089: The Power of Deliberate Practice - Interview with Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool

Hello, hello word nerds! I'm so excited to share today's DIY MFA Radio episode with you! I'm speaking with Anders Ericsson and his co-author Robert Pool about their new book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise (affiliate link). Anders Ericsson is a Conradi Eminent Scholar and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, where he studies how people become experts in various fields like music, chess, nursing, law enforcement and sports. More important, he looks at how expert performers achieve excellence by acquiring specific, complex cognitive mechanisms–ways of training their brain–through extended, deliberate practice. Today we're going to talk about how writers can use similar techniques to improve their craft and take our writing from average to awesome. Robert Pool is a nonfiction writer specializing in science and technology and has worked as staff for both Science and Nature. He is the author of three previous books before co-authoring this one with Anders Ericsson. In this episode Anders, Robert, and I discuss: The biggest myths about talent. How to beef up your brain. The ceiling of achievement. The components of deliberate practice. Plus, Anders' and Robert's  #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/089