Athletes and musicians pursue virtuosity in fundamental skills much more rigorously than knowledge workers do

tags:: #source/article Productivity on/fundamentals #a/statement
author:: Andy Matuschak
Source

Top-tier athletes are fanatically disciplined about improving their foundational skills.

Knowledge workers, by comparison, seem surprisingly unserious about honing fundamental skills like reading, note-taking, developing ideas.

#source/newsletter David Perell
School and sports teams have nearly opposite cultures. Schools segment kids by age, while sports segment by ability; schools are slow to adapt to change, while sports teams desperately look for every advantage they can get; schools are afraid to let go of poor performers, while sports teams see it as par for the course; schools train kids to learn by listening, while sports teams encourage kids to learn by doing; schools teach poor study habits, while principles like deliberate practice are the essence of sports practice. Resistance to change leads to ossification. The system’s status quo bias has stunted learning outcomes. When you’re stuck with a problem in education, look to athletics. Drawing from the realm of athletics can free us from the kind of thinking that made the education system so sclerotic.