Becoming an Expert: Mindful Practice, Constant Improvement, Again and Again

Anne Zelenka has written an inspiring post on everyone can be an expert on anything. She highlights the importance of practice and seeking for improvements. Experts are different to others because they always search for better and more efficient ways to do the tasks. Practice your skills mindfully by paying attention is the other key:

Is there something you wish you were expert at? Tennis or golf? Web design? Coding with Ruby or Ajax, perhaps Java? Writing, fiction or non? Parenting, maybe? The most exciting news I’ve read recently says that if you want to be an expert and you put in the time and effort, you can do it. Practice is more important than talent. But the kind of practice you do matters. You need to practice mindfully. In The New Brain (recommended by Kathy Sierra), Richard Restak highlights the research of psychologist Anders Ericsson who has found that paying attention while developing skills is critical: “In order to achieve superior performance in a chosen field, the expert must counteract the natural impulse to gain an automated performance as soon as possible.” Don’t prematurely automate your skills, at least the ones in which you want to become expert. …

Full of wisdom. The words motivate me, and I hope they encourage you to master something you are passionate about.

Becoming an Expert: Mindful Practice, Constant Improvement, Again and Again - [Anne 2.0]