Peak belies both of these notions, proving that virtually all of us have the seeds of excellence within us-it’s just a question of nurturing them properly. So the idea of expertise still intimidates us-we believe we need innate talent to excel, or think excelling seems prohibitively difficult. Peak distills three decades of myth-shattering research into a powerful learning strategy that is fundamentally different from the way people traditionally think about acquiring new abilities.Įricsson’s findings have been lauded and debated, but never properly explained. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.įrom the world’s reigning expert on expertise comes a powerful new approach to mastering almost any skill.Īnders Ericsson has made a career studying chess champions, violin virtuosos, star athletes, and memory mavens. Whether you want to step up your game at work or on the weekend, or help your kid achieve athletic or academic goals, Ericsson's revolutionary methods will show you how to master almost anything. We are not limited by an endowment of natural talent. This approach to expertise has the potential to revolutionize how we think about every sort of education and training.

But at a deeper level, they are all variations on a single fundamental approach to learning, what Ericsson, a world-renowned researcher, has named 'deliberate practice': a simple, yet powerful system for enhancing learning. On the surface, the techniques that chess players use to develop their skills seem quite different from the methods soccer players use to perfect their games, which in turn seem quite different from how pianists improve their playing. As Ericsson's whole career has shown, with the proper practice, we are all capable of extraordinary feats. We assume, though, that these peak performers are the lucky ones, the ones with a gift. We are dramatically better at just about everything than we were just a generation ago. There are chess grandmasters who can play several dozen different games simultaneously-while blindfolded-and a seemingly unending supply of young musical prodigies who would have astonished aficionados a century ago. Consider what Roger Federer can do with a tennis ball, or Connor McDavid with a puck.

We live in a world full of people with extraordinary abilities. For the first time in decades of groundbreaking research, the inventor of the 10,000-hour rule explains his techniques for developing mastery of any skill

Peak by k anders ericsson