{"id":6011,"date":"2019-12-15T13:11:27","date_gmt":"2019-12-15T21:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bidsketch.com\/blog\/?p=6011"},"modified":"2019-12-16T10:31:43","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T18:31:43","slug":"deliberate-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bidsketch.com\/blog\/sales\/deliberate-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Your Business Needs Deliberate Practice (and How to Do It)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Practice\"What separates you from geniuses like Mozart, Picasso, and Steve Jobs?<\/p>\n

Natural talent?<\/p>\n

Sheer amount of practice time \u2013 the blood, sweat, and tears they shed for their craft?<\/p>\n

Not exactly.<\/p>\n

The way we view top-level performers has changed dramatically over the years. We used to think people who produced such remarkable work were qualitatively different than the rest of us. For a long time, the idea of \u201cnatural talent\u201d kept scientists from really delving into the topic of excellence.<\/p>\n

Then came books like Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers<\/em>, which came to the conclusion that mastery takes thousands of hours of devotion to one’s craft. The \u201c10,000 hour rule\u201d was born.<\/p>\n

But groundbreaking research by psychology professor K. Anders Ericsson revealed an often overlooked aspect of mastery: quality<\/em> of practice time is just as important as quantity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It’s a subtle distinction, but a crucial one. Figuring out how to apply it will make a huge impact on your business.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Dangers of Falling into Your Comfort Zone<\/h2>\n

During your first few years in business, everything’s new and exciting<\/a>. Sure, there’s stress and tough times. But there’s also a lot of real-world learning going on too.<\/p>\n

Running a business teaches you things you’d never learn from lectures or books. There’s no substitute for that proven, on-the-ground experience.<\/p>\n

Yet over time, the excitement fades. You settle in to a routine of marketing, nurturing leads, and keeping clients happy. Your schedule is full\u2026 but you’re growing what feels like a sustainable business.<\/p>\n

Becoming an expert-level<\/em> talent \u2013 someone who dominates their niche<\/a> \u2013 pays off in the most interesting opportunities, the best reputation, and the ability to charge multiple times more than others without having customers bat an eye.<\/p>\n

But 99% of people won’t ever get there.<\/p>\n

It isn’t due to a lack of good intentions, either. After all, people are already<\/em> paying you for your expertise. Finding the time<\/a> (or motivation) to practice your skills is tough when it means turning down moneymaking opportunities.<\/p>\n

And many people who do dedicate time to practice every day won’t reach the highest levels\u2026<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Why Most People Never Become Elite in Business<\/h2>\n

\"numberPhoto Credit: <\/span>Leo Reynolds<\/a><\/p>\n

Consider the typical path of a high-level (but not expert-level) performer:<\/p>\n

At first they improve rapidly. There’s a lot to learn, but progress comes quickly when motivation is high<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But then that improvement starts to taper off. People see diminishing returns, putting in more and more effort, until they reach a stage that Maria Popova from Brain Pickings calls the \u201cOK plateau<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The OK plateau is \u201cthe point at which our autopilot of expertise confines us to a sort of comfort zone, where we perform the task in question in efficient enough a way that we cease caring for improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, we get good enough to serve our customers<\/a> comfortably, but we end up spending the majority of our workdays on autopilot. Our skills stagnate over time. It becomes extremely difficult to really jump \u201cto the next level\u201d in quality of work output if this is our only practice.<\/p>\n

Competent performers might spend plenty of time honing their craft. That’s necessary, but not sufficient<\/em>, for expert-level output.<\/p>\n

To reach that highest level, they’ll have to change how they’re honing their craft. They’ll have to change the way they practice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What Is Deliberate Practice?<\/h2>\n

Let’s start at the beginning:<\/p>\n

What is deliberate practice?<\/p>\n

Corbett Barr sums it up nicely. He defines deliberate practice<\/a> as a \u201chighly-structured activity engaged in with the specific goal of improving performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top performers in a wide range of disciplines \u2013 everything from musicians and athletes, to CEOs and chess grandmasters \u2013 have embraced this type of practice to reach the pinnacles of their fields. So can you!<\/p>\n

How Is It Different Than \u201cNormal\u201d Practice?<\/h2>\n

\"deliberatePhoto Credit: <\/span>shock264<\/a><\/p>\n

Most of us don’t consider what we do day-to-day in our business \u201cpractice\u201d at all. We’re just finishing projects, marketing<\/a>, and serving customers and clients.<\/p>\n

We are<\/em> practicing in a way, but it’s subconscious. We just keep chugging away trying to hit Gladwell’s 10,000 hours and build our skills through sheer repetition.<\/p>\n

Deliberate practice is much different because it’s conscious and difficult. It forces us to focus on our weaknesses instead of our strengths.<\/p>\n

Journalist Joshua Foer<\/a> explains the distinction well:<\/p>\n

When most musicians sit down to practice, they play the parts of pieces that they\u2019re good at. Of course they do: It\u2019s fun to succeed. But expert musicians tend to focus on the parts that are hard, the parts they haven\u2019t yet mastered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When you practice deliberately, you put yourself into challenging situations that push you to the edge of your comfort zone. Riding the \u201cedge of your competence\u201d builds new skills and helps you continue to improve.<\/p>\n

What Are the Key Ingredients?<\/h2>\n

Here are the common elements of effective deliberate practice courtesy of MIT professor and author Cal Newport<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Designed to improve performance.<\/strong> Deliberate practice should stretch your abilities and get you out of your comfort zone. Most day-to-day work doesn’t do this.<\/li>\n
  2. Repeated a lot.<\/strong> It’s not just enough to practice deliberately; it’s combining<\/em> deliberate practice with high repetition that develops expert-level skills and intuition.<\/li>\n
  3. Generates feedback.<\/strong> How well is your practice going? Your opinion doesn’t count, unfortunately. Relying on hard numbers when you can (sales, analytics statistics, etc.) will help you fine-tune your skills.<\/li>\n
  4. Mentally demanding.<\/strong> Deliberate practice takes concentration and focus<\/a>. That’s what separates it from \u201cautopilot\u201d activities where you just do the same things you’ve always done.<\/li>\n
  5. It’s hard.<\/strong> Focusing on your weaknesses instead of your strengths isn’t always fun\u2026 but that’s what it takes to reach the top of your field.<\/li>\n
  6. Requires good goals.<\/strong> Watch out for vague goals with results outside your control. Good goals are more about the process (which is in your control). Look into SMART goals<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Making Deliberate Practice\u00a0Work for Your Business<\/h2>\n

    Deliberately practicing for your business might seem more complicated than something with clear rules and objective markers of success (like golf or chess)\u2026<\/p>\n

    But it doesn’t have to be. Try these tips to distill your business skills into small, manageable chunks and develop the practice regimen you need to become a true expert:<\/p>\n

    Forget about Being an Instant Success<\/h3>\n

    \"overnightPhoto Credit: <\/span>Photographing Travis<\/a><\/p>\n

    This idea is ingrained deep in our culture.<\/p>\n

    But it’s time to ditch it before you go any further.<\/p>\n

    The news is loaded with stories of \u201covernight success.\u201d Start-up founders. Writers who exploded out of obscurity to earn hundreds of millions on their book series.<\/p>\n

    Becoming the next overnight sensation is an attractive idea. No doubt. When you buy into it, you get to shift the responsibility for your own success<\/a> over to luck or the right circumstances.<\/p>\n

    This is dangerous because people use it to justify why they keep doing what they’re doing. They weren’t an overnight success like so many others they hear about\u2026 so why try to change things now?<\/p>\n

    The reality: behind virtually every \u201covernight success\u201d rests 10 or more years<\/em> of consistent, deliberate practice on their craft. In a study of 500 of the world’s most influential symphony pieces (covering 76 composers), cognitive psychology professor John Hayes found that virtually every piece was written at least 10 years into the composer’s career<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    It’s time to stop envying people’s successes or dreaming of becoming the next new sensation. There’s only one way you can make that dream a reality: lots of deliberate practice.<\/p>\n

    Break It down into Tiny \u201cMicro Chunks\u201d (and Only Practice One at a Time)<\/h3>\n

    \"microscope\"Photo Credit: <\/span>Amy M. Youngs<\/a><\/p>\n

    The thought of practicing for business might sound daunting.<\/p>\n

    With good reason!<\/p>\n

    No matter which niche you’re in, your business has a lot of moving parts. There’s marketing and product development. Lead nurturing <\/a>and copywriting<\/a>. The list goes on and on \u2013 especially if you’re doing it all on your own.<\/p>\n

    That’s why it’s a good idea to really hone in on exactly what you’d like to improve. Don’t just drill down into one aspect of your business. Otherwise you’ll end up with a deliberate practice goal like \u201cI want to improve my marketing.\u201d That’s too complex to be of much use.<\/p>\n

    Let’s say you do want to improve your marketing. That’s a fine place to start, but what happens when we dive deeper?<\/p>\n