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Mastering any physical skill, be it performing a pirouette, playing an instrument, or throwing a baseball, takes practice.
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Practice is the repetition of an action with the goal of improvement, and it helps us perform with more ease, speed, and confidence.
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So what does practice do in our brains to make us better at things?
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Our brains have two kinds of neural tissue: grey matter and white matter.
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The grey matter processes information in the brain, directing signals and sensory stimuli to nerve cells, while white matter is mostly made up of fatty tissue and nerve fibers.
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In order for our bodies to move, information needs to travel from the brain's grey matter, down the spinal cord, through a chain of nerve fibers called axons to our muscles.
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So how does practice or repetition affect the inner workings of our brains?
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The axons that exist in the white matter are wrapped with a fatty substance called myelin.
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And it's this myelin covering, or sheath, that seems to change with practice.
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Myelin is similar to insulation on electrical cables.
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It prevents energy loss from electrical signals that the brain uses, moving them more efficiently along neural pathways.
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Some recent studies in mice suggest that the repetition of a physical motion increases the layers of myelin sheath that insulates the axons.
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And the more layers, the greater the insulation around the axon chains, forming a sort of superhighway for information connecting your brain to your muscles.
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So while many athletes and performers attribute their successes to muscle memory, muscles themselves don't really have memory.
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Rather, it may be the myelination of neural pathways that gives these athletes and performers their edge with faster and more efficient neural pathways.
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There are many theories that attempt to quantify the number of hours, days, and even years of practice that it takes to master a skill.
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While we don't yet have a magic number, we do know that mastery isn't simply about the amount of hours of practice.
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It's also the quality and effectiveness of that practice.
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Effective practice is consistent, intensely focused, and targets content or weaknesses that lie at the edge of one's current abilities.
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So if effective practice is the key, how can we get the most out of our practice time?
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Try these tips.
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Focus on the task at hand.
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Minimize potential distractions by turning off the computer or TV and putting your cell phone on airplane mode.
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In one study, researchers observed 260 students studying.
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On average, those students were able to stay on task for only six minutes at a time.
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Laptops, smartphones, and particularly Facebook were the root of most distractions.
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Start out slowly or in slow-motion.
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Coordination is built with repetitions, whether correct or incorrect.
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If you gradually increase the speed of the quality repetitons, you have a better chance of doing them correctly.
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Next, frequent repetitions with allotted breaks are common practice habits of elite performers.
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Studies have shown that many top athletes, musicians, and dancers spend 50-60 hours per week on activities related to their craft.
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Many divide their time used for effective practice into multiple daily practice sessions of limited duration.
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And finally, practice in your brain in vivid detail.
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It's a bit surprising, but a number of studies suggest that once a physical motion has been established, it can be reinforced just by imagining it.
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In one study, 144 basketball players were divided into two groups.
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Group A physically practiced one-handed free throws while Group B only mentally practiced them.
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When they were tested at the end of the two week experiment, the intermediate and experienced players in both groups had improved by nearly the same amount.
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As scientists get closer to unraveling the secrets of our brains, our understanding of effective practice will only improve.
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In the meantime, effective practice is the best way we have of pushing our individual limits, achieving new heights, and maximizing our potential.