Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle, (45) Tip #45, Notes

Post date: Nov 19, 2018 2:54:15 PM

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TIP #45 FOR EVERY HOUR OF COMPETITION, SPEND FIVE HOURS PRACTICING

Make public performance a special occasion, not a routine. Games are fun, tournaments are exciting and contests are thrilling. Public competition is a great thing. It teaches invaluable lessons about teamwork, it helps build emotional control, and it’s fun. But it is also deeply inefficient and slows skill development, for four reasons:

1. The presence of other people diminishes an appetite for risks, nudging us away from the sweet spot.
2. Games reduce the number of quality reps.
3. The pressure of games distorts priorities, encouraging shortcuts in technique.
4. Games encourage players, coaches, and parents to judge success by the scoreboard rather than by how much was learned.

Be determined to build trusty and reliable skill before injecting the distorting pressures of competition. A five-to-one ratio of practice time to performance time is a good starting point; ten to one is even better.