One of the keys to any successful career or moving to another role is deliberate practice. It makes sense, practice that skill or that requirement in that new role or future role. So that when you get there, you are already experienced. It also shows that you are keen and eager to improve and therefore a less risky hire than the next person.

I have been practising this myself with Presenting, the result so far has been winning a speech contest within 4 months of practising presenting.

Key Number 1: Practice outside of your comfort zone

This I believe is true, but to master any skill, you need to practice and practice more than once or twice. If you want to truly become a chess prodigy or world renowned composer, or any stand out master. Then according to Malcolm Gladwell you need to practice at least 10,000 hours! Or roughly 9-10 years depending on how frequently you practice.

But wait, I just want to get to a certain level of competency, well then, you don’t need to practice that long. In fact if you want to be in the top 10% or 20% you only need to practice for a smaller amount of time that is much more attainable and within the grasps of people.

Key Number 2: Frequent repetition

Be it to become a grand master or just in the top bracket of your group, you need to repeat. But how often you practice can mean you can go faster than anyone else.

Consider my hasty formula on presentation

  • Presenter 1 – Presents 4 times a year with a gap of 3 months between presentations. Over a 10 year period presents 40 times
  • Presenter 2 – Presents 4 times a MONTH with a gap of a week between presentations. Over a 1 YEAR period presents 48 times

It’s obvious that Presenter 2 will deliver a lot more and gain more experience. In 1 year, Presenter 2 will have MORE experience than Presenter 1 who may of been presenting for 10 years.

The time between presentations matter, feedback gained is instantly incorporated into their next presentation. So they are constantly iterating and improving. Whereas Presenter 1 will wait 3 months and potentially forget some of it.

This feedback and iteration is the third important point.

So key Number 3: Deliberative Practice

If you practice a skill, you will go through a series of learning and expansion of awareness around that area. At some point, the level of learning will decrease. Perhaps you have reached the end of your learning module, or your mentor cannot offer any more feedback or perhaps you are happy with where you are.

If you want to truly stand out, you need to keep pushing yourself, our brains are lazy (it’s a good thing!) and will seek equilibrium. But you cannot accept this, you need to keep pushing and trying new things. Be it a different mentor, a new learning module or just pushing yourself to go further than anyone else.

Putting it all together

  • Push yourself out of your comfort zone, aligned to where you want to go
  • Be aggressive and frequently repeat what you are practising
  • Seek out continuous feedback and learnings to help you continue your growth