There are 3 ways to make progress in anything:
1. Buy new gear.
2. Learn academically through books, courses, etc.
3. Spend time in deliberate practice.
In order of importance:
Practice > Learning >>>>> Gear
So many people get stuck on Gear or Learning.
"I can't start until I have a better camera."
"I just need to take one more course."
"I'm too scared that I'll mess up."
They fail to realize that practice is the school of life, and a lack of gear is a useful constraint.
To be clear, all 3 are necessary.
But so many people overvalue Gear and Learning, and undervalue Practice.
They undervalue Practice because it's hard, and because mistakes are painful... while reading yet another business book in Barnes & Noble while sipping a latte is not.
Gear and Learning also FEEL good.
Gear provides the biggest PERCEIVED jump in progress. Buy that new toy and suddenly you feel CAPABLE.
Academic learning is similar. Read that case study and you feel like you've unlocked HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE.
But neither actually builds skill.
Only with deliberate practice will you actually unlock the potential of your gear and book knowledge.
What's deliberate practice?
It's practice with INTENT. Don't just practice; have a target in mind. Aim to get 1% better (see #2 in this tweet):
twitter.com/TomFrankly/status/1530578917219651585
Deliberate practice examples:
Guitar: Play a section of a song at a higher tempo than yesterday.
Web Dev: Build a simple page using flexbox.
Weightlifting: Track your weights, sets, and reps. Work through a tracked linear progression.
Business: Launch your damn product.
I call non-deliberate practice "noodling". When I sit down and noodle on the guitar, I don't really get that much better. I'm just noodling.
But when I put my focus on learning a specific pattern at increasing tempo, or playing a chord progression cleanly, that's when I improve.
Learn more about deliberate practice here: youtube.com/watch?v=FbD8n4J_MuM
(This video itself was deliberate practice. It was the 1st time I shot an interview @mattdavella-style and combined it with a script. This is HARD, and I gained a lot more respect for Matt's work doing it)