8月英文原版读书会 图/Eric

Reflection：

本周阅读内容主要集中在，如何将刻意练习更好的应用于工作和日常生活中。

三种思维误区

• 认为我们的能力很大程度上是受限于我们的基因特征；因此我们动不动就开口认怂，觉得自己做不到，能力有限；

• 认为只要我们持续足够长的时间做同一件事，一定会更擅长；这种思维误区正是我们前面提到的 naive practice；

• 认为只要我们努力就能提高水平，只要刻苦就能变优秀；可是为何努力刻苦的人比比皆是，成功的人却寥寥无几；

大量的事例与科学研究，已经证实，只是简单重复一件事情的话，哪怕我们花费再多的时间与精力也是于进步无补；因此，我们首先需要先体查一下自己是否也存在上述这三种思维误区，若很不幸被言中的话，那么我们首先要做的就是先调整改变我们的思维定式（mindset），也就是《高效能人士的7个习惯》中提到的思维调整 paradigm shift。

古典在新书《跃迁》中也一再强调，要在正确的范式下“聪明地勤奋”。

自我跃迁，不仅仅是能力的改变，更是认知和发展“范式”的改变。心智模式或者说范式的转变，对内提升潜能，对外发现可能，这就是一个人认知跃迁的关键。

边做边学

刻意练习应用在工作中，我们可以“边做边学”（learning while real work gets done）；比如我们都很熟悉的开会作报告，我们可以照惯例，按部就班的依着PPT，自顾自的讲，至于底下的观众是否关心是否有兴趣是否有所获是否有意见，对不起，我不知道也不关心；当然，这样的直接结果就是，一种无效的交流与练习；

当然，我们也可以选择另外一种模式，更主动更有成效的“刻意练习”，我们在开会作报告的时候，尽量少依赖PPT，增强演讲内容的丰富性趣味性，吸引听众的注意力，会议过程或者结束后都可以积极主动征求大家的意见反馈等，有利于彼此间的互动交流共同成长。

知识 vs. 技能

“知识”和“技能”之间的关系，用孔子的话说就是：“思而不学则殆，学而不思则罔”。如果我们只是单一的对知识或者技能很努力，其结果都不可能最优化。所以，最理想的学习状态应该是：师傅领进门，修行在个人，即本书中所说的 see one, do one, teach one （看一遍，做一遍，教一遍）。

See one -- 全方位学习知识；
我们不再局限于传统形式的从各种书本，资料，培训课里学习，还可以有意识的培养自己“从实践中学习（hands-on training）”的思维，比如可以多看看专家的“技能演示”，角色扮演（role-play study），小组讨论（discussion group），案例分析（case solving）等等，在脑海里形成足够有效的“心理表征” （mental representation）；

古典在《跃迁》一书中也说到，“一定要相信，你今天遇到的问题，早就有人经历过，并且找到了更好的方式。你所要做的，只是学习。

Do one -- 刻意练习技能；
有了一定的理论与培训知识后，就要开始动手做一遍，若能在导师的指导下“刻意练习”（deliberate practice）效果会更好，毕竟有反馈才能更好的进步；

Teach one -- 以教促学；
当我们能够熟练掌握这个新技能后，我们可以尝试以教促学，这也是对知识的一种回馈，在传递知识和教习技能的过程中，我们还可以进一步思考并丰富我们的所学，这也是《高效能人士的7个习惯》中的另一种 win/win 模式的体现吧。

需要注意的是，see one, do one, teach one，并不存在很严格的先后顺序。还记得《高效能人士的7个习惯》里的“以终为始”吗？我们的最终目标是成为某个技能的专家，所以我们可以在掌握基础知识后就开始做，在刻意练习技能（skill）的过程中继续有的放矢的学习知识（knowledge），并尝试以教促学。

找个好导师

现实生活中，千里马常有，而伯乐不常在。这里有很大的原因在于我们对于好导师的标准和理解有误。

我们都希望自己的导师是最出色最牛X的人，想当然的认为“强将手下无弱兵”，而事实并不尽然，我们所需要的好导师不一定得是世界上最出色的人，只要在所属领域有所建树就可以；毕竟“师傅领进门，修行在个人”，而且随着我们的学习深度不同，对老师的层次要求也会不一样，因此，适合自己的才是最好的导师。

三F原则（专注、反馈、纠正）

尽管如此，我们有时候还是会找不到合适的好导师来指导我们技能的学习与提升。这种情况下，该如何是好呢？

本书的作者建议，遵循“刻意练习”的基本准则，牢记“三F原则”，专注（Focus）、反馈（Feedback）、纠正（Fix it）。

专注，需要我们全情投入的做一件事情。统筹方法可以帮助我们节省时间，提高效率，但并不能帮助我们从根本上提高质量。有句话说得好，认真练习一个小时，胜过三心二意三个小时，我们也常会发现在图书馆专注温书的效果总是特别的好。

反馈，可以来自四面八方，只要我们有心。俗语说，三人行，必有我师焉，我们身边的朋友，同学，同事，家人，甚至是陌生人都是可以给我们很多反馈信息的；我们还可以像本杰明·富兰克林那样，通过复写/仿写，从原始作品处得到反馈。

纠正，需要我们“有则改之，无则加勉”的虚心态度。知道错误不去纠正，比不知道错误更糟糕，恩，这话虽然是老生常谈，却不无道理。

保持动力

如何保持动力（motivation）持续有效的刻意练习，也是我们很多人都绕不开的“拦路虎”。我们一不小心就成了那个“常立志”的人，却往往做不到“立长志”，这是为什么呢？

Deliberate practice is hard work.

刻意练习是一项很艰巨的任务，需要我们时刻保持专注并持续练习。然而，实际情况是，我们常常练着练着就放弃了，或者还持续练着但却并没能全情投入，就是我们常说的，为了练习而练习，这样的结果自然不会达到我们希望获得的成效。于是，我们动辄就归咎于我们的意志力不够，然而，这与意志力并没有半毛钱关系。那么，我们该如何解决这个问题呢？

书中提了两个思路：

Reasons to stop.

弱化 “停止不做” 的理由有很多种，而最有效的一种是留出固定的时间来练习。比如说，我们读书写作，我们可以根据我们自己的工作学习生活的安排，固定一个属于自己的不会轻易被打断的时间，当然这个时间段若恰好是处于自己最有效率的时刻会更好，这样我们便没有什么借口理由去推脱不做了。

其次，我们可以找出那些轻易就可以干扰打断我们注意力的事情，提前想好办法将这些干扰项的影响力控制在最小范围内。比如现代这个社会，我们轻易会被手机微信，朋友圈，微博信息等干扰，那么我们在专心做某事的时候，可以提前将手机静音，关机，或者是放在另外一个房间，这样我们便能尽最大可能克制自己不受即时信息的干扰。

最后，也是常会被忽略的一点，我们需要时不时的push自己走出舒适区，保持专注，全情投入，而这些都是需要很大的精气神的，因此需要我们养成并保持健康有益的生活方式，比如睡眠充足，适当锻炼，适时精神放空等。

Reasons to keep going.

此外，我们还可以增强 “持续进行” 的理由，比如说，我们可以对于我们阶段性的目标达成进行适度的嘉奖，可以是精神上的成就感，也可以是物质上的奖励。

其次，我们要有自信，对于我们正在进行的事情是会成功的。适当的给自己熬几碗鸡汤补补也不无裨益。

最后，则是要积极寻求身边亲朋好友的支持与认可。刻意练习是一种孤独的追求，倘若我们能够找到一群志同道合的小伙伴一起努力，往往会更容易坚持到底。

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English Summary：

Since we have already known that the gold standard for people learning a skill is deliberate practice, how can we effectively apply it to our jobs and our daily lives?

First, we have to look into our paradigm, to examine whether we have the following three popular misconceptions: the belief that one's abilities are limited by one's genetically prescribed characteristics; the belief that if one does something for long enough, one's bound to get better at it; and the belief that all it takes to improve is effort.

If we are unfortunately have all these misconceptions, or even only one, we have to zoom in on using the deliberate-practice mindset to offer a very different view, which is that anyone can improve, but it requires the right approach.

One particular such approach is "Learning while real work gets done", which could help people get into the habit of practicing and thinking about practicing. In a short, it is practice-driven mindset and feedback-driven practice.

Moreover, we have to make a clear distinction between knowledge and skills. Knowledge can help provide information about the right way to do something, but only to the extent that we have a better idea of how to practice in order to develop the skill. In a nutshell, it is "see one, do one, teach one."

As for everyday life, deliberate practice is for everyone who dreams.

First, it's good for us to find a good teacher, who does not have to be the best in the world, but have some skill and experience in teaching and can guide us to the level that we can reach to maxium at that moment, and then we may need to change teachers as we ourself change. Except that, we have to engage 100 percent effort for deliberate practice.

However, if we can't find a good teacher to coach us, we can still use three Fs, which is Focus, Feedback, Fix it, to help us practice effectively. Break the skill down into components that we can do repeatedly and analyze effecticely, determine our weaknesses, and figure out ways to address them.

During the process of deliberate practice, it's natural to find that we have hit some sort of implacable limit. And the best way to move beyond a plateau is to challenge our brain and our body in a new way. First, figure out exactly what is holding our back, then design a practice technique aimed at improving that particular weakness. Simply to say, we have to pay attention on what happens when we practice, if we are not improving, we will need to try something else.

However, how can we keep doing since deliberate practice is hard work?

Instead of willpower, motivation is more effective for us to keep doing. Maintaining the motivation that enables such a regimen has two parts: reasons to keep going and reasons to stop.

There are various ways to weaken the reasons to quit, like say, set aside a fixed time to practice that has been cleared of all other obligations and distractions; push ourself outside our comfort zone and maintain our focus; getting enough sleep and keeping healthy; limit the length of our practice sessions to about an hour, etc.

Likewise, there are also various ways to increase the inclination to continue, such as, believe to be better at whatever it is we are practicing; a belief that we can succeed; and social motivation.

Deliberate practice can open the door to a world of possibilities that you may have been convinced were out of reach, so there is no reason not to follow our dream.

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Selected Words and Expressions：

......but it's not clear how much difference it will make, as any improvement from such a one-off session is likely to be minor.

one-off，常见于英式英语中，用作形容词时，表示“一次性的”，always used before a noun chiefly British: done or happening only once；美式英语中表达为：one-shot
例如：one-off chopsticks: 一次性筷子

one-off，作为可数名词时（复数one-offs），意思是 “一次性事物”，something that is done or made only once；在非正式场合还可以表示为“独特的人/事物”，[informal] someone who is completely different from anyone else.

例句：The deal was a one-off.
例句：Her novel was just a one-off -- she never wrote anything as good as that again.

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......and researchers concluded that it was likely the older doctors' patients fared worse because of it.

fare, 作为不及物动词（vi），还有 “遭遇，进展，经营” 的意思，to do something well or badly；可搭配为：fare well/badly/better etc.

例句：How did you fare in London?
仿造句：How did you fare in your exam?

顺便复习几个 fare 作为名词的短语：flat fare -- 单一票价；fare register -- 计费器；return fare -- 来回路费

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Stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, over and over again for hours on end; ......

on end, 表示 “连续的”，without interruption，可搭配为：for days/weeks etc on end

例句：For days on end [=for many days] she didn't answer the phone.
仿造句：She can't help crying for days on end.

还有另外一个常用的意思是 “竖着的”，in an upright position : not lying flat.
例句：We set the bricks on end around the garden.

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......it's hard not to get bored and just zone out, letting your mind wander far ourside the pool.

zone out, 短语动词，美式表达，常用于口语中，表示“（因无聊/乏味而）开小差”，[phrasal verb] US, informal: to stop paying attention because you are tired, bored, etc.

例句：I zoned out during the movie.
仿造句：Most of employees zone out during the meeting.

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The problem is that as their concentration lags, their typing speed returns to the plateau.

lag, 动词，意思是 “落后于，滞后，缓缓而行”，to move or develop more slowly than others，常搭配为：lag behind -- 落后
例句：Britain is lagging behind the rest of Europe.

lag，作为名词的话，表示 “延迟，落后”，a delay or period of waiting between one event and a second event.

常见的几个名词搭配：
time lag -- 可数名词，also time lapse，表示 “时间差”，the period of time between two connected events.
例句：There is a considerable time lag between orders and shipments.

jet lag -- 不可数名词，表示 “时差”，a tired and unpleasant feeling that you sometimes get when you travel by airplane to a place that is far away. [ 形容词：jet-lagged ]
例句：I had bad jet lag after that last trip overseas.

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When we compared how well the various contestants did in the bee versus their study histories, we found that......

......but the amount of time they spent in purposeful practice correlated more closely with how well they did in the spelling bee.

bee，最常见的意思就是 “蜜蜂”，但这里还有另外一种解释，在美式英语里，作为可数名词，表示 “（工作/竞赛/娱乐类的）聚会”，US: a gathering of people for the purpose of spending time together while working on similar projects.

例如，原文中的 spelling bee，就是 “拼字比赛会” 的意思，[count] chiefly US: a contest in which contestants spell words aloud and are removed from the contest when they spell a word wrong.

顺便整理几个有关 bee 的常见短语：
as busy as a bee -- 像蜜蜂一样忙碌；informal: very busy and active.

have a bee in your bonnet -- 胡思乱想，被某个念头困扰；informal: to talk and think a lot about something. 例句：He always has a bee in his bonnet about safety.

the birds and the bees -- informal + humorous: the facts about sex that are told to children. 这个表达有点意思哈，意思是 “对孩子的初步性教育的昵称”，类似于中国家长常对孩子说是从垃圾堆里捡来的（Really? I have no idea about that......）
例句：He dreaded having to explain about the birds and the bees [=the facts of life] to his son.

-------未完待续-------