This is the best way you can become an expert

This is the best way you can become an expertThis is the best way you can become an expertBefore becoming an FBI agent, I thought I could become successful by simply working hard. It got me through school with good grades and into my first job as a fashion buyer. My thinking shifted, however, when I met my first FBI firearms instructor. He barked out constant reminders that if I wanted to become an expert shooter, it would take more than hard work it would take peak performance.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreI felt incredible pressure to perform so I set goals on the outer boundaries of my current abilities. I bet youve pushed yurself to the limit as well the bar for philanthropisch performance is at an all-time high. You can do things that challenge you to continually grow and improve performance.Lets take a look at the best way you can become an expert1. Stress Is The Place T o StartOur mind is like a muscle and responds like the other muscles in ur body. When we lift weights to the point of fatigue, micro-tears in the tissue triggers the stress response. Our body understands that its not strong enough to tolerate the stress, and as a response, it builds up the muscle so it can withstand more stress in the future.The best athletes in the world do not adhere to the old adage- no pain, no gain. They alternate rounds of intense workouts with intense times of rest. If the stress is too much, or lasts for too long, they encounter the exhaustion stage. Many of us know this term better as chronic stress. The body no longer signals for repair and explains why chronic stress contributes to so many health problems.In the saatkorn way, when we use our brain to the point of fatigue, it doesnt function as normal. Just like a muscle, our mind becomes stronger when we stress it and then allow it to recover.To experience growth and become an expert, we have to push ours elves to the point of resistance. Skill comes from struggle.How To Make It Work For YouIsolate the skill you want to grow.Take on one challenge at a time.Alternate between cycles of stress and cycles of rest.Insert short breaks during your day.Rest and recover.2. Stretch But Within ReasonPsychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly suggests that the best kind of stress is a task thats a bit beyond your sweet spot. You need to stretch yourself to perform to your greatest potential. Exactly how much you need to stretch each time is debatable, but experts generally agree thatthe challenge should be 4% greater than either your skill or your last effort.Increased stress will lead to increased performance- up to a certain degree. When you move beyond the healthy levels of stress, both performance and health will decline.In high doses, stress can kill us. Ironically, it is also fundamental to psychological and physical growth. 4% growth is seen by researchers as the magical tension between challeng e and skill. Most of us dont notice a 4% increase in performance, and its beneficial because this tension keeps us locked in the present and gives us enough confidence that we can do it again.Our success begins and ends with ourmental toughness. We can become an expert once we find ways to use our mind to do it.How To Make It Work For YouAssess your current level of expertise in the skill youve identified as the one you want to grow.Seek out challenges that just barely move you out of your sweet spot or exceed your ability.Once you feel youre in control, set another goal for yourself. If you feel anxious about the challenge, stay in your sweet spot until you think youre ready to move on to the next step.3. Keep Focused On The Present MomentWe intentionally focus our attention on what is important in our lives and those areas we want to grow.Our consciousness can handle only so much information, so we have selective attention. One key part of the brain which focuses our attention is theReticular Activating System (RAS). It filters out important information that needs more attention from the unimportant that can be ignored. Without the RAS filter, we would be over-stimulated and distracted by noises from our environment around us.We cannot 1) focus on our goal and 2) focus our attention on the activity in front of us to achieve the goal. This overstimulates the brain. When we think about our goal, our attention becomes focused on something that will happen in the future. It pulls attention away from where it needs to be in order to focus on the present moment. This explains why so many golfers miss a putt at the end of the final round or why football players drop the ball inches from the finish line.They choke because their attention switched from the present and moved into the future. As a result, they lose their focus. Whatever they choose to focus their attention on will make it past the minds filtering system. The RAS alerts the cerebral, thinking brain of c hanges in the environment such asPhysical needs when were hungry, we pay attention to foodChoices for example, if we decide to buy aVolvo(a MUST see video by the way), we see them everywhereNames we notice the names of those whom we loveEmotions if something evokes an emotion in us, it has our attentionContrast we pay more attention to things that are in contrast to other thingsNovelty the brain notices things in our environment that are new experiences for usHow To Make It Work For You While goals are important for the long-term, your brain needs to focus on the present moments activity if you want to become an expert. When you are engaged in the activity that will sharpen your skill or improve your performance, focus only on that activity and stay in the present moment. Dont allow your imagination to transport you to the finish line.4. Maintain Single-Task FocusBusy people tell themselves they need to multi-task to meet the busy challenges of both life and work. But they are getti ng sucked into a lie- a big one with serious consequences.Researchindicates that people cannot pay attention to several things simultaneously instead, they switch between at a rapid pace.While there has been a lot of talk about how women can multi-task,there is no science to back up this assertion. In fact, psychologists have only been able to confirm that men are slower than women when switching quickly between tasks.It is possible to engage in several tasks at once but its also clear that accuracy and performance drops off quickly- for both men and women. The reason multi-tasking is not efficient is because the brain works in a serial manner- one thing after another.People can observe multiple activities, but they are not able to pay equal attention to all of them. When people do one thing at a time and devote full attention to that one thing, theyre able to improve their skill set around that one thing.How To Make It Work For You Create a purpose for each work session. Be specifi c about what you want to learn or perform.Focus all of your attention on that one task and refrain from multi-tasking. As you move toward peak performance and expertise, remember that quality always trumps quantity.5. Deliberate Practice Makes The DifferenceDeliberate practice is a deep concentration and focus on the activity in front of you. It tends to follow a pattern 1) break the process into areas for improvement, 2) identify your weaknesses, 3) test new strategies for each area of improvement, 4) measure your improvement, and 5) integrate what youve learned into the overall process.Most of us already know that experience and expertise do not go hand in hand. We can practice a skill for endless hours but its only those who deliberately practice that truly become peak performers. In any walk of life.Researchershave found that expertise is not about a certain number of hours that is practiced. Practice does not make perfect. Deliberate practice makes perfect.How To Make It Work F or You Dont expect deliberate practice to be easy or comfortable. However, if the skill you seek to improve is important to you, you wont find it a drudge, either. You will need to keep focused and concentrate on the task in front of you. If youre serious about deliberate practice, youll be lifelong learner who continues to explore and refine what youve learned.This article first appeared on Larae Quy.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people