I found these tidbits on a web article today. The findings stem from a study by Florida State professor K. Anders Ericsson.
"The best people in any field are those who devote the most hours to what the researchers call 'deliberate practice.' It's activity that's explicity intended to improve performance, that reaches for objectives far beyond one's level of competence, provides feedback on results, and involves high levels of repetition. For example: Simply hitting a bucket of balls is not deliberate practice, which is why most golfers don't get better. Hitting an eight-iron 300 times with a goal of leaving the ball within 20 feet of the pin 80 percent of the time, continually observing results and making appropriate adjustments, and doing that for hours every day -- that's deliberate practice."
"Consistency is crucial. As Ericsson notes, 'Elite performers in many diverse domains have been found to practice, on the average, roughly the same amount every day, including weekends.' Evidence crosses a remarkable range of fields. In a study of 20-year-old violinists by Ericsson and colleagues, the best group (judged by conservatory teachers) averaged 10,000 hours of deliberate practice over their lives; the next-best group averaged 7,500 hours; and the next, 5,000. It's the same story in surgery, insurance sales, and virtually every sport. More deliberate practice equals better performance. Tons of it equals great performance."
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