Deliberate practice

I’ve talked about practice being the key to performance, and that very careful practice, “perfect” practice, leads to higher quality performance. So what’s the very first step toward creating high-quality practice?

Be certain you’re sure why you’re doing it. Why is practicing at a deliberately high level worth it? It saves time. Don’t want to spend a lot of time or don’t have the time to invest? High-quality, deliberate practice is worth more than unfocused time sailing your Laser. By focusing, you can get benefits that are multiples of casual time spent sailing your boat.

Want another reason? Deliberate practice may be the only thing that allows you to get beyond where you are now. Studies seem to show that you and I will peak out in our performance in about five years of general practice. Peak out that is if we don’t find a way to turbocharge our practice sessions. And how do you turbocharge your practice? Get past just general sailing around and be very deliberate about what you do with your practice time.

So what can you do to focus? Forget about focusing or trying to concentrate in general and instead pick a specific, narrow skill to focus or concentrate on.

·         Can you change tiller hands behind your back while tacking and looking forward? If not which specific step do you have trouble with? Slowly repeat it noticing the exact choreography of your hands. Only begin to speed up after you have four or more dead perfect successes.

·         Can you hold the mainsheet in either hand, swap it behind your back, control it with two fingers and never look at it or get tangled in it? You probably can’t consistently race well if you don’t get to a level of almost perfection.

·         Can you tack, cross the Laser hook onto the hiking strap and throw your weight out to pull the boat toward you and never lower your eyes to your feet? If you want to come out of a tack with power and height you need to be looking up not down.

Notice these specifics are very deliberate and concrete. High-quality practice is never general or focused on some rather vague outcome. “I’ll tack better.” “My role tacks will get smoother.” These may be the outcomes you eventually want, but deliberate practice is about specifics. “I will ease my sheet as the sail comes across and trim in as I roll the boat level on its new heading.”

I’ll return to this important topic as the season progresses.

Please share ideas or questions you have.

Jay Livingston