Peak

The work of Anders Ericsson changed my life. In this book, he describes his research into how certain people become really good at what they do. They all use one particular approach to achieving excellence. First, through a teacher, they learn the specific skills they need for their chosen activity. Then, they devote large amounts of time to practicing each skill to the point of mastery. Finally, with more practice, they learn to put all the skills together.

This way of learning is familiar to anyone who’s played a sport or a musical instrument. But it had never been applied… show more.

In this book, my friend the late Professor K Anders Ericsson, proves that innate talent is not the most important factor in achieving expertise in any field.

Instead, deliberate practice is the key to improving performance and achieving mastery. But deliberate practice is not the same as regular practice: it involves specific and focused efforts to improve skills, often with the guidance of a teacher or coach.

It requires a high level of concentration and effort and can be mentally and physically exhausting. The book provides practical advice on how to apply this concept to any field.

There are three legs to the creativity stool: craft, timing, and distribution. When I started researching creativity, I assumed that craft was heavily reliant on natural born talent. K. Anders Ericsson is the leading academic in the field of talent development. This book makes clear a surprising, but important point: natural-born talent is probably at best grossly overstated, and probably non-existent. We can learn world-class levels of talent if we have the right access to time, resources, and motivation.