There seems to have been a big push in 2006 in regards to research on the idea of Effortful Study – the key to achieving success; the key to becoming an expert in a chosen field. I found articles in response to or expanding on Philip E. Ross’ article, “The Expert Mind” as well as a series of entries on an education blog (see part one, part two, part three, and part four) and other miscellaneous blogs. It was interesting to see how everyone grabbed a hold of the idea and incorporated it into their ideas on how to improve, including police forces, healthful eating gurus, and professional programmers.
So, what is effortful study? It requires one to tackle challenges outside of one’s comfort zone, or rather, beyond one’s current level of ability. The old thought was that there were two factors contributing to effortful study–innate ability and motivation. New studies, however, are pointing to motivation as the more important factor.
I stumbled across this quote in an old journal of mine and thought it a more accurate representation of what is required to become an expert:
Ability is what you’re capable of doing.
Motivation determines what you do.
Attitude determines how well you do it.
– Lou Holtz
So, innate ability determines what you can actually do, motivation determines what you actually do, and attitude determines how well you actually do it. In other words, how quickly you can learn a new skill, how much effort is required to learn that new skill, and how successful you will be in learning that new skill. Motivation is required to continue learning and is increased each time you are successful. Success, in turn, leads to motivation and the cycle continues as long as you are motivated by your success. But it takes continual work and years effortful study to become an expert! As Ross notes (2006):
The one thing that all expertise theorists agree on is that it takes enormous effort to build these structures in the mind. [T]he 10-year rule [ ... ] states that it takes approximately a decade of heavy labor to master any field. Even child prodigies, such as Gauss in mathematics, Mozart in music and Bobby Fischer in chess, must have made an equivalent effort, perhaps by starting earlier and working harder than others.
What does all of this mean for me (and you) as web design students? Expertise doesn’t happen over night. I will not, nor can not, become an expert designer simply by sleeping on it. I must read all there is to read on web design, take advantage of all of the courses offered to me, learn all I can learn, and apply my skills in practical ways. I must learn from my mistakes, from my instructors, and from my fellow classmates. I must remain motivated to succeed in not just this field, but in all I endeavor. I must put forth the effort in order to reap the rewards.
Afterthoughts…
As a non-traditional student, it was difficult for me to make the decision to go back to school after a 21 year hiatus, but I felt I needed to set the example for my teenaged daughter that was getting ready to enter high school. She was and is my motivation to become an expert in my chosen field(s) and I used that to my advantage. With each successful semester, I felt my fears slipping away and my confidence growing. We are now in competition to see who can maintain the highest GPA each semester and who can graduate with the highest GPA–me from college and her from a prep academy. Up until Friday, we were within 0.01 points of one another, but a B+ last semester for me and only one A- (the rest solid As) for her, she’s now jumped to a 3.95 overall, easily beating my 3.90. This semester? Well, let’s just say I am re-motivated to do better!
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