Surgeons, auditors, and criminal justice professionals assessing recidivism experience skill erosion. Developing and maintaining expertise requires more than just time.
Professionals do not experience practice (deliberate practice) in the same way, because professionals are totally engaged in the improvement process.
Talent is misperceived as an "inborn gift." Activity-specific talent as a gift doesn't exist (according to research).
Great performance flows from deliberate practice. Expertise is AVAILABLE if we do the work. Colvin says "it is an activity DESIGNED for you at this moment." It pushes you just beyond what you can currently do (leaving the COMFORT ZONE). It is REPEATABLE at high volume. Colvin discusses the neurobiology of myelination (the correlate of "muscle memory," as muscles don't have memory). FEEDBACK is critical. It's hard because it incorporates mistakes and failure.
How does the UCONN women's team keep winning? They practice highly realistic drills that are extremely intense. For example, they practice with a 24-second shot clock, not the usual shot clock. "Practice is hard so games are easy."
Fighter pilots during Vietnam improved dramatically with training intensity, "highly realistic simulation at an intense level."
Be specific when designing training. "What am I learning?" After you finish, reflect on the experience. Then adjust. It's more work than we're accustomed to doing.
Consider using "case studies" of what worked (and what didn't).
Future high value skills will differ from 'traditional' skills because they will inform human interaction, empathy, collaboration, storytelling.
