“If you wish to become significantly better at something, you can.” – K. Anders Ericsson
A Road Map to the Development of Expertise
An excerpt from How To Become The Best at Anything, Introduction
What the Book is About
“This book is for anyone who wants to get really good at something or even become one of the best at anything. It’s about how to develop expertise in any area or domain: the conditions that have to be met, the steps you have to take, the things you have to do, and what to expect on your path to becoming an expert.
The path it takes to become one of the best is very similar to becoming very good at something. The differences between becoming one of the best and becoming very good at something are:
• The goals,
• The amount of time and resources you are willing to put in,
• And what you are willing to give up.
The book covers the importance of passion and interest, talent, limitations, access, goals, plans, coaches, deliberate practice, and persistence, in everyday language. Academic theories are presented in a simplified, generalized form that applies to almost all areas or domains.
I do use one academic word throughout the book, the word domain. Domain, as used in this book, refers to a specific sphere, area, or knowledge. Some examples are the domain of baseball, the domain of technology, and the domain of math.”
Will this work for me?
“The short answer, yes, it will work for you. The process of the development of expertise presented in this book applies to almost all areas or domains and people. But (there always seems to be a “but”) there are conditions that must be met in order to attain a very high level of expertise.
That being said, there will always be exceptions to everything. You may take longer; you may become an expert in a shorter amount of time (depending on the area or domain). You may do everything that is presented in this book and still not become the best. It depends on you and how you apply what is presented in this book. Chance and luck will also play a part.
In my research and experience, I have not come across anyone considered to be one of the best who has not met all of the conditions presented in this book. But there will be exceptions. In large populations there will always be statistical outliers.”
