When you play a competitive game like League of Legends or Overwatch, you can climb the ranks early on as your basic mechanics and instincts improve. But at some point, even though you're clearly in the zone, your rank stalls. There are even moments when it drops. You'd think that if you're focused, you should be getting better. Is this a matter of talent? How can you raise your rank?
From a certain point on, simply playing with focus isn't enough. You need advice or tips from someone better than you. YouTube has plenty of videos where pro gamers give feedback on other people's play. In an Overwatch video I used to watch, the pros could often tell a player's rank at a glance just from watching them play. There are weaknesses I can't see that a pro can. That's why what you need is correction through feedback, not just focus. And that process comes with discomfort, because you have to play differently from the way you're used to, and that feels unfamiliar. This is exactly what I mean by deliberate practice.
If you want the details, I recommend Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise (published in Korea as "The Rediscovery of 10,000 Hours"), written by Anders Ericsson, who coined the concept of deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is defined as follows.
- Practice aimed at improving performance
- Separate tasks are designed to shore up weaknesses. You observe your practice and get feedback on what to fix
- The practice is hard. As a result, it isn't very enjoyable.
- (optional) The practice must be designed by a coach.
In truth, the definition of deliberate practice can be a bit inconsistent. That's also why item 4 is optional. Practice without item 4 is sometimes called purposeful practice, and sometimes it's simply classified as deliberate practice even without item 4.
Realistically, though, it's hard for us to have a coach for every kind of practice, and it's hard enough to do 1 through 3 properly, so here I'll treat anything that includes just 1 through 3 as deliberate practice.
When we practice something, we tend to unconsciously do only what we're already good at. That's because it tends to feel less effortful. Practicing the parts we're good at is comfortable and enjoyable, so we gravitate toward it. In other words, we keep doing what we've always done.
Deliberate practice, though, goes after the parts that feel uncomfortable. It targets what's outside the comfort zone. In the sense of identifying and shoring up your weaknesses, it can be seen as strengthening your The Chain System. The abilities required in games, careers, sports, and so on are never just one thing; they demand a variety of abilities at once. And if even one of them falls to a failing grade, problems eventually arise. In that respect, periodically figuring out which areas are your weak points and shoring them up helps you pull ahead.