IF YOU DESIRE TO GET BETTER AT ANYTHING YOU DO AND BECOME AN EXPERT IN IT, FOLLOW THESE TIPS.
We hear often that practice is the sure way to perfection in any human engagement. While that is the absolute truth, there are other often overlooked factors that can incredibly improve one's ability to do anything. Science has produced proof for their effectiveness in churning out experts in any field of human endeavor. These factors or rules have taken many up the ladder of success. So whether it is your academics or your profession or just any skill or talent of yours you want to greatly improve, then know that it is really very possible. You just have to follow these rules and abide by them to the letter, and you will see that success is not so much a difficult achievement as most people think.
So, to become an expert or a highly skilled person in anything you do, follow these 4 rules.
#4 MENTORS ARE IMPORTANT
For everything we do and want to do even better, there are those before us who have become masters of those activities. Common sense would suggest that leaning on these people for inspiration and guidance can help lead us to the top. So supposing you want to get better as a musician, you have to secure the guidance of a mentor, someone who is already considerably exceptional and knowledgeable in music and sit under his tutorship. Also as science reveals, reading about the wonderful deeds of people that have done it before and sticking to their works can helps us get to perfection. That is, as an aspiring musician you listen to the music of those you consider the greats of the music industry, as poet you read the poems of master poets like the great Shakespeare. When you do this you are actually becoming a master of what you do.
So good mentorship is very important to making it to the top.
#3. THE IMPORTANT PART THAT FEEDBACK PLAYS
According to psychology experts, getting feedback on what we do helps our brains get better at it. The brain detects places where you did it well and the places it came out wrong and it learns to ignore the bad parts and reinforce the good. So after that instrument practice session it will be good to listen to a recording of it over and over and look out for places you perform well and places you did not. Or after you have written an article, etc.
#2 YOU HAVE TO REFUEL THE BRAIN/ IMPORTANCE OF REST AND SLEEP
Science has proven the importance of rest and sleep to productivity. A study showed that A scoring students slept 15 minutes more than B scoring ones and B scoring students got 15 minutes more sleep that the C students. It is recommended that you get not less than 7-8 hours of sleep a night with adequate naps during the day. This ensures that you perform at your peak. Thomas Edison was reported to have gotten insightful revelations during his inventing sessions after getting repeated 20-minute naps. Also, during sleep the brain solidifies the things you have learned.
#1 PRACTICE IS THE KEY TO PERFECTION
As mentioned earlier in the post, we can never lay too much emphasis on the importance of practice. As you practice you learn from your mistakes and they repeat less. Jimi Hendrix one of the best Guitarists in the history was said to have practiced on the Guitar about 15 hours a day. Nikola Tesla spent hours in research daily and sometimes went days without sleep or rest in his lab. It all depends on how much better you want to get at what you do. Just engage in and so that thing over and over again. As you do, your brain processes the information and you get better at doing it. Science has said it would take an average person about 10,000 hours of doing anything to master it. So each practice session makes you more of an expert. If you can spend hours a day on that difficult subject, at least about 1 hour, let's say mathematics for a length of time, depending on your intelligence and commitment, I bet you very soon you will become a specialist in it. Not only your academics, also your talents, skills. If you want to be a season public speaker, practice. If you desire to be an expert cook and dietitian, find time to practice cooking and catering. Etc. The more you do this the more you get better. But remember to apply rule number 3, that is learn from your mistakes as you practice so you get better.
If you practice these 4 rules, then you are on your way to the top and becoming one of the best in your field. Thanks.
Note: It is advised to track your progress as you start applying these rules to know when the desired changes occur. Compare you past and present performances to know when you are getting better.