Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World · chapter 1 · id deep-work-c1-03-deliberate-practice-is-the-key

“Deliberate practice is the key to quickly mastering hard things. To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction, based on Ericsson's research.”

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Macnamara, Hambrick & Oswald (2014). Deliberate Practice and Performance: A Meta-Analysis. Psychological Science, 25(8), 1608-1618.source alive

Deliberate practice explained 26% of the variance in performance for games, 21% for music, 18% for sports, 4% for education, and less than 1% for professions.

Macnamara & Hambrick (2020). Is the Deliberate Practice View Defensible? Frontiers in Psychology.source alive

Deliberate practice accounted for only 1% of the variance among elite-level performers. The theory's explanatory power diminishes precisely where it matters most.

Macnamara et al. 2014 meta-analysis full textsource alive

When using log methods (more valid measurement), deliberate practice accounted for only 5% of performance variance.

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