Debunking the "1,000 hours of practice" myth

Posted by Chris Murtland
Nov 12, 2011 at 06:32 PM

Playing a musical instrument also involves physical dexterity and coordination that is absent from knowledge work (assuming you can already type extremely fast).

Deliberate practice doesn’t just mean the opposite of random - it means consciously working at the edge of one’s abilities to increase the failure rate (and therefore the learning rate). This seems more applicable to acquiring skills than productivity in general. While you need some time to learn and stretch yourself in any endeavor, in most settings a daily, several-hour morning and afternoon session of that is going to be the opposite of productive, because your output is going to be greater from skills you already have than from ones you are still learning.

I think focusing is pretty much an act of the will. Software may make it easier once you’ve decided, by hiding distractions or providing a function like hoisting, for example. But you still had to decide in the first place to hoist that particular topic or start that minimalist editor instead of checking email, reading feeds, etc. Of course, you can set up your environment and workflow to make that choice easier, and being consistent over time can make it a habit. But I think it’s still willpower and habits rather than specific software that make that work.

Chris