SUMMARY

When it comes to deliberate practice, the key word is mental representation.

A mental representation is a mental structure that corresponds to anything that the brain is thinking about. Even when the skill being practiced is primarily physical, a major factor is the development of the proper mental representations. Better mental representations lead to better performance, and it's a virtuous circle.

But the details of mental representations are different from field to field, there is no such thing as developing a general skill.The thing all mental representations have in common is that they make it possible to process large amounts of information quickly, despite the limitations of short-term memory.

The more you study a subject, the more detailed your mental representations of it become, and the better you get at assimilating new information. Moreover, mental representations can help us plan and learn effectively.

So what’s deliberate practice？

1.Some people have figure out the skills how to do and have established the effective training techniques.

2.Get out of the comfort zone.

3.Set specifical goals→make plans.

4.Full attention and conscious actions.

5.Feedback and modify effort.

6.Mental representation.

7.Build and modify the previous skills→eventually lead to expert performance

Ericsson also teaches us how to get close to deliberate practice when the skills being practiced are not of the appropriate field. And at the end of chapter 4，he points that TEN-THOUSAND-HOUR RULE is not really a rule.

感悟

刻意练习的核心就是心理表征，建立心理表征，可以帮助我们更高效地学习，而持续的学习可以帮我们完善心理表征。除了心理表征，和purposeful practice还有一点很不同的是，刻意练习需要一位优秀的老师，他不仅自己专业技能牛逼，教学能力也牛逼，才能用最好的方法让你突破舒适区达到专家的水平，但是之后就要靠你自己了。然而对绝大多数人来说，这个老师很不好找，所以从一开始你就得靠自己。什么人是这方面的专家，什么样的方法是最有效的，怎样练习才能成功，琢磨透了这些，剩下的就是大量的长时间的练习。

我还是相信有天生的天才，但我们绝大多数都不是，那么就后天培养天才，刻意练习就是最好的方法。那些有非常好的家庭环境的孩子，能得到最优秀的老师的辅导，拥有最好的资源，这大概就是真的赢在起跑线上了。

词汇整理

overarching

adj. [usually before noun]

• (formal) very important, because it includes or influences many things

• 非常重要的；首要的；概莫能外的

it’s hard to offer an overarching definition that is not too vague,

Every so oftenthe New York Times publishes a column called “Think Like a Doctor” by Lisa Sanders, a doctor and author.

every so often= sometimes

An inspector comes round every so often to check the safety equipment.

A doctor diagnosing a patient with a complex set of symptoms must take in a great deal of information without knowing ahead of time which is most relevant and which might be red herrings.

red herrings

an unimportant fact, idea, event, etc. that takes people's attention away from the important ones  转移注意力的次要事实(或想法、事件等)

If you ask someone to recall a seemingly random assortment of words verbatim

verbatim[vəːˈbeɪtɪm]

adverb& adjective

in exactly the same words as were used originally

一字不差地；一字不差的

[as adv.]subjects were instructed to recall the passage verbatim.

测试对象被要求一字不差地把那段话回述出来。

[as adj.]your quotations must be verbatim.

引文必须一字不差。