David Eldridge
Nov 5 · 1 min read

Thank you for the article. This is something I have been working on personally and with my children. At a young age they are developing an understanding of what it takes to do anything well and derive great satisfaction and purpose from pursuing worthy goals (and that doesn’t include high scores on computer games or attaining likes etc…).

It must be said that I’m surprised that your article doesn’t mention Anders Ericsson, the psychologist who coined the term and defined Deliberate Practice based on his research over decades that you reference. In fact, I understand that Gladwell ‘misinterpreted’ Ericsson’s research findings with the all too convenient and incorrect ‘10,000 hours’ notion.

If you want to more deeply understand the nature of developing expertise, I would strongly recommend you read Ericsson’s excellent book ‘Peak’. Nothing beats learning from the source. It has challenged my understanding of attaining capability and had a very big positive impact on my children’s development — cognitively and non-cognitively.

    David Eldridge

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