Why did Corot stand out from the crowd of his painter friends? Was it inborn talent? Genius? No. It was the quality of his practice. He was engaging in what some contemporary students of optimal performance now call “deliberate practice.” Deliberate practice is not just a laborious repetition of the tasks of artistry. It is, rather, a kind of sustained engagement in the work that is aimed specifically at understanding and improving the work. It is an intentional breaking down of the tasks of any domain into smaller and smaller components to see precisely how they work. And it results in steady
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