Deliberate Practice: What History can Teach us About Mastery
How is mastery achieved? I mean that extraordinary level of greatness in deeds, or character, or professional skill so uncommon most fail in the attempt. Is there a special recipe? A heap of genius, a dash of endurance, and a pinch of good luck. What do people do differently to be considered an expert? They use deliberate practice.
Enduring through obstacles, setbacks, and failure. Spiritedly pushing forward, learning, and getting better. So it goes for the expert boxer who first practiced 100,000 punches. The master biologist who first analyzed 1,000 laboratory specimen. The expert teacher who instructed 80 students before breaking through to a single one.
Deliberate practice is the key to mastery. In this article, we’ll briefly look at some people in history who excelled in their fields and how deliberate practice influenced their extraordinary achievements.
DELIBERATE PRACTICE
It was 5:50 am.
The sun quietly crept above the horizon, but down on earth was the sound of a rhythmic and rapid patter. It was the sound of shoes hitting an asphalt street as Muhammad Ali started his daily six-mile run. A routine he adhered to with the religiousness of a high priest.
This was no ordinary run, it was “roadwork,” —a phrase that should make a couch potato shirk in fear— it involved all the grueling aspects of a high endurance marathon, but with things like push-ups and suicide dashes added into it. Designed as a deliberate practice to mimic the movements and strength needed in a boxing ring.
That bright morning Ali started running at a steady pace as a traditional marathon runner would, then suddenly, as if possessed he burst into a high-intensity sprint. Steadying the pace again, he turned onto a familiar street with a steep incline, a conscious choice to match the resistance he’d face moving toward an aggressive heavyweight opponent.
The average onlooker would’ve been befuddled as he dropped down from a full sprint into 100 push-ups. Finally, in the last mile, he turned and ran backward. Sometimes, you have to retreat in a fight and give up ground for better positioning.
Every movement, every exercise, and every training method was the deliberate practice to meet the performance demands of a heavyweight brawl.
Few under the sun mastered boxing to the level of Muhammad Ali. A sport requiring speed, strength, explosiveness, endurance, intelligence, and cunning. Skills gifted to him by practice. His greatness was achieved through deliberate practice. A conscious daily routine helped make him one of the greatest boxers in history.
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit.” Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”
— MUHAMMAD ALI
DISCIPLINED PRACTICE
A man sat at his fortepiano and stretched his fingers in preparation for a 3-hour practice session. He stared down with intense focus as he struck his fingers and thumbs down onto several of the 61 keys. By virtue of determination, he made it through his long session. All the while keeping proper finger control, and fighting through mistakes to find a perfect balance in sound.
His name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, now considered one of the greatest classical pianists of all time. He composed over 600 works. How? Through disciplined practice.
He studied his craft with a fanatical drive. Attending concerts nightly, he listened to other composers, wrote, and rewrote his own. Mozart’s discipline practice was adhered to with such intensity he often only got 5 hours of sleep.
“It is my custom to write for a time before going to bed. I often sit up writing till one, and rise again at six.”
— MOZART
COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE
Michelangelo Besso, listened to a close friend discuss matter, space-time, and energy. It was just one in a series of regular discussions on the latest in mathematics, philosophy, and current events.
Besso’s friend believed that imagination was more important than knowledge and made astronomical contributions to physics, mathematics, medicine, science, and philosophy. World-renowned, and thought to be one of histori’s most brilliant minds, his friend was Albert Einstein.
Einstein didn’t cultivate his brilliance alone. He was surrounded by family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues who all helped shape his mind. The practice of collaboration fueled his mastery.
Sharing ideas with the brightest minds of his time was a practice that made better in his own genius. Einstein’s portrait artist noticed that he brought a quite academic-looking man with him during his sitting as he put forth different tentative theories. The man only nodded or remained silent as Einstein spoke. When asked who the man was Einstein replied:
“That’s my mathematician who examines problems which I put before him and checks their validity. You see, I am not myself a good mathematician.”
— ALBERT EINSTEIN
Collaboration makes us smarter and better. In a world of competition, we tend to forget the practice of working together. Imagine if you could absorb the knowledge and experience of others who’ve achieved greatness. You can, through the practice of collaboration.
The reality is, most of the people you see that are exceptional, who are phenomenal in some sport, academics, the arts, science, or any other endeavor got their way because of deliberate, disciplined, and collaborative practice. They practiced rigorously, and routinely and they collaborated with people who could push them to do better.