Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

Instead, what distinguished the most successful spellers was their superior ability to remain committed to studying despite the boredom and the pull of other, more appealing activities.

Deliberate practice is for everyone who dreams.

mental representations

The major obstacle that people who believe they can’t sing must overcome is that belief itself.

deliberate practice can revolutionize our thinking about human potential.

While there are various ways that parents and teachers can motivate children, the motivation must ultimately be something that comes from within the child, or else it won’t endure.

put together a group of people all interested in the same thing—or join an existing group—and use the group’s camaraderie and shared goals as extra motivation in reaching your own goals.

the virtuous circle rules: honing the skill improves mental representation, and mental representation helps hone the skill.

We can only form effective mental representations when we try to reproduce what the expert performer can do, fail, figure out why we failed, try again, and repeat—over and over again.