Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: DIY Deliberate Practice, published by lynettebye on August 21, 2023 on LessWrong.

In the spirit of growth and self-improvement, I recently attempted to apply Ericsson's principles of deliberate practice to my own growth goal: speeding up my writing. If you're unfamiliar with the minutia of Ericsson's methods, don't worry, I was in the same boat - and hence my initial goal had substantial room for improvement. This is the story of how I used to deliberate practice principles to workshop my growth goal.

What exactly is deliberate practice?

Ericsson's recipe for practice starts with what he calls "purposeful practice":

Purposeful practice takes place outside of your comfort zone, pushing what you can already do. You should be trying new techniques, not just repeating what you've done before. Think "try differently", not "try harder"!

Purposeful practice demands you actively think about what you're doing -- you shouldn't be able to daydream about dinner while doing it!

Purposeful practice involves well-defined, specific goals broken down for step-by-step improvement (NOT vaguely "trying to improve"). You don't want to "practice the piano piece" you want to "practice the tricky section with the left hand until you can play it three times through at the correct speed without mistakes."

Purposeful practice involves quick feedback and changing what you're doing in response. Ideally, immediate feedback so that you can improve your approach mid practice session.

Ericsson adds one more criteria to graduate from "purposeful practice" to "deliberate practice": well-developed knowledge of what and how to practice. Deliberate practice is when you're purposefully practicing optimized strategies for improving the skill. Ideally, you want a highly developed field where experts have identified the most effective techniques and the best training strategies to develop those skills, plus a teacher who can lead you through the process.

Lacking that, do your best to find proven techniques and hope for the best. I ask more experienced people how they developed their skills or what they recommend I practice, and use that as a starting point. (Tips for informational interviews to learn how more experienced people developed skills.)

My initial goal

My goal was to write faster. I didn't have an instructor, but I did have a benchmark: several journalists and bloggers had shared that they could write a post each day. One blogger who I respect advised me to try publishing a post each day for a month. So I set the more modest goal of writing one post each day for a week.

My first.and second.and third attempts

Day 1: I began by enthusiastically plunking out a short post around a great career planning tip I'd recently learned. I got the full thing drafted, but it seemed a bit forlorn. Surely it would be better if I went back and wrote a longer post that also included the other career planning tips I found most useful?

Day 2: Sticking to my intention to draft a new post each day, I set aside my career tools idea. Instead, I started drafting what became my CBT post. I'd stitched together most of the main post by time evening rolled around, but I wanted to go through the resources I'd been compiling to make a nice resource list.

Day 3: I whipped together a little post on an intuition I had about AI. However, when I spoke with my partner in the evening (who works in the field), he agreed that a solid example would improve the post. It too went on the stack of posts awaiting revising.

Day 4: I tried putting together a short post on ADHD.and only got as far as an outline. The more I tried to nail down what I wanted to say, the more I realized there was to cover. In the end, I set it aside to await a round of interviews. (It eventually grew into nine thousand words across three posts.)

Day 5: A migraine kill...