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The key path
- Becoming an expert requires dedicated and specific practice.
- The 10,000-hour rule suggests a lot of practice, but true mastery can take even longer.
- Expertise involves having specific skills and using them to achieve success.
Expertise is what separates the amateur from the true master in almost any field, from medicine to science to sports to artistic performance. The question of whether experts are born or made is more ancient in psychology than it is ancient: do genetics or experience play a greater role in shaping who we are?
Considerable attention has been paid to the “made” side of the debate. According to many researchers, expertise is acquired through dedicated practice.
But how does one go about becoming an expert? Can one be an expert with proper study and training?
This article explores what expertise is and how people become experts. It also discusses how long it takes to become an expert.
What is skill?
While it may be easy to tell who is and isn’t an expert, agreeing on a formal definition of expertise isn’t always so easy. How much do they know about you? Is it able to perform the action well? And at what point does one go from being merely good at something to being an expert?
Expertise can be defined as exceptional, elite, or peak performance on specific tasks in specific domains.
Specialist labels
People who achieve this level of expertise may be referred to as experts or by other terms such as:
- Authority
- Talented
- Maven
- Master
- Prodigy
- Virtuoso
The purpose of such labels is to indicate that the individual is at the top of their field. That field could be academics, writing, art, sports, music, science, math, or any other discipline. But each word has its own subtle nuances that indicate what kind of expert a person can be.
If skill is considered the result of hard work and practice, an expert is often described as a “master” or “virtuoso”. If a person’s talents are born of pure innate talent, they may be called “geniuses” or “prodigies.”
Components of Expertise
Knowledge, skill and achievement are all important components of expertise. Those who become experts acquire a body of knowledge that makes them one of the most knowledgeable in their field.
They also possess the skills they need to decide when and how to use their knowledge. Such skills are often learned, but they can also be influenced by natural talents and abilities.
Finally, those who specialize also achieve much more and beyond what the average person can do. They not only have knowledge and skills. He also put his skills and knowledge to work.
recovery
Experts aren’t just very good at what they do. They have skills and knowledge that others do not and they use these skills to achieve success in their field.
How long does it take to become an expert?
Researchers have tried to investigate how long it really takes to become an expert in any field. They have tried to determine how much time one has to devote to the study and practice of a subject in order to be considered an expert.
The 10,000 hour rule
A popular belief is that the key to becoming an expert is to devote at least 10,000 hours to the study and practice of a subject. This idea is based on a 1993 study in which researchers found that the most successful violinists at the Academy of Music spent an average of 10,000 hours practicing their instrument by age 20.
The idea gained prominence when pop psychology author Malcolm Gladwell coined the phrase “the ten thousand hour rule” in his 2008 book. Outliers. Gladwell points to the findings of the music study as well as the observations of other experts in their fields.
According to Gladwell, a person can become an expert in almost any field as long as they are willing to devote the required 10,000 hours to studying and practicing that subject or skill.
Problems with the 10,000-hour rule
Anders Eriksson is a peak performance and author expert Peak: The New Science of Expertise. He has studied experts from every walk of life including chess, sports, music and medicine. He is also the researcher behind the study from which Gladwell draws his conclusions about what benefits he has gained in becoming an expert.
Erickson has identified some important problems with the ten thousand hour rule.
Skilled is not the same as expert
First, while students of music studies were very good violinists by the age of 20, they were not masters. In other words, they were excellent players, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were masters of their craft. Erickson suggests that it is sometimes around the 20,000 to 25,000 hour mark that people truly become experts or masters of a skill or subject.
Some skills take longer to acquire
Secondly, not all skills are the same. Some skills require less than 10,000 hours to reach expert level, while others require much more.
10,000 hours was the average
Erickson also points out that Gladwell’s interpretation of his own research is flawed. While Gladwell assumed that all violinists in the music study had put in 10,000 hours of practice, this number was really just an average. Half of the violists studied by Erickson and his colleagues spent less More than 10,000 hours were spent practicing their instruments by age 20, while half spent more.
The role of deliberate practice
If 10,000 hours is not the answer, then what separates the amateur from the expert? Researchers believe that On purpose Practice is the key.
What is intentional action?
Deliberate practice is highly focused and involves working on things that are beyond your current skill level, setting goals, and receiving training and instruction from a qualified instructor.
Just practicing the same things over and over for 10,000 hours is not enough to become a true expert. General practice can help people become skilled at a task, but achieving true mastery involves practicing in a way that pushes the limits of existing skill levels and knowledge.
If you want to excel in any field, pursue focused, goal-driven, deliberate practice, pushing your abilities beyond your comfort zone.
Other factors that contribute to skill
Although deliberate practice is essential, not all researchers agree that taking someone from expert to expert is sufficient. Some other factors that may play a role include:
Can anyone become an expert?
Psychologists continue to ponder whether anyone can become an expert at anything unless they are willing to put in the time and effort. But there is little doubt that regular practice improves both skill and knowledge.
You won’t know if you can become a true master in a particular domain until you try. Before you decide to specialize, consider whether you have the interest, dedication, and time to commit to the process.
How to master
If you have set a skill goal. You will need to follow several steps to achieve this.
Make a commitment
Although the 10,000-hour rule is more pop psychology fiction than fact, it is true that becoming an expert takes a lot of effort. Those who become experts in any field invest tremendous time, energy, and hard work in learning and practicing their skills.
If you want to master something, you need to be willing to put in the time. This may take 10,000 hours or less – but may require much more.
Practice deliberately
One study found that of three different types of study preparation, deliberate practice was the most effective. Researchers looked at participants in a national spelling bee and found that intentional action — defined as simply reading and memorizing words — was not enough.
Mental strength matters
Although deliberate practice was the most effective, it was also rated as the least enjoyable and most difficult study technique. Participants who stuck with this technique also had higher levels of a personality trait called grit, also known as mental toughness.
This mental toughness can sometimes be an important part of being able to practice deliberately. Motivated individuals were able to persevere and focus on their long-term goals, making them more likely to practice harder and perform better during competition.
Other research has suggested that factors such as cognitive skills, self-control, and personality may also play a role in how people practice and whether they achieve mastery.
Practice with the subject area
One study found that deliberate practice may actually be less important than previously believed. Studies have shown that the amount of practice accumulated does not play a significant role in explaining individual differences when it comes to performance or skill.
In a meta-analysis of previous studies, researchers found that it accounted for only 14% of individual differences in performance.
Despite these findings, it’s clear that exercise still matters. In almost all studies included in the analysis, there was a positive relationship between exercise and performance. The more people practiced, the better they did in their area of interest.
What the researchers found was that the domain also made a difference. Practice accounts for varying amounts of individual differences in performance.
- Education: 4% of variance attributable to practice
- Sports: 18% difference
- Music: 21% difference
- Sports: 26% difference
A 2019 reanalysis of these studies used a different definition of deliberate practice, which the researchers called structured practice. According to this definition, reanalysis suggests that deliberate practice accounts for between 29% and 61% of individual performance.
The study also found that genetic factors had little effect on performance variance. Such findings suggest that deliberate or structured practice plays a much more important role in skill development than innate abilities.
recovery
Practice may play a greater role in improving performance for activities such as music, athletics, and sports, and a lesser role for occupational or academic performance.
Challenge yourself
Practice is essential for skill development, but becoming an expert requires constantly challenging yourself to do better, learn more, and acquire new knowledge and skills. Practicing the same skill over and over will improve you in these areas, but it won’t lead to true mastery.
This is related to the concept of learning introduced by Lev Vygotsky known as the zone of proximal development.
What is the zone of proximal development?
Skills that are just outside of your current competency level are in the zone of proximal development. Although you may not yet be able to do these tasks yourself, you can achieve them with the help of a more skilled mentor. By reaching out to these new skills, mastering them, and then gradually expanding this zone of proximal development, you can develop and strengthen your skills.
Becoming proficient requires constant work in this zone of proximal development. Even once you become very good at a skill, that doesn’t mean that even greater mastery is out of reach. More learning, more knowledge, and better performance are still possible with more challenge and practice.
Learn from mistakes
Experts are not always perfect. Experts make mistakes, but they are also willing to own their mistakes and eager to learn from them.
Mistakes are a form of feedback. They tell us not only what not to do, but what we can try instead. Experts are able to spot these mistakes, take the correct course and apply this knowledge in the future.
