Farnam Street
Mastering the best of what other people have already figured out
How often do we give deep thought to how we provide feedback to others? While it seems like something we’d all like to do well, most of the time we stink at it. When was the last time you really felt your feedback improved someone else’s …
In sports, ‘choking’ is when an athlete makes a major, unexpected blunder in a high stakes situation. Often, an expert who chokes will act like a clueless novice. Here, we examine why we choke and how to avoid it. *** The book Bounce by …
At some point, we’ve all likely given up on trying to get better at a skill and settled for being mediocre as opposed to being great. But why do we do this? Why don’t we push on until we achieve mastery? *** Let’s say you want to play …
Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield, authors of The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well, came out with an op-ed in the New York Times. The interesting argument, one that is echoed by Charles Darwin, is …
We are remarkably inefficient at skill development. Understanding the nuances of how repetitions, situations, and feedback interconnect offers us a few small changes that lead to remarkable improvements in skill acquisition. *** We think …