Steady strides show sure success

We can learn a lot by applying lessons from across disciplines. Research on learning a musical instrument suggests that students make significantly more progress if they practice daily than if they practice weekly. It's worth noting that this outcome holds even if the total time of daily practice is less in aggregate than the weekly practice; for example, 15 minutes daily vs 2 hours once per week.

Is this surprising? It's certainly a powerful insight. How often do we limit our time spent working on our personal development to a weekly 1-to-1 session with our managers? In my experience, most people do this. How well would a child learning the piano do if they only ever practiced when they went to their lesson with the teacher? And worse, how ashamed might they be at their lack of progress despite the effort they put in at lesson time.

When you pick a skill to improve, practice daily.