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Are you an expert? (...at anything?)

Written by: Todd Youngblood

Article Overview: Read any trade publication. Surf the net for a sales trainer or consultant. Listen to the radio or TV. We are surrounded by experts. The gurus are everywhere!

Are you an expert? (...at anything?)

According to the 1,100 page compendium of scholarly research The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, it takes at least one and up to five hours of intense, daily, dedicated, deliberate practice and training sustained for 10 years to become an expert.

Read that again; s-l-o-w-l-y this time. Get your brain wrapped around that level of commitment.

And that's not all they say... Intense practice means - well - intense. Daily practice means every day. That includes weekends. Dedicated practice means exclusive. That includes foregoing all kinds of interesting distractions. Deliberate practice means concentrated on improvement. That means measuring, tracking and dogged pursuit of progress.

That's still not all they say... It's not just practice. It's practice AND training. As the Handbook authors note, "... to improve performance it is necessary to seek out practice activities that allow individuals to work on improving specific aspects, with the help of a teacher and in a protected environment, with opportunities for reflection, exploration of alternatives, and problem solving, as well as repetition with informative feedback." In other words, not a single one of us is capable of attaining expertise all alone. We need to recruit bosses, mentors and colleagues willing to actively, intelligently, aggressively participate in our quest.

That's STILL not all they say... Doing your job does NOT count. Experience does NOT equal expertise. Got it? We all know lots and lots of people - athletes, musicians and business people - who have been doing what they do for years, maybe decades, and have yet to achieve "above average" expertise.

This is all hard-numbers-based research. No empty rhetoric. No unsubstantiated claims. No fluffy BS. The "10-year rule," the practice, the support, the gigantic volume of extra effort are all for real prerequisites.

Keep all of the above in mind the next time some alleged "expert" starts spouting his or her alleged wisdom. Keep all of the above in mind then next time you start spouting your alleged wisdom! I need to get back to work... Need more practice... Need more training...

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Article Tags: 10 years, cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance, colleagues, deliberate practice, distractions, dogged pursuit, handbook authors, informative feedback, intense practice, mentors, musicians, nbsp, page compendium, reflection, repetition, scholarly research, single one, span style, style text, text decoration



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