So a fair slug of what this blog is for is to figure out how the life I currently live is aligned – or can be aligned – with the best practices for the things I think are important.
And since for both writing and prayer DAILY is purportedly critical, I use this space to explore my habit-gap. Which, frankly, is about the same size it’s always been.
But ultimately I’m interested in deepening my Important Things.
That and my habit-gap are likely why I’m currently obsessed with Study Hacks (http://calnewport.com/blog/about/). Newport has a different approach to excellence, and includes all sorts of strong research & writing (others’ as well as his own) to dig in to it. In a way, Study Hacks is Newport’s version of this blog. Except that being a respected blogger is something he cares about, and it’s not something I’m concerned with. For now, anyway :).
Oh, and I read _Cracking the Talent Code_ a month or so ago, and started looking at deep practice, which is a major component over at Study Hacks. It’s the technical & practical discussion of why merely spending time on doing something over and over doesn’t automatically yield stellar results. (See, Mom, I told you viola practice was pointless!)
Back to Study Hacks. I’m writing for context for this post I’m storing here for later reference:
Freestyle Deliberate Practice
Here are the main components of Taylor’s approach to deliberate practice:
- Build an obsession with a clear goal.
- Work backwards from the goal to plan your attack.
- Expend hard focus toward this goal every day.
- Ruthlessly evaluate and modify your approach to remove what doesn’t work and improve what does.
I’m all over “work backwards.” And “ruthlessly evaluate and modify.” “Build an obsession” – not so much. Or maybe it’s that I have only one obsession at a time, and my true obsession right now is the one I never say, because I think it makes me sound like the helicopter parents I detest.
Huh.
If that’s the measure, then I’ve been freestyle deliberate practicing being a Girl Scout leader since I was 16, and fdp parenting since I was 28.
Which doesn’t leave much time for writing, I gather.
I suspected as much.