Tag: Deliberate practice

How to Climb the Wall

When learning a new skill, the moment when your will drops below your skill is called the wall. To succeed, you need to climb the wall.

Every time when you start something new there is a moment when your willpower drops below your perceived skill level. This moment is called the wall. It looks daunting but eventually, if you keep practicing both, your skill level and your willpower start going up. You have started to climb the wall. If you persist, you will get to the peak and then … you will see another mountain to climb.

In this article, I will give you my tips for the hardest part in acquiring any new skill – the climb. If you zoom our, you will notice the same principle at a higher level – your career, your relationship, your life. Hopefully, you will also find ways to apply what you have learned to other areas, not only when learning a skill.

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Deliberate Thought Against Distraction

Fighting distraction is hard. One of the keys to success and productivity is the power of focus. And focus means distraction-free time.

Distractions are nothing new. They have been standing in the way of success and progress for millennia. Ancient philosophers in the West (i.e. Markus Aurelius, Seneca) and in the East (i.e. Laozi, D.T. Suziki) have fought distraction as fervently as the New Age philosophers (i.e. Ryan Holiday, Tim Ferris, Charles Duhigg). The difference between now and then is the sheer amount of available distractions. You can always reach out to your phone and review the social media updates instead of doing deliberate work. You can always turn on the TV instead of staying connected with yourself in silence. And, of course, you can always call a meeting to discuss a topic at work instead of thinking about it.

I recently read a book called “Indistractable” (link to Goodreads) by Nir Eyal. And I decided to post my thoughts on the topic, influenced by this book, but also by a few others – Good to Great, Grit, The Power of Habit, Flow, as well as my own experience over the years. In this article I will share my tools for avoiding distractions so that you can put deliberate practice to work for you and for your success (or what Nir Eyal calls traction).

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