Peak Ch. 6

Question 1

the Dan Plan

Answer 1

Dan McLaughlin quit his day job at age 30 and developed the Dan Plan, the use of 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert golf player

Question 2

who is deliberate practice for?

Answer 2

anyone who dreams

Question 3

the first step for anyone who wants to engage in deliberate practice

Answer 3

have an experienced teacher watch you and provide feedback

Question 4

what is the most important thing a teacher can do?

Answer 4

help you develop your mental representations so that you can monitor and correct your performance

Question 5

tips for finding a good teacher:

Answer 5

• Find someone who is well-accomplished in the field
• Find someone with some skill and experience in teaching in that field
• Keep in mind that online ratings are subjective
• Ask a prospective teacher about practice exercises
• Remember that you may have to change teachers as you change

Question 6

the importance of engagement

Answer 6

Engagement is a critical aspect of deliberate practice that benefits from one-on-one instruction

Question 7

focus and improvement

Answer 7

• Focus is key to improvement
• If your mind is wandering or you’re relaxed, you probably won’t improve

Question 8

joy in amateur vs. professional singers study

Answer 8

• A Swedish study found that both amateur and professional singers felt relaxed and energized after a singing lesson but only the amateurs felt elated
• For professionals, the lesson was more about concentration than joy

Question 9

Chambliss swimming study

Answer 9

concluded that the key to excellence in swimming involves paying close attention to every detail of performance

Question 10

focus in expert runners study

Answer 10

Researchers have found that long-distance amateur runners tend to daydream to take their minds off of the pain, while experts remain attuned to their bodies

Question 11

what is the best way to develop new skills faster?

Answer 11

Shorter training sessions with clearer goals

Question 12

how should you proceed if you don’t have access to a teacher?

Answer 12

You should come up with your feedback-driven exercises

Question 13

3Fs of practicing a skill without a teacher

Answer 13

Focus
Feedback
Fix it

Question 14

ESL students and developing comprehension study

Answer 14

ESL students at Florida State University improved quicker by asking native speakers the same questions over and over again than asking different questions because the repetition helped them understand the words better and test their comprehension

Question 15

successful mental representations are tied to ____

Answer 15

thoughts

Question 16

prevalence of plateaus

Answer 16

Plateaus are common in any sort of training

Question 17

what is the best way to move beyond a plateau?

Answer 17

• The best way to move beyond a plateau is to challenge your brain or body in a new way
• This usually involves pushing yourself a little harder than usual to identify what your weaknesses are and working to address those weaknesses

Question 18

typing teachers and helping students get past a plateau study

Answer 18

they encourage them to increase their typing speed, which has two clear functions

Question 19

two functions of increasing one’s typing speed

Answer 19

• It helps them spot challenges
• It forces them to look at upcoming letters

Question 20

do experts like practicing?

Answer 20

Many experts report not liking practicing (ex. Spelling bee champions)

Question 21

problems with the notion of willpower

Answer 21

• It is very situation-specific
• It, along with natural talent, is ascribed to people after the fact
• There is an underlying assumption that it is innate

Question 22

two factors involved in maintaining motivation

Answer 22

• Reasons to stop
• Reasons to keep going

Question 23

what is key to keeping yourself going?

Answer 23

minimizing distractions

Question 24

what two things can help you maintain your focus?

Answer 24

• General physical maintenance
• Limit the length of your practice sessions to about 1 hour (it becomes difficult to maintain concentration for much longer than that)

Question 25

can a skill be inherently motivating?

Answer 25

Once you have practiced for a while and start to see results, the skill itself can become part of your motivation

Question 26

believing you can succeed and success

Answer 26

A belief that you can succeed is important for your success

Question 27

what type of a motivator is a social motivation?

Answer 27

extrinsic motivation

Question 28

two common forms of social motivation

Answer 28

• Approval/admiration (usually for younger kids)
• Positive feedback (usually for older kids)

Question 29

how can you sustain your social motivation?

Answer 29

by surrounding yourself with supportive people

Question 30

when is it easier to sustain social motivation?

Answer 30

for activities done in teams or groups

Question 31

what is needed for supportive people to enhance social motivation?

Answer 31

Other members of the group must have similar goals for improvement

Question 32

importance of concrete improvement

Answer 32

Setting things up so that you are always seeing concrete improvement can help keep you motivated

Question 33

how much time should people who hope to become experts dedicate to deliberate practice per day?

Answer 33

Anyone who hopes to improve their skill in a particular area should devote an hour or more each day to practice which can be done with full concentration

Question 34

example of feedback-driven exercises

Answer 34

Benjamin Franklin used exercises that focused on particular facets of his writing to help him build more effective mental representations of good writing and improve

Question 35

example of a skill being inherently motivating

Answer 35

Gunder Hagg, a famous middle-distance runner, had his father time him when he was in his early teen years. His father lied about his time and said that it was faster than it was, which helped encourage him to keep going

Question 36

believing you can succeed and success study

Answer 36

Benjamin Bloom found that many injured youth athletes wanted to quit, but if they kept going until they reached their previous level of performance, they would no longer want to quit

Question 37

example of sustaining your social motivation

Answer 37

Benjamin Franklin’s Junto club, which helped members motivate themselves to engage in intellectual topics