With deliberate practice, however, the goal is not just…

With deliberate practice, however, the goal is not just to reach your potential but to build it, to make things possible that were not pos-sible before. This requires challenging homeostasis-getting out of your comfort zone and forcing your brain or your body to adapt.

— from Expanding Your Range (Growth/Change/Education/Learning/Habit) · Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Ansers Ericsson and Robert Pool

In the book

You figure out exactly what is holding you back, then push yourself well past the edge of your ability to find where things break down — and you work on precisely that. The aim, with real deliberate practice, is not merely to reach your potential but to build it — to make possible what was not possible before. Your brain and body need that outside pressure the way a sailboat needs wind; with too little, you sit dead in the water. […] Be a lifelong learner. Set aside time every single day for it, and never stop, because the day you stop is the day you die mentally; be your own great teacher; learn from the giants who came before you, and love the truth enough to admit when you are wrong. Leave the comfort zone deliberately. Don't log the same easy flight forever; find exactly where your ability breaks down and train precisely there, with clear goals and honest measurement, aiming not just to reach your potential but to build it, and growing by small increments rather than waiting for one heroic leap. Build habits by design, not willpower. First make sure you truly want the thing; then make the good ones obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying — and the bad ones the opposite; remove friction from what helps and add it to what harms; and design your surroundings to nudge you rather than relying on discipline you won't always have. — Expanding Your Range (Growth/Change/Education/Learning/Habit)

A handful of truths steady the long climb. The brain behaves like a muscle: it is the struggle to master a hard new thing that strengthens it, which is why grit — passion and perseverance held over the long haul — does what raw talent cannot; real growth, in body or mind, requires pushing past your comfort zone, and the only way off a plateau is to challenge yourself anew. Children learn this earliest, building their self-worth in exactly one way — by being allowed to attempt hard things and discover they can. — Failure & Resilience (Challenge/Failure/Perseverance/Accountability/Flexibility/Resilience)

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