Peak

There's this thread that runs through a lot of different subjects: fitness, marketing, learning, cleaning, etc. If I was to boil it down, it would be: just do it (and do matters much more than it).

The version of that thread runs throughout Peak is a little bit different. It goes: You can't practice without paying attention. If you're having fun you're probably not growing as fast as you could. You can develop almost any skill you want to a high degree. Whatever your excuse is, it's probably bullshit.

If that's a message you need convincing of, this is a great book to do it. If you've been primed by other books like Growth Mindset or The Power of Habit that explore similar territory, you might not need to read the whole thing. Either way, there's a good 20-30 pages that break down the conceptual pieces of how to practice deliberately and in a way that leads to fast growth, and I found that really useful. Your mileage may vary, but if you think you might be interested in this, you probably will be.

An excellent review of the current state of the literature on deliberate practice, by the man himself. Mr. Ericsson has been the principal researcher in the science of expertise for the past 2 decades. Here, he manages to write a book for a general audience without losing his scientific rigour. He even addresses some of the misconceptions around the “10,000 hour rule” that has gained popularity in the post-[b:Outliers: The Story of Success 3228917 Outliers The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344266315s/3228917.jpg 3364437] world. I was glad to get a definition of what deliberate practice, as well as an application guide, and I look forward to applying the concepts in this book to my own work this year.