Peak: Secrets From The New Science of Expertise

by K. Anders Ericsson

As a rule of thumb, I think that anyone who hopes to improve skill in a particular area should devote an hour or more each day to practice that can be done with full concentration.

Progress is made by those who are working on the frontiers of what is known and what is possible to do, not by those who haven’t put in the effort needed to reach that frontier. In short, in most cases — and this is especially true in any well-developed area — we must rely on the experts to move us forward. Fortunately for all of us, that’s what they do best.

In the long run it is the ones who practice more who prevail, not the ones who had some initial advantage in intelligence or some other talent.