If you practice anything for, say 10,000 hrs, you will become world-class. Right?
Wrong.
You probably already know people who have been playing badminton for years, maybe decades. And are they ready for the Olympics? Of course, not.
In fact, you will see the same thing on the professional front. Bankers, lawyers, programmers, or for that matter, in any skilled job – there are people with 20 to 30 years of experience who are about as skilled as someone with 5 years of experience.
It is not that they are not smart – but they have all hit the dreaded ‘intermediate plateau.’ It happens to everyone, in every field, if you allow it. And here is why it happens.
When you start learning a new skill from zero, you learn rapidly. But gradually, as you get better, you get into that comfort zone where you are doing Ok.
Taking the example of learning tennis, now your evening game has become enjoyable. You win some matches, lose others, and that’s fine. We don’t all have to become Roger Federer.
And this plateau you have hit is a stable equilibrium – you are stuck unless you consciously try.
So how do you break out of it? Let us illustrate using the example of tennis.
- Ideally, you need a coach who will look at your game and identify specific areas you have to improve (say, some aspect of your backhand).
- Then the coach instructs you on how to improve your backhand, and makes you practice focusing ONLY on that aspect. This is not a general exhortation to ‘play harder.’
- You now go through the cycle of practice and feedback, until your backhand is nearly flawless.
A good coach will keep identifying gaps and finetuning till you reach a global level. (Anders Ericsson, who gave this idea of deliberate practice, strongly suggests finding a coach)
But what if you can’t afford a coach? Or what if you are in a profession where you don’t have formal coaching?
Even in that case, you have to replicate the same process – identify areas of improvement, do challenging practice, seek feedback (or observe yourself), and fix the gap. Then repeat. Maybe, a mentor could help.
We live most of our lives in the intermediate plateau zone. And usually, it is fine.
But sometimes, you want to up the game. That is what this recipe is for.
– Rajan