# four elements of deliberate practice

By [hamburger](https://paragraph.com/@hamburger-2) · 2022-11-23

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No doubt you remember the "four elements of deliberate practice" : well-defined goals, extreme focus, effective feedback, and practicing in the stretch zone. The key to effective learning is extreme concentration, not a competition of perseverance and patience. However, it takes energy to stay focused, and our energy is limited. Like a bucket of water, some of us have more and some of us have less, but as long as we expend energy on the difficult things, the level of the bucket will slowly go down. And here's the problem. People who are constantly working hard, racing against the clock, and can't afford to take a break, their energy levels are on a downward curve. That is to say, their initial state is very good, efficiency is also very high, but once the energy consumption to a certain extent, such as below 70% of the level, attention began to unconsciously lax, slow down the speed of thinking, if the energy continues to consume, learning efficiency will be further reduced, it is easy to appear distracted. However, for hardworking people, this signal seems to remind them that it is time to let their willpower come out. After all, people around them have told them that learning and growth need to bear hardships, so they should not rest just because they are a little tired, but they should use their willpower to keep on going. Isn't this the so-called effort and hard work? The more painful, the more persistent, the harder, the more touched. Therefore, the strategy they take is not to stop and rest, but to force themselves to work harder and harder, to do what others can't do, even if sleepy, but also to strengthen their spirit. The assiduous appear to be extremely diligent, but the results become worse and worse, the process is more pain than pleasure, energy depletion is so severe that once relaxed, they do not want to reinvest, they are more likely to indulge in comfortable recreational activities. On the other hand, students with easy grades never overexpend themselves while studying. As long as they feel low in energy, they stop and take active breaks, which in turn makes the water level of their energy bucket rise quickly. The assiduous appear to be extremely diligent, but the results become worse and worse, the process is more pain than pleasure, energy depletion is so severe that once relaxed, they do not want to reinvest, they are more likely to indulge in comfortable recreational activities. On the other hand, students with easy grades never overexpend themselves while studying. As long as they feel low in energy, they stop and take active breaks, which in turn makes the water level of their energy bucket rise quickly. It is not difficult to find that the key to efficient learning is to maintain extreme concentration, rather than relying on willpower to support, who can maintain long-term concentration, who will be able to win the competition. Yet focus is an increasingly scarce quality in the information age. In August 2018, I published an online survey on "learning and growth confusion" on my official account. 338 responses were received before the deadline. Although the sample size of the survey was not rich enough, there were some clear trends in the results. For example, the top two puzzles were "constantly immersed in worries, fantasies, and anxieties" (168 votes) and "constantly distracted and unable to stay focused" (167 votes). It's all a sign of distraction. So there are a lot of people who suffer from distraction, and extreme concentration has become a rare ability. Although Mr. Li Dazhao has taught us: to learn to learn to be steadfast, to play to have a good time. But in those days, with less learning and less information, it was easier to study and play separately and with clear boundaries. Nowadays, in the face of a lot of information distractions and enormous competitive pressure, most people instinctively tell themselves to work harder and harder, but few people realize that the more scientific model should be: extreme focus + active rest, and so on.

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*Originally published on [hamburger](https://paragraph.com/@hamburger-2/four-elements-of-deliberate-practice)*