Deliberate Practice: The Key to Expert Skill Development

Seeking sports excellence? Follow the example of elite performers.

Expert athletic skill isn’t something you’re born with and doesn’t randomly happen. The expertise of athletes—as well as singers, dancers, musicians, actors, and other skill-driven performers—requires practice, but not just any rehearsal will suffice. What’s necessary is something far more work- and time-intensive: Deliberate Practice (DP).

The DP concept originated from the research of K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Th. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Romer (1993). That study, and others that followed, investigated how expert performers in a variety of activities—including elite athletics—attained their elite level of competence. The most effective approach was discovered to be, and labeled, Deliberate Practice.

DP was largely brought into the public domain by renowned achievement expert and author Malcolm Gladwell in his best-selling book Outliers: The Story of Success (2008) Gladwell mentions Deliberate Practice without much explanation of the concept,

Let's explore DP and what differentiates it from other forms of practice.

As generally defined by Ericsson et al (1993, 2016, 2018):

DP is a process consisting of activities designed by a teacher, coach, instructor, or mentor for the sole purpose of effectively improving aspects of an individual’s performance. It involves highly structured, specific activities designed to improve performance. These tasks are custom developed to overcome weaknesses, improve strengths, and maintain the progress of individual performers. The skill and practice/rehearsal drills are carefully monitored by the teacher, coach, instructor, mentor in collaboration with the athlete/performer.

A critical component of Deliberate Practice is immediate feedback to provide positive reinforcement of a job well done and, most importantly, to give instantaneous correction of the flaws that disrupt optimal execution of a skill. Such feedback is provided by an observing teacher, coach, instructor, mentor. DP is a highly individualized activity, best delivered to the performer through a one-on-one process involving a knowledgeable instructor.

Deliberate practice can be a frustrating experience, as corrective feedback is often difficult to hear and process. Adding to the difficulty is that significant improvement can progress at a slower than desire pace.

DP may not always be fun, and can be downright unpleasant, but the person engaged in a DP activity isn’t doing it for pleasure; they’re motivated by the goal to improve performance. Entertainment isn’t the primary goal.

The long-term improvement achieved, however, is richly rewarding in the aftermath of what can be a long, challenging journey. Research by Ericsson et al reveals that reaching the outer limits of expertise can take 10 years of ongoing, continuous deliberate practice. Patience, diligence, and resilience is required, demonstrating traits not ordinarily possessed by all athletes and other performers.

Comparing Deliberate Practice and Other Types of Practice

Three distinct kinds of practice were identified by Ericsson and his colleagues: Play, Structured Practice, and Deliberate Practice. Play is exactly as you probably imagine. A good way to think of Structured Practice is what happens at a team or group practice with multiple athletes/performers involved. Deliberate Practice is a more intense, individualized process.

These forms of practice can be distinguished from each other along five dimensions: Goal, perspective, monitoring, correction, and gratification.

• Goal: On this dimension, Deliberate Practice and Structured Practice are identical: to improve performance. Fun is the primary purpose of Play. All three are important and valuable within the correct context.
• Perspective: Deliberate Practice and Structured Practice also share a similar long-range look at things: the pursuit of outcome. Play is all about the immersed experience of just plain fun.
• Mentoring: Here is where the differences between DP and Structure Practice begin to emerge. Both forms of practice are observed and tracked by a coach, instructor, etc., but Deliberate Practice is more carefully monitored in a one-on-one process with an expert coach. Play is very loosely monitored if at all with the primary purpose that nobody gets hurt.
• Correction: Feedback is delivered immediately during DP instruction by a watchful coach, teacher, etc. That’s in contrast to the delayed feedback from an instructor, or self-discovery, occurring at a group Structured Practice due to the presence of so many athletes/participants, and a limited number of coaches. Thus, consistent immediate feedback from an informed observer is logistically difficult to deliver. No correction if any instructional correction happens during a Play activity.
• Gratification: Play is inherently pleasurable and serves as the fundamental motivation behind what gets us hooked on sports and other performance activities as a critical starting point. Gratification from Deliberate Practice is delayed, as previously explained, because the goal of ultimate expertise is a long-term and challenging pursuit. Sense of satisfaction for Structured Practice can be immediate, due to the social benefits of team or group practice and can also be delayed if improvement is a pursuit of the individual in question.

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Takeaways

All three of these activities—Play, Structured, Practice, and Deliberate Practice—are critical to successful sports and other performance endeavors. Without the pleasure of Play we wouldn’t be doing it at all. Structured Practice is the foundation of teamwork and ultimate team effectiveness. DP is required for elite skill development.

Success for the individual athlete/performer hinges on an intense dedication to self-improvement, best delivered by Deliberate Practice activities. Motivation for such devotion must come from the athlete. Coaches, instructors, mentors, or parents can encourage, but the ultimate decision to invest in such intensity is up to the athlete/performer. Forced Deliberate Practice can result in resentful frustration, burnout, and potential quitting of the sport/performance activity.

It's the athlete/performer’s choice.

Research demonstrates that most performers will not effectively engage long-term Deliberate Practice until they are developmentally ready to make the commitment based on their love for the sport/performance activity and their perception of having advanced ability. That convergence of influence doesn’t usually happen until their teenage years.

When the athlete/performer is ready and decides to dedicate themself, have at it.