The Power of Deep Practice [30 Minutes a Day]
Less than a month ago, I couldn’t play anything on the Piano. This is me 30 days later putting in just 15-30 minutes of practice a day, about 4-5 times per week. You’d be surprised the things you could do if you just started, and put some consistent effort into. Shit, I surprised myself.
Deep Practice and Your Brain
The human brain is powered through electric signals through a circuit of neurons. Through consistent practice, your brain develops Myelin, insulation that envelops the circuits of neuron fibers and helps strengthen the signals. As the quality of your practice increases, so does the Myelin, helping you become more fluid and efficient at whatever you’re trying to learn. However, deep practice isn’t just going through the motions. It’s all about the quality of the repetitions and going outside of your comfort zone each time. You need to focus on making adjustments to correct mistakes and do this consistently.
3 Rules of Deep Practice:
Chunk it Up
Repeat it
Learn to Feel it
In my video above, you can see how I used the 3 rules above. I chunked up the first movement of Moonlight Sonata into 4 parts, becoming proficient (but not mastering) each part before moving on to the next. I would repeat and practice the same parts for 30 minutes a day at least 4-5 times per week.
While my hands would hurt from never playing the piano, they eventually built stamina and fluidity from the consistent practice. Finally, on day 30 of the video, you can see how comfortable I became. From the choppy playing with my brain feeling like it’s on overload, to being able to close my eyes at times and feeling the song through my fingers, that is the power of deep practice and what it can do for you.
I wish I added Deep Practice to my list 10 tips for personal growth, but let's just say it’s officially #11. Now ask yourself, “How can you spare 30 minutes in your day to build that skill you’ve always wanted to learn or get better at?”