Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson spent decades researching what distinguishes experts who achieve top performance in fields such as sports, chess, music, and science from their less successful counterparts.
The surprising result: Outstanding performance is not due to innate talent but rather the result of years of intensive and deliberate practice.
Practice does not mean repeating a learned activity for years. At some point, people reach a performance plateau from which they can no longer make further progress on their own. Many will recognize this from ten-finger typing: Once you've learned it satisfactorily, you don't get faster – even after decades of typing.
To push the limits of your abilities, you have to get out of your comfort zone. You must set ambitious goals, work out a path to get there (preferably with an experienced coach), and monitor and analyze your learning progress.
To achieve peak performance, several thousand hours of deliberate practice are necessary (it doesn't have to be precisely 10,000 – that number is just often quoted because it's so nicely round).
The author uses numerous examples to show that people can achieve anything in this way and at any age. They can become chess grandmasters, professional musicians with absolute pitch (which was previously thought to be innate), golf professionals, memory artists, or karate masters.
Even if you don't want to become an expert, you can still improve through deliberate practice. For example, at work, you should get regular feedback, not just once a year from your boss, but regularly and also from colleagues, for instance, after giving a talk, preparing a presentation, or moderating a meeting.
"Peak" is a fascinating book based on decades of scientific work. Nevertheless, it is enjoyable to read and a recommendation for all who want to develop themselves – in whatever field.
🎧 Suitable as an audiobook? Yes.
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