Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by K. Anders Ericsson [Actionable Summary]

The Book In Three Or More Sentences:

Frustrated by your random actions and average results? You are convinced that greatness is something you are born with, not something you can acquire? Expose yourself to decades of research debunking the myth about talent – that success is embedded in our DNA. Peak (a.k.a. the deliberate practice book) explores the mindset, skills, and techniques a person needs to obtain to reach expert performance. After working with top achievers, the authors provide a battle-tested guide for reaching extraordinary results – what they label as the science of expertise.

The Core Idea:

The main question the authors tackle is this: How do the people we see on TV become amazingly good at what they do? In theory, the answer looks surprisingly simple: you get a coach, you practice, get outside your comfort zone, adjust based on feedback, you re-program your mind and finally your default actions become exceptional. This is, in short, the implication of the theory of deliberate practice – systematic and purposeful work towards a particular outcome. Is there anything else? Oh, yeah. It will take you around 10,000 hours of hard, focused work.

Reason To Read:

Here’s a good reason to read the book: You are middle-aged, married with kids, you have a mortgage, and working a job you don’t particularly like. How do you escape the corporate handcuffs and reclaim your sanity? Is there even a way out? After all, you’re too old to change careers. Not according to the authors. Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool claim that everyone can master a field if they take the correct approach. In particular, the book provides a great dose of hope. It will persuade you that you, too, can become exceptional if you devote the time and use the right kind of practice.

7 Key Lessons from Peak:

Lesson #1: The Brain is Highly Adaptable

The legendary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was – and still is – considered a prodigy.

His skills with the instruments were nothing but exceptional. And according to books, his musical career started due to his magical ability to easily recognize notes.

When an instrument was playing, Mozart could identify exactly which note was played.

Some argued that he was born with this ability, which later allowed him to become a virtuoso with the piano and the violin.

But not according to the authors.

The technical term of the note-guessing skills is called absolute pitch – also known as perfect pitch.

But Mozart wasn’t born with it. Simply, his gift was the ability to learn quickly.

Ever since he was born, he has been exposed to musical instruments thanks to his father. This early engagement was the main thing that made Mozart great.

Previously, people believed that no amount of practice would help you become good at a particular skill if you don’t have the right genes.

But after decades of research on the human brain. The authors report that everyone can transition from capable to exceptional.

We just need “the right sort of practice,” as the authors point out – the so-called deliberate practice.

Our brains are highly adaptable to the outside world. With the right training, the correct internal conviction, and ongoing motivation we can transcend any field.

The problem is not so much what cards we are dealt with when we emerge. But what we do with them and what extra we acquire along the way.

So, don’t get discouraged if you don’t think you have natural talents. Rather, approach the subject you are interested in as a topic you can learn and master.

“In this new world it no longer makes sense to think of people as born with fixed reserves of potential; instead, potential is an expandable vessel, shaped by the various things we do throughout our lives. Learning isn’t a way of reaching one’s potential but rather a way of developing it.” K. Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool

Lesson #2: Don’t Simply Practice, Start With Purposeful Practice

After the initial demonstration that there is no such thing as talent.

The book continues with a story about a student spending two years improving his remembering skills. After two years, he was able to recite and remember a string of eighty-two random digits. I know, who cares!

But despite being able to remember his strong passwords without having to use a file or software. This gigantic mental feat is amazing for a couple of reasons:

First, at the beginning of the journey, the student was struggling to remember nine digits in a role. And second, the gold medal for remembering digits at that time was seventeen.

Still, who cares, right?

Wrong.

What the authors are trying to pass off as a genuine fact is that extraordinary performance can be achieved by ordinary folks, too. As long as they are willing to do the work.

In other words, no one is born with exceptional skills. Everyone is average when they are born. The difference is hours of purposeful practice. If one takes on the journey of becoming great. He can become exceptional and far exceeds his initial results.

The key here is purposeful practice – which later evolves into the term deliberate practice.

This is quite different from how we usually approach training.

Here’s the comparison in short:

• The usual approach of learning a new skill: You want to learn how to play tennis. You get the equipment. You hire a coach or you play with friends. Initially, you quickly improve. You are no longer missing the ball. But since you don’t challenge yourself – you play with the same caliber of opponents. You keep the same average level of performance. Even if you play for years, you still won’t get better.
• Purposeful practice: This sort of practice is hugely different from your usual gym session – or whatever. Some believe that if you do something every day, you will succeed. But if you don’t improve during your training sessions, you will stay idle in your performance – keep being average. Purposeful practice states that when you practice, you should specify exactly what you should improve during this hour of training. For example, keep practicing till you can play a melody all the way through at the proper speed without a mistake three times in a row. The main characteristics of this sort of practice are focus, feedback, and gradually getting outside your comfort zone.

When you apply the purposeful practice theory, you approach what you want to master by breaking it down into tiny goals. And in addition, each of your training sessions has a well-defined, measurable outcome that you are aiming to reach.

Finally, and most importantly, you don’t settle down with average opponents. You continuously increase the difficulty.

“The key thing is to take that general goal—get better—and turn it into something specific that you can work on with a realistic expectation of improvement.” K. Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool