Here, then, are the six keys to achieving excellence we've found are most effective for ourclients:1.
Pursue what you love.
Passion is an incredible motivator. It fuels focus, resilience,and perseverance.2.
Do the hardest work first
. We all move instinctively toward pleasure and awayfrom pain. Most great performers, Ericsson and others have found, delaygratificationand take on the difficult work of practice in the mornings, before theydo anything else. That's when most of us have the most energy and the fewestdistractions.3.
Practice intensely
, without interruption for short periods of no longer than 90minutes and then take a break. Ninety minutes appears to be the maximum amountof time that we can bring the highest level of focus to any given activity. Theevidence is equally strong that great performers practice no more than 4 ½ hours aday.4.
Seek expert feedback, in intermittent doses
. The simpler and more precise thefeedback, the more equipped you are to make adjustments. Too much feedback, toocontinuously, however, can create cognitive overload, increase anxiety, andinterfere with learning.5.
Take regular renewal breaks
. Relaxing after intense effort not only provides anopportunity to rejuvenate, but also to metabolize and embed learning. It's alsoduring rest that the right hemisphere becomes more dominant, which can lead tocreative breakthroughs.6.
Ritualize practice
. Will and discipline are wildly overrated. As the researcher RoyBaumeisterhas found, none of us have very muchof it. The best way to insureyou'll take on difficult tasks is to ritualize them
—
build specific, inviolable times atwhich you do them, so that over time you do them without having to squanderenergy thinking about them.