Summary
Where do people’s extraordinary abilities come from? Besides innate endowments, the answer is practice.It is not the practice in a traditional sense, but purposeful or deliberate practice. It is the most effective and most powerful types of practice that work by harnessing the adaptability of the human body and brain to create, step by step, the ability to do things that were previously not possible.
Furthermore, why and how does it work? Studies show that our body and brain are incredibly adaptable. So it is possible to shape the brain and body through deliberate training. Different from traditional approach, deliberate practice requires challenging homeostasis—getting out of our comfort zone—and forcing our brain or body to adapt .
Thus, we have purposeful practice in a nutshell:Get outside our comfort zone but do it in a focused way, with clear goals, a plan for reaching those goals, and a way to monitor the progress. And figure out a way to maintain our motivation.
几点收获:
读过第一二章,有以下几点值得学习借鉴:
1、写作的逻辑性。在谋篇布局方面,如何有条理地运用大量案例?例如:在第一章中,里面有大量的事例,既有第一手的实验案例,也有涉及马拉松,跳水、钢琴、记忆练习等多方面的数据和事例。作者开篇就使用的Steve的例子,也就是自己的第一手实验例子,因为第一手的案例对于读者而言更具说服力;其次作者将大量的案例紧随其后,紧紧围绕开篇的案例,巩固验证了自己实验的正确性和可行性。如果颠倒过来,先抛出大量二手事例,再写自己的实验,读者就感觉有些凌乱,搞不清这么多事例的重点在哪里。这对于我们在写作中运用案例有启示。
又如,在第一章中说明观点的时候,作者其实是分两层推进的,第一层,非同寻常的成绩可以通过练习获得;第二层,这种练习不是传统意义的练习,而是有意识的练习,即刻意练习。如果让我来写,很可能就直接写“非同寻常的成绩通过刻意练习获得”。而我们知道“练习”和“刻意练习”是不同的概念,混在一起写的话,会感觉眉毛胡子一把抓。如果一下子说不清的话,不妨分开几个论点阐述或推进。
2、写作的手法—总-分-总+but 的运用。在第二章的论述中大量使用了这一模式。例如在Shaping the Brain一节(见下图)。这种论述模式简洁明了,既把主要问题理清,又通过but将一些例外或注意事项加入,总体逻辑严密,条理清楚。这样的写作手法值得借鉴。
3、具有实践指导意义的是:遇到“瓶颈问题”,怎么努力也停滞不前怎么办?作者给出了三个解决的思路:
⑴不要死磕。The solution is not “try harder ”but rather “try differently ”。遇到困难,一味冲锋陷阵不是好方法,搞不好信心大挫,铩羽而归。此时可行的办法是广开思路,寻求别的解决办法绕开障碍物。另外终于知道“死磕”用英语怎么表达了,don’t try harder !
⑵求助高人。The best way to get past any barrier is to come at it from a different direction.高人也曾经经历过你所面临的挫折,所以他们会给出靠谱的建议。
⑶克服心理障碍。有些时候我们做事情,不是因为我们做不成,而是因为我们认为我们做不成,而且通常是在认知上出现了偏差,比如steve记忆数字串的例子,在挑战更长的数串时,他认为是数串的长度限制了记忆,而实际上问题在于他编码的速度。当他意识到自己的心理认知偏差并迅速调整后,问题自然迎刃而解了。我感觉这就是一个paradigm shift的过程,运用七个习惯里面分析问题的方式,当我们将“outside-in”的模式切换到“inside-out”,视角的变换会影响我们思考和解决问题的方式。再以steve的例子分析,他开始以为是外界outside(数串长短)影响了他挑战高阶,而事实上当他转变视角,从inside(自己编码的速度)来看待问题时,这个paradigm shift的过程就帮他找到了解决问题的方法,突破了瓶颈。
字词
1.we have purposeful practice in a nutshell / in a nutshell 简而言之= in brief ,in short , in a word , in general
2.push这个词很好用文中出现几次,表达很努力可以用/ Steve was pushing each day to increase the number of digits he could remember/ Steve pushed himself to get better .
3.he starred pumping himself up as the strings increased in length/ pump up =prepare yourself for it mentally / 联想:Psych up.
4.With this head start , Dario was able to improve much more quickly than Steve had /head start =advantage gained by an beginning early先发优势/ 联想jump start = startworking quickly.
5.The consequences are a boon for optometrists and a bother for the over-fifty crowd ./一个有用的句式something are a boon for A and a bother for B就是对一个人来说是好事,而对另外一个人来说是麻烦事/ 联想:one man’s meat is another man’s poison, One person’s mission is another person’s minutiae./仿句:Online shopping is a boon for customers and a bother for brick-and-mortar stores.