This is not alarmism. We all prefer to believe a simple truth: practice makes perfect. We all assume that working diligently in a good job for ten years will make us experts, darlings of the market, masters of high salaries, and financially free in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, a large body of evidence shows that for the vast majority of professionals, after 10 years in the workplace, their professional ability is not much higher than it is now. In other words: After mastering basic workplace skills around age 25, even blind effort for another 10 years won't lead to qualitative improvement, let alone make you an authority (high-value talent) in that field. And as we all know, the value of a first-rate talent is comparable to a hundred times that of a second-rate talent (and the gap will continue to widen according to trends). This is the direct cause of the "35-year-old unemployment crisis": why would a company pay a high salary to keep an experienced "mediocrity"? So when most people plateau after one or two years of work (around age 25), it almost heralds "unemployment" years later. This is not an "isolated incident"; it is so universal and insidious that almost no one can escape it, and the underlying reason is: We firmly believe that effort always pays off, and that simple hard work can continuously improve our professional skills (the just-world hypothesis). But facts and a large body of scientific research jointly prove: it cannot. Here are some examples everyone can relate to:

  • We wrote for 10 years from elementary school to university, but our handwriting didn't improve much;
  • Even if we insist on writing a diary for 20 years, we won't become Haruki Murakami;
  • Square-dancing aunties dancing for 30 years won't become outstanding flamenco dancers;
  • ......

Additionally, just observe how many people complain about "incompetent leaders giving blind orders" (these leaders are mostly people with years of senior management experience). Thus, extensive experience in a field does not make you an expert. So, are those who achieve outstanding success throughout history simply gifted? In fact, neither Newton, Darwin, Einstein, Franklin, Jobs, nor Ma Yun had particularly superior intelligence (some were even "dumber" than ordinary people). Even Mozart, hailed as a musical genius, grew up in an advantageous "musical environment"... So neither experience nor talent makes you an expert. So where exactly is the problem? How can we free ourselves from the curse of "working hard but running toward unemployment"? Below, Li Shaojia will explore the root of the problem with you and then provide a new, actionable method of effort so that every bit of our effort lands precisely on the path to becoming "outstanding." ******** The Root of the Curse: The Brain's "Economic Preference" Tempts Us to Abandon "Improvement" ******** If you carefully observe a baby learning to walk, you'll see they are so focused, excited, and tirelessly fall and try again until they finally learn to walk unsteadily. Once the "skill" of walking is mastered, almost no adult needs to think about "how to walk"; we can all walk absentmindedly while thinking about complex problems like "how to become an expert." Yes, this is thanks to the cooperation of the brain's two systems (the conscious and unconscious systems). Simply put, the former is responsible for cognizing, learning, and training "new skills," and as the skill is mastered and becomes proficient, the brain "hands over" to the unconscious system. When the "skill program" is needed, the latter automatically invokes it, requiring little "attentional resource" from the brain (as shown in the figure below). Years of evolution have turned the human brain into a factory that pursues efficiency: wherever it is used more, it automates, thereby maximizing economic benefit. Yes, the brain itself is a smart, precise intelligent machine. However, everything is relative. While we enjoy the benefits of the brain's "automation," it also means: the "automated skill program" almost stays at its initial level and is hard to improve. Take "running" for example: few people think they "can't run." But even if you are a veteran who has run for 10 years out of habit, a runner with a few months of professional training can easily surpass you—because professional running techniques (including breathing) are not very "natural." This is the most pitfall of the "10,000-hour rule": It satisfies people's appetite for "not thinking" and caters to the preference for "you get what you put in," and has been popular in China for decades in a "castrated state." It makes us think that as long as we work hard enough, we can achieve perfection (the blue line in the figure below). But in reality, once a skill is "automated," it is hard to improve, no matter how "hard" you repeat practice; your level stays at the state after initial mastery (the orange line in the figure below). The result: it cultivates batch after batch of "senior" mediocrities. Good! Now that we've found the root cause, we can formulate a "three-step" strategy to continuously break through our bottlenecks and become "experts" in our fields through "deliberate training" (the necessary training for the high income and high achievement you desire). What are the "three steps"? First, Step 1: We need to "activate" our thinking patterns to prevent skill "automation," just like professional athletes' training facilities, creating environmental conditions for breaking through skill bottlenecks; Step 2: We need to feed our willpower with spiritual energy; for high-energy activities like "deliberate training," weak willpower can be tiring; Step 3: We will implement specific skill decomposition, benchmarking against experts, accelerated training, quantitative feedback, and deliberate training to ultimately achieve "a new look after three days." Note: The core idea of this article differs from the bestseller "Deliberate Practice"; that book suits "hands-on skills" in mature fields, such as sports and art, while this article is more applicable to "knowledge skills" in emerging fields. To avoid confusion, Li Shaojia calls it "deliberate training." ******** Step 1 of Deliberate Training: Give Your Mind a "Break Automation" Vaccine ******** When sick, we take medicine. Our attribution thinking always makes us think that the "medicine" kills the "germs" and heals the body. But the truth is often counterintuitive—it is our own "antibodies" that defeat the germs. Similarly, if we want the body to resist a virus, we first need to inject a small amount of harmless pathogen (vaccination) to let the body produce natural antibodies. This method also applies to "mental vaccines." For example, if we want to prevent a naive friend from being brainwashed by a cult (or some big V), we first need to tell the friend in advance how the cult might brainwash (inoculation). Therefore, the main reason most people give up halfway in "deliberate training" is the lack of an antibody injection for their spirit: After all, extracting key "professional skills" from the brain's "unconscious system" and re-polishing them will cause considerable "discomfort" and "stress" on our spirit. When we resist the brain's instinct to "pursue economic preference" and break "skill automation," three types of germs will inevitably invade: The first germ to act is: leaving the "comfort zone." Vaccine 1: Leave the Comfort Zone If you are indifferent to leaving the comfort zone, try this experience: First, hold your breath for as long as you can, and time it.

Then, add an extra 10 seconds to that time.

Yes, the feeling of those extra 10 seconds is what it feels like to leave the comfort zone (it's quite unpleasant, right?). If you think that this pain is nothing compared to becoming a dragon among men, then let's take the second mental vaccine: experiencing frustration. Vaccine 2: Experience Frustration Just as we fall a few times when learning to walk, and choke on a few mouthfuls of chlorinated water when learning to swim, when we start "deliberate training," we will repeatedly experience the taste of failure. Yes, you read that right: "repeatedly" experience... (as shown in the troughs in the figure below) "Deliberate training" requires us to continuously adopt different new modes (which can be awkward) when practicing specific skill points, until we find a new mode that breaks the bottleneck. This process is full of countless "dissatisfactions." But if you want to hit a home run, you must first "step back." Vaccine 3: Challenge the Psychological Pressure of "Uncertainty" The primitive jungle rules evolved a strong "loss aversion" psychology in our brains—meaning we are instinctively terrified of and repelled by "uncertainty." After all, for our ancient ancestors, a cute giant panda could become a friend or could slap you to death... To be safe, it was wiser to keep distance. And those ancient wise men who preferred "uncertainty" probably enjoyed tasting various colorful mushrooms... and, well, died. This is why "deliberate training" is especially uncomfortable. After all, most workplace skills lack mature, ready-made, and universally applicable "effective improvement plans," requiring us to explore on our own. This process is full of countless "uncertainties" like eating colorful mushrooms (risk of poisoning). Therefore, the "uncertainty" of putting in 100 points of effort but temporarily "regressing" is a necessary price to pay. This huge psychological gap will make us increasingly hesitant. ******** Step 2 of Deliberate Training: Prepare Supplies Before Mobilizing Troops ******** As the three mental "germs" above suggest, unless you have the protagonist aura of Naruto (a character from "Naruto") who is "self-motivated," "deliberate training" will not only feel painful but may also cause you to give up halfway and return to mediocrity, which is far from your original intention. Therefore, if we want to increase the success rate, we must first admit: We are all mortals. Before we gain external motivation from "deliberate training" (such as promotion, salary increase, and respect), we need to use some "internal motivation" to feed our spiritual energy. Fortunately, everyone can obtain three "internal motivations" through simple techniques, which help resist the aforementioned three "mental pressures." Internal Motivation 1: Shift the Conceptual Framework We all need to remember a truth: work itself is not fun, and "deliberate training" is even less so. When we admire how a talented pianist can play such beautiful music, we should know that they had to endure countless merciless training tortures in childhood. A friend who studied art once told me that many people become irritable in private because of the lack of play in childhood. Therefore, when we engage in "deliberate training," to avoid hysterical irritability, we can adopt some scientific techniques to turn "torture" into "passionate love" and "pain" into "power." For example, when I train on a specific "skill point" of "writing," I always imagine myself as an "artist plus" rather than "Li Shaojia," and my articles are no longer articles but great artworks about to be displayed in the Louvre in Paris. When we have a great vision, it endows us with formidable spiritual strength. So I have always admired Thomas Jefferson for adding "pursuit of happiness" to the Declaration of Independence. Yes, before any inhumane "deliberate training," you must skillfully use our innate amazing "imagination" to "shift the concept" of the "training object." For example, if you want to train "oral English," tell yourself this is not learning but sculpting the art of language... Or if you are training "critical thinking," you can tell yourself this is not training but defending the dignity of the soul in pursuit of truth...