Practice Beats Perfection

Notes

Claim

The only, and best way to improve is through practice Deliberate Practice is the best way to develop skills.

Explanation

This goes against our innate and misguided perception that we should focus on Perfectionism paralyzes action through unattainable standards, that only by generating perfect outputs we would improve.

Why it matters

When we focus on generating as many experiences as possible instead of the "perfect one", we increase the chance of finding or creating useful information.

Examples

This was disproved when students were asked to either take 100 photos as they wish, or try to have only 1 perfect photo. Not only that the first group had more photos, that's given, but they also had better photos! It might be also by chance, but most likely this is because they learned during the process and their Failure is a necessary part of learning and growth gave them Feedback is information that enables behavioral improvement on how to improve and do better next time First attempts are inherently lower quality than iterations.

Supporters

Research shows that only Consistency compounds results through reliable repeated action brings better results as opposed to Planning is anticipating the future and preparing action accordingly that only gets you so far.

Opposers

There's a real limit to this, though: Automation of skill makes weaknesses permanent — racking up reps without paying attention can lock bad habits in just as easily as it builds good ones, so the quantity only helps when it comes with some awareness of what you're doing.

Open questions

How much conscious attention does practice actually need to avoid entrenching the wrong habits — is any repetition enough, or only certain kinds?

Visual