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How to practice effectively...for just about anything - Annie Bosler and Don Greene

BeginnerAmerican accentAnimated lesson5 min

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Transcript: 39 sentences

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  1. 0:08 Mastering any physical skill, be it performing a pirouette, playing an instrument, or throwing a baseball, takes practice.
  2. 0:16 Practice is the repetition of an action with the goal of improvement, and it helps us perform with more ease, speed, and confidence.
  3. 0:25 So what does practice do in our brains to make us better at things?
  4. 0:30 Our brains have two kinds of neural tissue: grey matter and white matter.
  5. 0:35 The grey matter processes information in the brain, directing signals and sensory stimuli to nerve cells, while white matter is mostly made up of fatty tissue and nerve fibers.
  6. 0:47 In order for our bodies to move, information needs to travel from the brain's grey matter, down the spinal cord, through a chain of nerve fibers called axons to our muscles.
  7. 0:58 So how does practice or repetition affect the inner workings of our brains?
  8. 1:04 The axons that exist in the white matter are wrapped with a fatty substance called myelin.
  9. 1:09 And it's this myelin covering, or sheath, that seems to change with practice.
  10. 1:15 Myelin is similar to insulation on electrical cables.
  11. 1:18 It prevents energy loss from electrical signals that the brain uses, moving them more efficiently along neural pathways.
  12. 1:26 Some recent studies in mice suggest that the repetition of a physical motion increases the layers of myelin sheath that insulates the axons.
  13. 1:36 And the more layers, the greater the insulation around the axon chains, forming a sort of superhighway for information connecting your brain to your muscles.
  14. 1:46 So while many athletes and performers attribute their successes to muscle memory, muscles themselves don't really have memory.
  15. 1:54 Rather, it may be the myelination of neural pathways that gives these athletes and performers their edge with faster and more efficient neural pathways.
  16. 2:05 There are many theories that attempt to quantify the number of hours, days, and even years of practice that it takes to master a skill.
  17. 2:13 While we don't yet have a magic number, we do know that mastery isn't simply about the amount of hours of practice.
  18. 2:20 It's also the quality and effectiveness of that practice.
  19. 2:24 Effective practice is consistent, intensely focused, and targets content or weaknesses that lie at the edge of one's current abilities.
  20. 2:34 So if effective practice is the key, how can we get the most out of our practice time?
  21. 2:39 Try these tips.
  22. 2:41 Focus on the task at hand.
  23. 2:43 Minimize potential distractions by turning off the computer or TV and putting your cell phone on airplane mode.
  24. 2:50 In one study, researchers observed 260 students studying.
  25. 2:54 On average, those students were able to stay on task for only six minutes at a time.
  26. 3:00 Laptops, smartphones, and particularly Facebook were the root of most distractions.
  27. 3:06 Start out slowly or in slow-motion.
  28. 3:08 Coordination is built with repetitions, whether correct or incorrect.
  29. 3:13 If you gradually increase the speed of the quality repetitons, you have a better chance of doing them correctly.
  30. 3:19 Next, frequent repetitions with allotted breaks are common practice habits of elite performers.
  31. 3:26 Studies have shown that many top athletes, musicians, and dancers spend 50-60 hours per week on activities related to their craft.
  32. 3:35 Many divide their time used for effective practice into multiple daily practice sessions of limited duration.
  33. 3:42 And finally, practice in your brain in vivid detail.
  34. 3:45 It's a bit surprising, but a number of studies suggest that once a physical motion has been established, it can be reinforced just by imagining it.
  35. 3:54 In one study, 144 basketball players were divided into two groups.
  36. 4:00 Group A physically practiced one-handed free throws while Group B only mentally practiced them.
  37. 4:07 When they were tested at the end of the two week experiment, the intermediate and experienced players in both groups had improved by nearly the same amount.
  38. 4:17 As scientists get closer to unraveling the secrets of our brains, our understanding of effective practice will only improve.
  39. 4:24 In the meantime, effective practice is the best way we have of pushing our individual limits, achieving new heights, and maximizing our potential.

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