A Two-Step Approach to Get Better at What You Do

A Two-Step Approach to Get Better at What You Do

How is it that some people continue to get better at managing meetings, designing complex test plans, making presentations, or solving problems? How in general do people improve their performance over time at something?

Two Questions

Peter Bregman in a Harvard Business Review article (November 09, 2019) titled “If You Want to Get Better at Something, Ask Yourself These Two Questions” outlined the process. The first question is: “Do you want to get better?” If you accept your current performance then there is no need to go further.

The second question Peter asks is: “Are you willing to feel the discomfort of putting in more effort and trying new things that will feel weird and different and won’t work right away?” In short, are you willing to put in the work to learn something new? If so, you’re ready to start improving.

The Nature of Improving

In the book, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell he mentions the need to practice in order to master a skill. It’s not just the hours of practice, it is the deliberate practice with feedback that helps you focus on the next step toward mastery.