This year my New Year’s Resolution was to quit reading for the entire year. My plan was to stop reading anything unnecessary for work or survival and that included my RSS feed, books, magazines, news, and research. I managed to make it 45 days. Everyone I told about my goal looked at me like I… [Read more…]
May 13, 2013
Every minute of my weekdays are accounted for from the moment I climb out of bed at 5:30 till I finally lay down to sleep at 10:00 at night. Here is my regular schedule in case you are wondering where the time goes: 5:30-5:50 Shower and shave 5:50-6:30 Prepare breakfast and pack lunches for wife… [Read more…]
May 6, 2013
Most articles on deliberate practice describe the general guidelines but rarely detail an actual example. I recently experienced a classic arc of deliberate practice where I encountered a problem, struggled to make progress, diagnosed the issue, simplified my approach, improved my technique, failed to follow through and then finally implemented the lessons learned. Encountering a problem… [Read more…]
April 29, 2013
Have you ever heard of interleaved practice? If you had asked me the same question a week ago I wouldn’t have known what you were talking about. In fact I was stumped when my Dad asked me what it was and since I thought he said “interweaved” I struggled to find an answer on Google.… [Read more…]
April 22, 2013
As a beginner musician who is completely self-taught I am always looking for guidance on how I should practice and what skills I should focus on to become a well-rounded musician. When one of my readers directed me towards a study by Gary McPherson, a music professional that researches deliberate practice and music, I pored… [Read more…]
April 15, 2013
I find it amazing and motivating that humans continue to push the envelope of performance in every domain year after year. I was doing some research on deliberate practice and music and I came across this quote (emphasis mine): Recently we investigated historical changes in music performance by focusing on the complexity of performed music. … [Read more…]
April 8, 2013
Are you the type of person who starts working on a project passionately only to abandon it weeks later when something else catches your attention? Did you have trouble choosing your major in college or settling on a career path? Do you struggle to stay motivated when you encounter boredom, challenges or setbacks on a… [Read more…]
April 1, 2013
Last week I received an email from the folks over at Beeminder announcing the launch of a subscription membership. As a long time user of Beeminder and a vocal fan they asked me if I was interested in signing up. Free isn’t sustainable The short history of the web is littered with examples of companies… [Read more…]
March 25, 2013
When I started teaching myself to play guitar I didn’t know where to start. Everything I tried seemed impossible. The most simple lesson books felt out of my league. I still struggle to figure out what I should be practicing and working towards. There are so many types of music that I would love to… [Read more…]
March 18, 2013
One of my readers dealt out a little tough love in the comments of last week’s post. He thinks I am sounding defeated, lacking passion, feeling sorry for myself, not being a man of my word, and being a quitter…. I hear what he is saying Many of my recent posts have focused on… [Read more…]
May 20, 2013
0