EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES THAT PROMOTE EFFECTIVE SKILL ACQUISITIONPrepared by James Drew, Dulles High School

GREATNESS ISN’T BORN.IT’S GROWN. HERE’S HOW.

ByDANIEL COYLE

THE TALENT CODE

“SKILL IS A CELLULAR INSULATION THAT WRAPS NEURAL CIRCUITS AND THAT GROWS IN RESPONSE TO CERTAIN SIGNALS.”

SKILL

PART I

DEEP PRACTICE

THE SWEET SPOT DEEP PRACTICE IS BASED ON THE PARADOX

THAT STRUGGLING IN CERTAIN TARGETED WAYS, WHERE YOU MAKE MISTAKES, MAKES YOU SMARTER.

THE EXPERIENCES WHERE YOU ARE FORCED TO SLOW DOWN, MAKE ERRORS AND CORRECT THEM TURNS INTO SKILL.

IT’S THE STRUGGLE THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE!

CONTRARY TO THE INTUITION OF “TALENT”, PRACTICE IS THE WAY TO FORGE ABILITY.

“THINGS THAT APPEAR TO BE OBSTACLES TURN OUT TO BE DESIREABLE IN THE LONG HAUL.”

INSTALLING NATURAL BROADBAND

1. EVERY HUMAN MOVEMENT, THOUGHT OR FEELING IS A PRECISELY TIMED ELECTRICAL SIGNAL TRAVELING THROUGH A CHAIN OF NEURONS.

2. MYELIN IS THE INSULATION THAT WRAPS NEURONS AND INCREASES SPEED, STRENGTH AND ACCURACY OF SIGNALS, AND

3. THE MORE A CIRCUIT IS FIRED, THE MORE MYELIN OPTIMIZES THE CIRCUIT, AND THE MORE FLUENT, STRONGER, AND FASTER MOVEMENTS AND THOUGHTS BECOME.

TWO AXIOMS OF MYELINATION:

1. ALL ACTIONS ARE ELECTRICAL IMPULSES FIRED ALONG CHAINS OF NEURONS.

2. THE MORE WE DEVELOP A NEURAL CIRCUIT, THE LESS WE ARE AWARE WE ARE USING IT.

THE BEST WAY TO BUILD A GOOD CIRCUIT IS TO FIRE IT, ATTEND TO MISTAKES, THEN FIRE IT AGAIN, OVER AND OVER. STRUGGLE IS NOT AN OPTION: IT’S A BIOLOGICAL REQUIREMENT.

WHEN WE USE THE TERM “MUSCLE MEMORY”, WE ARE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT NEURAL CIRCUITS.

PRACTICE MAKES MYELIN OLIGODENDROCYTES ARE THE CELLS IN

THE BRAIN THAT WRAP AROUND THE NEURONS MULTIPLE TIMES TO CREATE A LAYER OF INSULATION, OR WHITE MATTER.

“WE ARE MYELIN BEINGS.” FOUR PRINCIPLES:

1. FIRING THE CURCUIT IS PARAMOUNT2. MYELIN IS UNIVERSAL3. MYELIN WRAPS; IT DOESN’T UNWRAP.4. AGE MATTERS. 30-50-5%

THREE RULES OF DEEP PRACTICE

RULE 1: CHUNK IT UP Part 1: Absorb the Whole Thing

Take the task as a whole – one big chunk – a mega-circuit. Listen to it. Imitate it. See the big picture.

Part 2: Break It Up into the Smallest Possible Chunks Make small fragments. Memorize them. Then, link

them together into progressively larger groups. Part 3: Play with Time

Slow it down, then speed it up to learn the inner architecture. “It’s not how fast you can do it; it’s how slow you can do it correctly.” “Experts practice more strategically.”

THREE RULES OF DEEP PRACTICE

RULE 2: REPEAT IT Repetition is invaluable and

irreplaceable, with some caveats: Stay in the sweet spot: the edge of your

abilities. 3 – 5 hours of daily deep practice is the

human limit. World-class skill requires 10,000 hours of

deep practice (3 hours of deep practice per day for 10 years).

THREE RULES OF DEEP PRACTICE

RULE 3: LEARN TO FEEL IT “To avoid the mistakes, first you have to feel

them immediately.” “An out-of-tune note should bother you…a lot.”

Experts describe their most productive practice with the following descriptive words: attention; connection; build; alert; whole; focus; mistake; repeat; tiring; edge; awake.

The following words were never used as descriptors: effortless; natural; routine; automatic; and never, genius.

PART II

IGNITION

TALENT HOTBEDS A break-through success often was followed

by a massive boom in talent. South Korean golfers on the LPGA Russian women in the WTA. Brazilian soccer stars Curaçao Little League Baseball Champions Brontë sisters Meadowmount Music Academy in the New

York Adirondacks Next possible talent hotbed: Venezuelan

Classical Musicians – Gustavo Dudamel

A TINY, POWERFUL IDEA Progress is not

determined by aptitude or hours of practice, but by long-term commitment to the task.

Perception of self: “I am a musician.”

FLIPPING THE TRIGGER I want X later, so I better do Y like crazy

right now! Primal Cue: triggers motivation, fueling

energy and attention toward a goal. Most effective primal cues involve future

belonging to an esteemed group. “Those people over there are doing

something terrifically worthwhile.” It’s usually visual. Pursuing a goal, having motivation,

predates consciousness

SCROOGE PRINCIPLE The unconscious mind holds mental energy

until primal cues trigger its release. Most talent hotbeds are junky, unattractive

places. Nice, pleasant environments tent to shut off effort.

Parental-Loss Club: Julius Caesar, Napoleon, 15 British Prime Ministers, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Clinton, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Gandhi, Newton, Michelangelo, Bach, Handel, Keats, Byron, Dostoyevsky, Emerson, Melville, Nietzsche, Twain.

Orphans’ Primal Cue: the world is not safe.

PRIMAL CUES Of the eight fastest men in the 100-

meter dash, none of them were firstborn, only one was born in the first half of his family’s birth order, and the average was fourth in families of 4.6 children.

Primal Cue: you’re behind – keep up. Ignition and Primal Cues:

Skill requires deep practice; and Deep practice requires vast amounts of

energy; and Primal cues trigger huge outpourings of

energy.

TALENT HOTBEDS AND PRIMAL CUES

Talent hotbeds possess more than just a single primal cue. There is a complex collection of signals – people, images and ideas – that keep ignition going for weeks, months and years that skill-growing requires.

Examples: Soccer players from São Paulo, Brazil Renaissance artisans from Florence, Italy KIPP Academies throughout the USA. Septien Vocal Studio in Dallas, Texas Spartak Tennis Club in Moscow, Russia

THE NATURE OF THE SWITCH1. It is either “on” or “off”.2. It is usually triggered by words.

High motivational language is not what ignites people. (“You are the best!”) It’s the opposite. Not reaching up, but reaching down, speaking to ground-level effort and affirming the struggle.

Not empty praise; praising effort at improvement.

IGNITING A TALENT HOTBED USING THE PRIMAL CUES:

1. “You belong to a group.” (Paying attention to each detail, which creates group cohesion.)

2. “Your group is together in a strange and dangerous new world. (Creating change through collaboration.)

3. “This new world is shaped like a mountain with the goal at the peak.” (Earning privileges through effort.)

PART III

MASTER COACHING

MASTER COACHES Are not preachy or eloquent. They are careful, deliberate cultivators of

myelin.

UCLA’s JOHN WOODEN No speeches, no punishment laps or praise. Rapid-fire drills Exquisitely-planned practice sessions (daily2-

hour staff planning meetings). “Looks like shooting-from-the-hip.” Short, punctuated, targeted imperatives given

to specific players at appropriate times. 6.9% compliments; 6.6% statements of

dissatisfaction; 75% statements of pure information.

The “Wooden”: M+, M-, M+ in about 3 seconds.

WOODEN STUDY CONTINUED “Don’t look for the big, quick

improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens – and when it happens, it lasts.”

“The importance of repetition until automaticity cannot be overstated.”

“Repetition is the key to learning.” “His success was a result less of his

character than of his error-centered, well-planned, information-rich practices.”

FOUR VIRTUES OF MASTER COACHES

KNOWLEDGE, RECOGNIZE, CONNECT NUMBER 1: THE MATRIX

Master coaches have spent several decades of learning a vast grid of knowledge. Biographical arcs are similar: promising talent, failure, and attempts to figure out why.

NUMBER 2: PERCEPTIVENESS Master coaches have an unblinking gaze,

taking in lots of information all at once. They know what each student needs: equal parts of whipped cream and *#@^.

FOUR VIRTUES OF MASTER COACHES

NUMBER 3: GPS REFLEX Master coaches give lots of information in

short bursts: “Do X, now do Y.” Not patience, but probing, strategic

impatience: “You got it. Good. Now do it faster.”

NUMBER 4: THEATRICAL HONESTY Larger-than-Life personality. Salesman for

your craft. Flair for the dramatic.

Daniel Coyle

The Talent Code