Becoming an expert at something can seem complicated and unattainable, but it doesn’t have to be. Forget about all the details for a minute and simplify your approach down to the basic requirements.
The process for becoming an expert is rather simple when you break it down. It’s the work that really matters, and the quality of your practice, not your talent or the shortcuts you take.
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
- Thomas A. Edison
Follow this brief guide to become an expert in any skill or field you desire:
1. Learn
2. Practice (and don’t wait too long after learning begins)
3. Constantly challenge yourself
4. Measure your progress often
5. Repeat until skill is achieved
Increase the levels of #1, #2 and #3 if progress isn’t as quick as you want.
This approach works best if you set expectations based on your goals before you begin.
To become an elite expert (one of the best in the world), you might need 10,000 hours of deliberate practice or more.
To become expert enough to accomplish more modest goals, you might need 100 hours for a very basic level of proficiency, or 1,000 hours to offer services on an entry-level professional basis, for example.
In any case, hard work and dedicated practice is the key to gaining expertise.
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Simple method, easy enough to follow, and a sure to provide results.
I would add to this though, ‘Write down the Goal’ – It’s amazing how much just getting something out of your mind and onto paper can help.
Somewhere in there some play time might want to happen to. Playing scales and arpeggios all day is all good and Ingvie-approved and stuff, but at some, crank up the volume and just play!
Corbett, my favorite tip is to start thinking of yourself as the thing you want to be long before you become that thing. It’s all about learning to change your identity as a way to reinforce your change in habits and activities (hat tip to Chip and Dan Heath of the book Switch).
I started thinking of myself as a minimalist when I was still VERY clearly a packrat. Over the course of 6 years, I became the most minimalist person you’ll ever meet, currently living out of a backpack, but that would have never happened if I had continued thinking of myself as a packrat trying to do better. Instead, I just began acting as a minimalist would because that is how I identified myself.
Same thing for writing, running, trekking, learning languages, etc. It works – try it!
Great idea Betsy, thanks for the tip.
Hmm, you just made me realize lately I haven’t been thinking of myself as anything but what I currently am. Time for an upgrade I think!
I think one of the key points in this article is the entry-level professional work that you mentioned.
We all know how to learn and we all know how to practice. Sometimes, though, we feel like we have to keep all of our test runs in-house before we can hit the real world and start adding value.
Nah… keep it entry level and there’s definitely room for beginners in the real world. It’s a must that you get out there and start learning how the game really goes.
You can only prepare for so much only using stages that you’ve set yourself.
Although, you are trying to simplify the requirements needed to be considered an expert, this over simplification does not work and if I may so, incorrect.
First of all, neither 100 hours nor 1,000 hours education and/or practice is enough to be considered an “expert” in any subject matter. If that would be the case expert witnesses would be much cheaper and easy to find.
Second, expertise in any area cannot be measured by hours of practice or education alone. One can study 10,000 hours and not considered to be and expert, and another can study less hours, but has the extraordinary ability to know or make a judgment about how to use his/her knowledge under various circumstances. An “expert” also understands his/her limitations, irrespective of their education and/or years of practice.
There is an undetermined or undefined understanding that experts start of on a much higher level as compared to an average person, which cannot be learned or achieved through practice.
I do not want to write an article here for discussion (it would be too long), but I thought to add my 2 cents worth of suggestion of being careful with definitions that maybe beyond the scope of this kind of communication.
to offer services on an entry-level professional basis, for example.
I became an expert in hazardous waste over 26 years of immersion in the topic, but the hazardous waste regulations are very complex and written in jargon.
I believe Corbett has an excellent point that one first needs to set a goal and strive to reach it, regardless of the time investment.
After the goal is chosen, the perspiration begins, and the time taken to reach the expert level will vary with a lot of factors, not the least of which is the complexity and scope of the subject matter.