Deliberate practice

Term coined by K. Anders Ericsson. Not "practicing a lot" — a specific type of practice that produces expert performance. Most practice doesn't qualify.

The 10,000 hour problem

Gladwell popularized the number. Ericsson was frustrated by the misrepresentation. The point was never about hours — it was about what you do during those hours. 10,000 hours of comfortable repetition builds nothing. Shorter periods of focused, difficult, feedback-rich practice build everything.

Four requirements

Designed for improvement — not repetition of things you can already do. Every session targets a specific weakness and pushes beyond current ability.

Immediate feedback — without it, you reinforce whatever you happen to be doing. In sim racing, telemetry is the mechanism: real-time delta, trace overlay, input comparison.

Repetition with refinement — high volume, but each rep informs the next. Not mindless repetition — deliberate adjustment based on the previous result.

Mental engagement — cognitively exhausting. If it feels comfortable, it's not deliberate practice.

Why most practice fails

Comfort zone trap — once adequate, continuing feels productive but builds nothing. Fix: always practice at the edge of ability.

No feedback loop — "feel" without measurement. No objective evidence of change. Fix: measure everything measurable.

Wrong target — practicing the wrong thing hard. "More laps" is often the wrong answer. Fix: diagnose first, then prescribe.

Volume without intensity — long sessions where focus degrades. Fix: shorter, higher-intensity. Stop when focus drops.

Novelty addiction — constant switching resets the learning curve. Fix: constrain the environment. Depth over breadth.

The neuroscience

Myelination — myelin sheath thickens around frequently-fired pathways. Signal transmission becomes faster and more reliable. This is what people call "muscle memory."

Pathway strengthening — neurons that fire together wire together. Connections strengthen with repetition.

Cognitive load reduction — automated skills require less conscious attention, freeing working memory for higher-level decisions.

This adaptation only happens when challenged. Repeating things you can already do triggers no significant adaptation.

Application to sim racing

Active reset changes everything. Instant reset to track means rep density that physical practice can't match. Run a corner 50 times while real-world driving allows 10 laps.

Session structure matters: clear objective, warm-up, 30-60 minute focus period, stop when sharpness drops, post-session review.

Corner work: one corner per session. Reset, attempt, telemetry check. One variable at a time. Stable in isolation, then test in full laps, then test under pressure.