If we do anything for long enough, it becomes a habit. When we stop practicing, our skill depreciates. This principle applies to learning new tasks as well. The key is to keep practicing. You can never reach the expiration date for a learned task. Practice makes skillful, but perfect is a very different matter.
The 10,000-hour rule is one of the most famous theories of how to become an expert at something. According to the theory, the more you practice, the better you become at it. This idea was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his best-seller Outliers. New studies have also confirmed that practice is crucial for learning a new skill.
If you're a great pianist, you'll need to practice a lot. Similarly, if you want to become a professional football player, you must play a lot of games. In school, you'll need to study hard, complete assignments, and take tests. The phrase "practice makes perfect" encourages us to continue learning, honing our skills, and master our goals.
When you practice a new skill, it's important to put in the time to familiarize yourself with the tools and process. Make sure to vary your practice sessions and don't be afraid to make mistakes. Sometimes, the best learning happens through mistakes. And don't be shy about sounding like a total dunce.
While practicing is important, the amount of time spent on it will determine whether it's effective. If you're only practicing for a few hours a week, you'll make no progress at all. And practicing twice a day is much more effective than practicing just once a day.
There's a lot of debate over how much practice is necessary to master any skill. Various studies have proven the benefits of practicing. For example, research on cigar factory workers found that after years of practice, they became faster at the tasks. Another study on college basketball players showed that skilled players were faster at making set shots at the foul line than less skilled ones.
The debate over whether practice makes us skillful is complicated by the fact that practice and skill development are two different things. While practice is important in the learning process, it only explains 12% of the variance in individual performance. For learning to take place, the person must undergo the same learning process over a long period of time, in new situations, and in the context of the workplace.
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Students who practice core skills will be able to use them automatically. Students who struggle with usage or punctuation are not able to devote their working memory resources to higher math and writing. They must constantly practice these skills to improve their abilities. And while practice does make skillful, it does not make us perfect.
Overachievers should practice wisely. Too much practice can reduce the quality of work. Practicing mindlessly is unproductive, because you don't focus on it fully. And when you're not fully engaged, you'll feel sluggish and tired.