How to Get Really Good at Something (Beyond "getting your reps in")

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9d (edited) • Intellectual/Personal Growth💡

I often use the phrase "get your reps in" when it comes to encouraging others (and myself) to improve on a desired skill. But, there is a caveat here because getting our reps in implies only doing something over and over and if we're not intentional (and reflective) with what that something is it can lead us to plateau or perhaps even worsen. Improvement requires more than rote repetition.

As a SIDE quest in

@Steve Webb

's 30 day challengers community, we read the book 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐤: 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞. Thought I'd share some of the key takeaways here beeeecause this group is about Inspired and Empowered Living and I'd love for us to be even more equipped through life!

𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄: Getting really good at something is not about talent or repetition, but it's more about HOW we practice. :)

Again, repetition alone doesn't build expertise, deliberate practice does. This seems like an "of course" moment, but I do think that a lot of us get stuck in the cycle of just repeating something over and over and hoping that we'll improve.

𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤?

1. 𝐁𝐞 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 about the what. What are we improving? Vague goals KILL progress.

Ex: "Getting better at communicating" is not specific enough. Think about the DETAILS of what it means to get better at this. Things like "I will interrupt less", "I will make eye contact", "I will summarize what the other person said so that they feel heard and so that I get feedback on whether I understood their point" "I will ask more follow up questions"--think of observable and trackable behaviors! :)

---We talk a lot about strengths in this group, BUT this is actually about zeroing in on weaknesses and training them directly! :)

2.𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 :We can't improve what we can't see.

This is one of the fastest 'shortcuts' to growth--without the ability to see what's actually happening and getting 'correction'/correcting ourselves, we're more likely to reinforce mistakes or things that will be challenging to fix down the line.

3.𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 : This is HUGE I think. As we improve, we're able to start seeing patterns/nuances/structure differently. Mental representations are how we organize and make sense of information in our minds. (an internal model of HOW something works).

In order to improve this we need to slow down and focus on understanding what we're doing, not just completing. Beginners process pieces, experts process patterns. :)

4. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐞: If it feels easy, we' re maintaining (not improving).

Finding the sweet spot between something being challenging enough to stretch us but not so hard that we shut down is important. True deliberate practice is challenging to sustain for long periods of time because it is mentally demanding so finding a 'sweet spot" helps with this.

5. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 : I struggle with this one a bit, but it definitely makes sense....

Short, focused, high-quality practice done consistently will outperform occasional bursts of effort every time.

6. 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬/𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥y: Experts help us spot mistake faster, refine our approach and help us build better mental representations.

7. Whenever possible, surround yourself with people that encourage/support the skills that you're trying to improve upon.

*Side takeaway from the book that I REALLY appreciated---our ability to get good at something is not about having talent or some "natural/innate" ability, but it's about our active participation in building the skills and that talent! :) We have a lot of power in this!!! Heck yeah for empowered living!!!!

QUESTION: What’s something you’ve been “doing a lot” that you could turn into deliberate practice instead?

POLL: What do your "reps" actually look like?

I’m putting in reps, but… yeah, I might be reinforcing the same mistakes

I thought I was practicing well until this post called me out

I’m starting to focus on specific weaknesses and feedback (slowly leveling up)

I’m doing deliberate practice consistently; this is uncomfortable but working

Reps? What are reps? If I don't do them, I can't be doing them wrong. ha.

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