Not All Practice Makes Perfect
nautil.us
Not All Practice Makes Perfect
1–10 of 62 posts
Re: Not All Practice Makes Perfect
#2I thought it was way too verbose going over too many examples to make a simple point. "Okay, I get it, what used to be exceptional is now just "meh".. Get to the point"..
It didn't address the actual matter, the one in the title, that not all practice makes perfect, until very far in the article.
I then thought about an article that would have given much more information with fewer words, a seminal paper entitled "The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance" by Anders Ericsson.
I was then surprised taking a look at the article's author.
Re: Not All Practice Makes Perfect
#3I thought it was way too verbose going over too many examples to make a simple point. "Okay, I get it, what used to be exceptional is now just "meh".. Get to the point".. It didn't address the actual matter, the one in the title, that not all practice makes perfect, until very far in the article. I then thought about an article that would have given much more information with fewer words, a seminal paper entitled "Th…
Thank you for reminding me of that paper's title. Jacobian mentioned it to me at PyCaribbean, but I've since been hunting for it.
It is available for free at https://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/freakonomics/pdf/...
Re: Not All Practice Makes Perfect
#4I thought it was way too verbose going over too many examples to make a simple point. "Okay, I get it, what used to be exceptional is now just "meh".. Get to the point".. It didn't address the actual matter, the one in the title, that not all practice makes perfect, until very far in the article. I then thought about an article that would have given much more information with fewer words, a seminal paper entitled "Th…
Sometimes when teaching, repetition of examples to drive the point is key so it makes sense that for a vulgarization article, the same author takes time to get to the point while for an academic paper, he gets directly to the point...
And this is why I was bored out of my mind in school as a kid.
Thanks for the name of the academic paper, I'll spend some time reading it.
Re: Not All Practice Makes Perfect
#5Something I've noticed, which the article doesn't quite say (but sure hints at): you can accidentally teach yourself performance-degrading "techniques" if you keep practicing beyond a certain point.
I used to study (modern) drums 5+ hours a day. This would happen sometimes, around the time when I was learning a new technique: I'd start on the new material, practice it for a while, then I'd get it to a so-so point and I'd stall there making the same mistake over and over again. At that point I would have to stop and play something else and only come back to the new material the next day, otherwise it would take me weeks to get past the plateau.
The thing is, I think, when you practice, your body (or, I guess, your mind) doesn't know what you're learning- whether it's good or bad. Maybe for dancers or athletes there is some physical feedback, some pain from doing the wrong thing, but for many other types of performance there isn't and so it's very easy to just practice the wrong thing and learn it really, really well.
Re: Not All Practice Makes Perfect
#6The article keeps hinting at deliberate practice including,
> The approach that he took, which we will call “purposeful practice,” turned out to be incredibly successful for him. It isn’t always so successful, as we shall see, but it is more effective than the usual just-enough method—and it is a step toward deliberate practice, which is our ultimate goal.
but then cuts off before it actually describes deliberate practice... guess they want you to buy the book.
Re: Not All Practice Makes Perfect
#7Something I've noticed, which the article doesn't quite say (but sure hints at): you can accidentally teach yourself performance-degrading "techniques" if you keep practicing beyond a certain point. I used to study (modern) drums 5+ hours a day. This would happen sometimes, around the time when I was learning a new technique: I'd start on the new material, practice it for a while, then I'd get it to a so-so point and…
> you can accidentally teach yourself performance-degrading "techniques" if you keep practicing beyond a certain point.
Re: Not All Practice Makes Perfect
#8Something I've noticed, which the article doesn't quite say (but sure hints at): you can accidentally teach yourself performance-degrading "techniques" if you keep practicing beyond a certain point. I used to study (modern) drums 5+ hours a day. This would happen sometimes, around the time when I was learning a new technique: I'd start on the new material, practice it for a while, then I'd get it to a so-so point and…
I think it is a common mistake by people starting to learn for example an instrument. You play the new piece, often a bit too fast, and make a mistake. Then just repeat in the same way, making exactly the same mistake over and over again. The hope is that if you play it enough times and put in enough effort you will cease making the mistake. That is of course wrong. Instead you learn the mistake really really well.
What you should do is to play it slow enough so you are sure not to make any mistakes. Sometimes that is ridiculously slow.
Re: Not All Practice Makes Perfect
#9Something I've noticed, which the article doesn't quite say (but sure hints at): you can accidentally teach yourself performance-degrading "techniques" if you keep practicing beyond a certain point. I used to study (modern) drums 5+ hours a day. This would happen sometimes, around the time when I was learning a new technique: I'd start on the new material, practice it for a while, then I'd get it to a so-so point and…
>you can accidentally teach yourself performance-degrading "techniques" if you keep practicing beyond a certain point.
But only if your practicing is no longer "deliberate practice" as defined by the author. Practice alone isn't the problem. Deliberate practice will always result in improvements. That's what I'm getting from the article.
Re: Not All Practice Makes Perfect
#10Something I've noticed, which the article doesn't quite say (but sure hints at): you can accidentally teach yourself performance-degrading "techniques" if you keep practicing beyond a certain point. I used to study (modern) drums 5+ hours a day. This would happen sometimes, around the time when I was learning a new technique: I'd start on the new material, practice it for a while, then I'd get it to a so-so point and…
It's the same thing for sports. Even with pain as feedback something happens during sleep that helps you better absorb new lessons. The other thing is that for an athlete learning a new movement pattern they need time to build supporting muscles and perhaps improve mobility.