The practice aimed at achieving fluency is different -pretty different- from practice whose purpose is to learn how to do one thing. K. Anders Ericsson is one of the leading experts in this field and coined the definition of “Deliberate Practice”.  According to Ericsson, learning any mechanical skill requires about 50 hours of practice (in fact this is the time for training new employees in many companies, at least here in Italy: when you start a new job you get -roughly- one week of training to learn how to properly operate in the new environment One week is more or less 50 hours of training. In that time we move from beginners to being comfortable (enough) with our tasks).

ERICSSON writes:“When individuals are first introduced to a skilled activity such as driving a car, typing on a computer, or playing golf, their primary goal is to reach a level of proficiency that will allow them to perform these everyday tasks at a functional level“.

In 50 hours we move from paying a lot attention to perform the behavior (with an extreme slowness) to the acquisition of some hints of fluency: things start to become automatic and easier for us. We acquire a functional level of expertise. At this point, usually, if the practice does not continue in an appropriate manner, learning stops: as they become automatic and embedded in our long term memory, skills are not longer easily modified. So just keep repeating the same things does not make us Maestri or experts.

ERICSSON writes:“some types of experience, such as merely executing proficiently during routine work, may not lead to further improvement, and that further improvements depend on deliberate efforts to change particular aspects of performance”.

If the words “deliberate efforts to change particular aspects of performance“ made a bell ring in our mind, you’re right: one of TAGteach most powerful tools is just that: the tag point.