references/knowledge/deliberate-practice.md

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# Deliberate Practice (Ericsson)

**Evidence tier: contested in scope.** That targeted practice with immediate feedback beats naive repetition is solid; Ericsson's stronger claims about how much expertise it explains are contested (Macnamara et al. 2014 meta-analysis). BodhiKit uses only the uncontested core.

## What Makes Practice "Deliberate"

1. **Targeted**: Each session has a specific skill improvement goal
2. **At the edge of ability**: Slightly beyond comfort zone, not too easy, not too hard
3. **Immediate feedback**: Know right away if the approach worked
4. **High repetition with variation**: Same skill, different contexts, adjusting each time
5. **Focused attention**: Cannot be done on autopilot — mentally taxing
6. **Expert-guided**: Practice designed by someone who can diagnose weaknesses

## NOT Deliberate Practice

- Following tutorials passively
- Building the same type of project repeatedly
- Coding for hours without reviewing or reflecting
- Solving problems well within comfort zone
- Grinding problems without understanding underlying patterns

## Application

Design exercises that:
- Isolate ONE skill at a time
- Require focused effort (not busy work)
- Have clear success criteria
- Provide immediate feedback (tests, output comparison)
- Include variations that prevent rote memorization