By Tyler Tompson-
Throughout my time here at the Ranch, Coach Wolforth has given me several books to read. He’ll usually give a few of us a book, allow us some time to read it, and then we’ll talk about it in one of our staff meetings. I’ve taken a handful of things away from each book, but one that made a lasting impact on me was, The First 20 Hours by Josh Kaufman.
In the book, Kaufman talks about skill acquisition and learning, and how to acquire a completely new skill in 20 hours or less. He goes from having no knowledge in writing web-based computer programs, developing personal yoga practice, playing the ukulele, and 3 other skills, to becoming noticeably well in all of them!
Kaufman also references research conducted by Dr. K. Anders Ericsson; he states that expert-level performance takes (on average) 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve. Now, 10,000 hours is a long time – roughly 3.5 years if we committed to 8 hours a day with no breaks, no weekends, and no vacations.
There is a TON to unpack from the book and I highly recommend it, but what I want to pass along is what Kaufman refers to as “Deliberate Practice”.
The amount of time it took was, of course, important, but what went into the time is the outlier. Ericsson defines deliberate practice as, “intentionally and systematically practicing in order to improve a skill”– this really made me think about what needs to take place in order to make practice impactful. Setting out and deciding what you are going to work on is extremely important, but really putting concentrated, intelligent, and focused effort into it is another.
This goes back to the saying “quality over quantity”, and we do want that to a certain degree. However, the most important takeaway for me were the words “concentrated” and “focused”. Far too often, we become distracted from our training or during a game. We take bad repetitions in practice because we want to keep listening to the conversations happening between other teammates, we continue to look down at our phone, we’re on social media… the list goes on.
Appreciate every opportunity that you get to play, practice, and train regardless of if you win or lose, triumph or fail. Decide what you need to work on, systematically plan out your schedule, and have a purpose behind every repetition. This done consistently on a regular basis will turn into deliberate practice becoming a routine and a habit in everyday life.
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- Information and dates for our 2022 3-Day Elite Pitchers Bootcamps can be found on our website. Call the office or fill out the online registration form(s) to reserve your spot! https://www.texasbaseballranch.com/elite-pitchers-bootcamp/
- We’ve just released the information on our Extended Stay Summer Program. Ranch athletes receive messages like the one above at the start of every training day. If you’d like more information, go to https://www.texasbaseballranch.com/events/tbr-summer-program/ There’s a $500 Early Bird Savings through March 31st. Space is limited each week so don’t delay.