Deliberate Practice Stretches Your Attention and Ability
Part Two of Three-Part Series on Deliberate Practice.
Read Part 1: Public Health Writing as Deliberate Practice
Read Part 3: How Public Health Students Can Cultivate a Deliberate Writing Practice
Happy 2026! Are you a resolution sort of person? I’m not. But I am someone who delights in rituals and building small daily habits. A 2023 Forbes Magazine poll found that the average resolution has been set aside by the beginning of April, and many don’t make it to February. If you want to start writing more, then I suggest something modest—building a deliberate, doable, regular writing practice. Start with 5, 10, of 15 minutes a few days a week at a time that is convenient, and see where it gets you.
What differentiates deliberate practice from other types of practice? In their 2007 Harvard Review article, The Making of an Expert, K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely, explain: “When most people practice, they focus on the things they already know how to do. Deliberate practice is different. It entails considerable, specific, sustained efforts to do something you can’t do well — or even at all. Research across domains shows that it is only by working at what you can’t do that you turn into the expert you want to become.”
This quote may have you thinking that deliberate practice doesn’t apply to writing. That thought ran through my head too. I know how to write. I can form sentences and paragraphs and generally convey ideas in a way that other people understand. I write 20+ emails every day. Isn’t that practice enough?
Here’s how I answered the question. When I write and respond to email, comment on student papers, or text my friends, I am not writing for myself. I am engaging in daily life. My overwhelming inbox may challenge every aspect of my work and my mental health (that’s another story). But it is the antithesis of something I do deliberately, to improve my clarity of thinking and expression and revel in words and syntax. I may spend 45 minutes crafting a particular email because I want it to be kind, clear, nuanced, and concise. But that isn’t cultivating my sense of myself as a writer. It just feeds the rapacious, unceasing information machine. Afterall, catching up on email only breeds more email.
When it comes to engaging in deliberate practice to develop your writing skills, the idea of stretching your ability is key. This makes me think of my friend and colleague, David Ozonoff (Professor Emeritus of Environmental Health at Boston University School of Public Health), who has been doing mathematics for an hour every day for the last 38 years. He started working his way through a mathematics textbook to brush up on his skills. Then he kept going.
In the last few years, Professor Ozonoff has shifted from doing math to writing a book about it. Now he devotes his daily hour to writing. He’s pushing his deliberate practice in a new direction. As a successful academic, he certainly knows how to write. He has scores of articles in peer-reviewed journals and he wrote daily blog posts for over four years. The difference now is that he is writing about mathematics in a way that is new for him and will advance the field.
Math every day for 38 years, 3,400 blog posts. Dave’s example may seem overwhelming, impossible to match. But remember that he started small one day, and he kept going. You don’t need to write for an hour or every day to engage in deliberate practice. Start with something small and realistic. Fifteen minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with your morning coffee. How long and how often are up to you. If your best ideas seem to happen when you’re walking, then try recording voice-to-text notes on your walk to work. That can be your deliberate practice for as long as it feels useful, while you figure out what you want to do the thoughts and observations you have captured.
If you miss a few days or a few weeks, don’t give up. Reconfigure your plan to make it easier to remember and prioritize. Build your practice as you go.
Read Part 1: Public Health Writing as Deliberate Practice
Read Part 3: How Public Health Students Can Cultivate a Deliberate Writing Practice
Further Reading to Inspire Your Deliberate Practice
Joe Bunting. Deliberate Practice: How to Become Great (At Writing or Anything). The Write Practice.
Oliver Burkeman. Why You Should Aim to Do New Habits “Dailyish.” From his blog, The Imperfectionist.
I’m a big fan of Burkeman’s work. I reread his book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals every year or two. Right now, I’m reading one his blog posts each night. He helps me find calm amidst the busy chaos of life.
K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely. The Making of an Expert. Harvard Business Review. July-August 2007.