Bric Slade TC Chpt. 4

Summary: The formula for deep practice can be achieved. As you might have guessed, deep practice is different than normal practice. Deep practice depends on how well you can focus on making a connection between what is correct and what is incorrect, so that your mind can reflexively wrap those neural circuits with more "broadband". The first thing we need to do in our practice is chunk it up. You can't eat an elephant in one bite, and similarily you can't do a whole lot of things in one move. You have to take it a step at a time, whether it be a song, or a dance, or a series of random numbers you are memorizing. You have to break it up into smaller chunks. By looking at its inner architecture up close and personal you can understand it more and more. You can focus on simple mistakes you are making within the smaller chunk, and once you have perfected the chunk you add more chunks but continuously learning the whole, as a chunk. You have to be able to absorb the whole chunk at some point. You have to listen to the song, watch the dance, you have to get the feel of it. You need to be able to slow it down. Going slow allows you to focus in on more errors than you noticed the first time when you were trying to get done as fast as you could! It helps you be more precise which is exactly what we want when we are firing our electricity down those "correct" neural circuits. You focus your myelin production on that specific strand of neurons. Secondly, you need to repeat it. This is a constant progression. The best way to stop a genius from being a genius is to stop them from practicing for a month. It only takes a mere 30 days of not practicing and the myelin begins to break down. People in most hotbeds practice 3 to 5 hours a day, full on attentive repetition style. Thirdly and probably most importantly, you must have an internal model of what you are trying to become. If the model has outgrown you, you need a new one. You need one that will always keep you stretching, one that will help you be able to differentiate good from bad, and what you need to do to change. Pick a target, reach for it, evaluate the gap between you and the target and start over again. This is how you don't get lost in space, forgetting which way is up and down. You have a spot on the horizon your always working towards.

Key Terms: Deep Practice Repetition, Chunking, SLOW, HSE, Focused Struggle

Key Concept: Struggle doesn't cut it. Focused struggling in a specific direction creates genius.

Making Connections: I need to make sure when I practice I know what I am practicing for. Where I am going. I need to be able to notice my flaws and reach to perfect them. If I am practicing without these in mind I'm not going to get anywhere are I'm going to get really good at doing something I don't want to be good at doing. Chunking and slowing down my practice will help me to notice specific things in my own genius, and keeping an internal model will help to make that genius stronger.