We all follow pretty much the same pattern with any skill we learn, from baking a pie to writing a descriptive paragraph. We start off with a general idea of what we want to do, get some instruction from a teacher or a coach or a book or a website, practice until we reach an acceptable level, and then let it become automatic.
— Peak
In contrast, most professionals reach a stable, average level of performance within a relatively short time frame and maintain this mediocre status for the rest of their careers.*
plateau of acceptable performance
I have spent almost precisely ten thousand hours at the wheel. But I am not a world-class driver. In fact, I probably have more bad habits now, and less knowledge of the rules of the road, than when I passed my test. I know what you are thinking: Doesn’t this undermine the entire thesis of the book so far? Haven’t I attempted to explain expertise in terms of the number of hours practiced? Well, not quite. What happens when I drive my car? I am certainly clocking up countless hours at the wheel, but does this constitute the acquisition of knowledge? It is not as if I am straining to improve. Rather, my mind is on other things
— ❐ Bounce
hit a plateau that lasted for the rest of her career. The reason is simple: this was the level required to gain employment, and once she had started work, it hardly seemed important to get any better. When she typed, she had her mind on other things. That is the way most of us operate. When we learn a new task, like driving a car, we concentrate hard to master the skills. At first we are slow and awkward, and our movements are characterized by conscious control, but as we get more familiar, the skills are absorbed in implicit memory, and we no longer give much thought to them. We cruise along, attending to other things while at the wheel. This is what psychologists call “automaticity.”
— ❐ Bounce (quoted because of the interesting automaticity overlap)
It’s what writer and memory champion Joshua Foer dubbed the “OK Plateau.” He illustrated it with typing.