The concept of "deep practice"

Deep practice is built on a paradox: struggling in certain targeted ways—operating at the edges of your ability, where you make mistakes—makes you smarter.

— Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code


I first heard about the concept of "deep practice" through the book The Talent Code, which is a particularly entertaining examination of the idea that talent is not necessarily a magical gift bestowed upon you in the womb. Talent can be created through your environment and with deep practice.

(This is not to say that some people aren't preternaturally gifted. It just means that there's hope for the rest of us.)

Okay, time for Science talk: Every time you challenge yourself—intellectually, emotionally, or physically—you increase the amount of myelin in your brain. Myelin is an insulating sheath that surrounds nerve fibers, and the more you fire a particular circuit, the more myelin wraps around it. This makes that particular circuits run faster and more efficiently. You're literally building express lanes for your brain, whether you're perfecting your tennis serve or writing a novel.

Geniuses are people with more myelin. How did they get that myelin? They built it.

But to be effective, to build myelin, practice can't just consist of recreational noodling. If you're great at playing scales, hours of scales won't grow your talent (myelin). You must push yourself. This is where deep practice comes in. Deep practice entails finding that sweet spot, where you're challenging yourself just beyond your limits, but you're not completely underwater.

This is a state that's also known as "flow." Coined by Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow is characterized by full absorption in the process of learning. When you're in flow or deep practice, you're so engrossed you can lose track of time and space. Flow has been described as something akin to a spiritual experience, but for now we're going to focus on it in terms of learning.

In order to be in flow, to build myelin, you need to work just beyond your limits.

This means that errors are not only inevitable—they're necessary. They're good. You want to make mistakes. If you're never reaching, you won't be in deep practice, you won't build myelin; you'll stay just where you are. Challenging yourself means entering unknown territory. That's where the magic happens.


Excellence is about striving for what is just out of reach and not quite making it; it is about grappling with tasks beyond current limitations and falling short again and again. The paradox of excellence is that it is built upon the foundations of necessary failure.

—Matthew Syed, Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham and the Science of Success

That quote is so important I'm going to repeat that last sentence again:

The paradox of excellence is that it is built upon the foundations of necessary failure.

Deep practice is, of course, different for each of us. When you've figured out what's comfortable for you, I challenge you to move just beyond those limits. As you practice, you'll begin to recognize that glimmer of anxiety, even discomfort, as you enter unknown territory. This is where the magic happens. Explore this place.


The important stuff I want you to take away, here: mistakes are good. The process is what counts. Have fun with not knowing what you're doing.

Prompt: Write about something you've deep-practiced in your life. It doesn't have to be intellectual. (Cartwheels? Backstroke? Call of Duty?) Was it frustrating? Deeply involving? Did hours pass like minutes?


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