect beliefs about developing ability with focused goals, feedback, and changes to practice.
EXPLORE THIS WORKCarol Dweck
LearningPsychology
IdeaDeliberate practice
Another selected work from Anders Ericsson: 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 THIS WORKAnders Ericsson
LearningPractice