TRANSCRIPTION OF VIDEO
Welcome to your next video, the secret to becoming world class. I’m Vaughan Liddicoat.
If hard work and length of time dedicated to any field were all it took, then everybody would be great. Now, the only outcome for hard work and length of time is being fine or just good at what you do. Being the best requires a totally different strategy. Would you like to know what the strategy is? Of course you would.
The strategy is called deliberate practice. Taking research from the West Berlin Art Academy of violin players, there were 3 groups. Now, out of 3 groups, the good, the better, and the best, each group practiced, took lessons, and played for over 51 hours per week. But what separated the results in each group? Was it talent? Was it predisposed gifts? No.
You see, further research into these 3 groups revealed 2 startling conclusions.
When they were asked to write out their weekly activities minute by minute and then say what attributed to their success and what attributed to the improvements, all 3 groups unanimously said it was solo practice.
Though they all had the same age, similar sex, rehearsal schedule, and backgrounds, they all said and agreed solo practice was fundamental.
The good group only did solo practice for 9 hours per week whilst the better group and the best group did 24 hours of solo practice every single week.
What separated then the better and the best groups?
Well, this is the second startling conclusion. Prior to the age of 18, the good group had acquired about 3 thousand hours. The better group had done about 5,300 hours. Whilst the best group had done 7,140 by the age of 18.
The difference between the better group and the best group was the practice gap prior to age 18.
So what does this mean for you? Well, obviously the earlier that you start mastering your field, the better it’s going to be for you. But that doesn’t mean if you’re 50 years old you curl up in a ball in the corner and start crying?
In fact, this should motivate you because you can now follow the simple steps below to help you fast track the learning curve and literally become world class in any field that you choose.
Before we get into that, I want you to get rid of 3 excuses that you may be holding onto right now:
#1 The first is that you’re too old or too young to start.
Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook at 19 and he’s worth 35 billion now. He had been tutored in computers for over 7 years before the age of 19. The owner of Snapchat is 24 years old, he’s worth 1.5 billion. Andrea Bicelli, a world class singer, first became big when he was 42. And Frank McCourt, a Pulitzer Prize winner of the book Angela’s Ashes, didn’t even start writing until 65.
In my own life, I decided to become a top dancer at 18. I had no previous experience, 2 left feet, and all the champions in the world were already champions at 18. I had a long way to go.
#2 The second is, you don’t have to have the resources.
Nobody has the full resources they need when they start out. Part of the initial challenge is to figure out how to make it work and it is not about the money, it is not about where you live, it is not about your race, your gender, your religion or where you are in your life right now. We all have the same 24 hours a day.
How are you using your 168 hours a week?
You have access to money just like anyone else. How are you using what you earn? What strategy do you have to put into place to better your position? It’s about resourcefulness.
How can you make the most of what you have right now and then begin? You see, only after you can be responsible for what you have you’ll be trusted with more.
#3 Number three is all you have to do is work hard.
Absolutely not. There are so many people that work hard, long, time consuming hours in their roles yet their results are not even average, at best. And they remain just fine at what they do, but they never become the best or world class.
You will need to work hard, but it’s a specific way not just clocking up hours. So if we look back at the violinists, they’re all practicing hard but there’s one activity that separated them: deliberate solo practice. It was also noted that in the research, those candidates said it was the most effort and the least fun activity of all. It was literally exhausting and it required them to sleep longer and they could only do about a minute… or maximum about an hour and a half at a time in terms of full practice.
Now, in my own high level dancing career, the amateurs practiced dance routines and choreography nonstop. The professionals work very methodically and specifically on one element and they master it. They master the basics.
You see, a professional isn’t just training to perform automatically. They’re training so they’re not automatic. They remain under total control under pressure when it counts.
For you in your own life, you need to decide on the specific area that you want to be the best in. What business career or profession do you want to be world class in? And whatever it is for you, the true key to becoming world class is not talent, it’s not the resources, it’s not the age or the hard work. It is the habit of deliberate, daily practice.
Here are 5 elements of deliberate practice for you to implement right now:
(remember, it’s not work and it is not play. This is a whole different category.)
1. The first is specific design.
What are the very specific and key components to making your job, your business, your art or sport successful? As an example, in golf one of the things to work on is swing with a single club. In sales it’s negotiation. And what you’re trying to do is design a practice around that one single element. So in golf it would be bunker shots. If it were sales it would be negotiating or closing a deal.
2. Specific repetition
Whatever the key elements are, you must be able to repeat it over and over and over again. It must be something that you can literally train until you are exhausted.
3. Specialized feedback
You’re the worst for feedback. You cannot improve your own golf swing, your own dance moves, your own sales negotiation. You must have constant feedback. However, it cannot be criticism. It must be critical, but not criticism. Perhaps you have someone in your team that you can do this with or you can just hire a coach in your area.
4. High mental demand.
All athletes, performers, business leaders, artists, and the most at the highest level have an ability for focus and concentration on repetitive activities.
One thing I’ve noticed when coaching is that the hobbyist or the amateur have a very hard time focusing on repetitive, specific exercises because it’s too hard. That’s why they’ll never rise to the top. You have to be able to push through that pain barrier.
You’ll only be able to do about an hour and a half at max anyway, if you’re following this type of deliberate practice.
5. It isn’t fun.
Get over it. Get over the idea deliberate practice should be fun, easy, or natural. It’s the opposite. It’s demanding training, it’s exhausting, it’s straining, it’s so not fun. But, ironically, the results are. And so whilst failures are interested in pleasing methods, successful people are interested in pleasing results. No matter the method.
So structure, organization, and focused effort are going to be required for you to master your field. And if you want to summarize what it really takes to be world class in any field, it comes down to this: daily, specific practice, over 10 thousand hours, with constant critical feedback, not negative, with the correct mindset and you undertake this deliberate practice every day. The goal is to perform 2 to 3 percent more better each time you undertake this practice or the rehearsal or the performance.
Now, over a lifetime you can see that this would catapult you to heights that you’ve never imagined before.
So your takeaway from this lesson is to sit back and objectively look at the field that you’ve chosen to specialize in. Then you need to break down the areas within the field that are specific to creating successful results or outcomes. And lastly, you need to create a schedule of specific exercises that you can repeat and set about 15 to 60 minutes a day aside for this deliberate practice in those exercises.
If you’re willing to undertake this sort of work, I am confident that you will be able to see a noticeable increase in your results, in your performance, and your life. And it will further build confidence. Your self esteem will push up, it’ll rise up, and you’ll be able to push and do it even more.
And, finally, no one’s going to do the work for you. You’ve got to be willing to get active, to decide to become a known specialist in your field. You can do that.
This is Vaughan Liddicoat. I want to thank you for your time. Enjoy your painful, deliberate practice. Just know it’s going to separate you from mediocrity to rise up to be the best.
