There has been a considerable amount of attention paid to the “made” aspect of the debate.
According to many researchers, expertise is acquired through dedicated practice.
But how exactly does someone go about becoming an expert?
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Can anyone be an expert with the proper study and training?
This article explores what expertise is and how people become experts.
It also discusses how long it takes to become an expert.
What Is Expertise?
Is it about how much you know?
Is it about being able to perform an action well?
Expertise can be defined as exceptional, elite, or peak performance on specific tasks in specific domains.
Components of Expertise
Knowledge, skill, and achievement are all critical components of expertise.
They also possess the skills that they need to determine when and how to use their knowledge.
Such skills are often learned, but they can also be influenced by natural talent and ability.
Finally, people who possess expertise also tend to achieve far above and beyond what the average person does.
They not only possess knowledge and skill; they also put their talents and know-how to work.
Recap
Experts aren’t just very good at what they do.
How Long Does It Take to Become an Expert?
Researchers have tried to investigate how long it really takes to become an expert in any given field.
Gladwell pointed to the results of the music study as well as observations of other experts in their fields.
Some Skills Take Longer to Acquire
Secondly, not all skills are the same.
Some skills require far fewer than 10,000 hours to reach the expert level, while others require much more.
10,000 Hours Was an Average
Ericsson also points out that Gladwell’s interpretation of his research is flawed.
Researchers believe thatdeliberatepractice is the key.
What Is Deliberate Practice?
Some other factors that might also play a role include:
Can Anyone Become an Expert?
But there is little doubt that practicing regularly leads to an improvement in both skills and knowledge.
How to Gain Expertise
If you have set an expertise goal.
you will need to follow several steps to achieve it.
If you want to master something, you oughta be willing to put in the time.
It might take 10,000 hours or lessbut it might also require much more.
This mental toughness may sometimes be an important part of being able to stick with deliberate practice.
Despite these findings, it is clear that practice still matters.
The more people practiced, the better they performed in their area of interest.
What the researchers found was that the domain also mattered.
Practice accounts for varying amounts of individual differences in performance.
The study also found that genetic factors had a very small impact on performance variations.
This relates to a learning concept introduced byLev Vygotskyknown as thezone of proximal development.
What Is the Zone of Proximal Development?
Skills that are just outside of your current ability level are in the zone of proximal development.
Becoming an expert requires constantly working within this zone of proximal development.
More learning, more knowledge, and better performance are still possible with further challenge and practice.
Learn From Mistakes
Experts are not always perfect.
Mistakes are a form of feedback.
They tell us not only what not to do, but also what we might try instead.
Experts are able to spot these mistakes, correct course, and apply this knowledge in the future.
But no matter what your natural ability levels are, becoming an expert takes time, effort and practice.
Bourne LE, Kole JA, Healy AF.Expertise: defined, described, explained.Front Psychol.
2014;25(8):1608-1618. doi:10.1177/0956797614535810
