# Anders Ericsson K. Anders Ericsson (1947–2020) was a Swedish psychologist who pioneered research on [[Expertise]] and [[Deliberate Practice]]. His work showed that expert performance comes not from innate talent but from thousands of hours of structured, focused practice with feedback. Malcolm Gladwell popularized (and oversimplified) this as the "10,000 hours rule." Ericsson studied violinists, chess players, athletes, and memory experts, finding that what distinguishes top performers is *how* they practice—targeting weaknesses, operating at the edge of ability, and developing mental representations. His book *Peak* (2016) corrected misconceptions about his research. His work influenced [[Angela Duckworth]]'s [[Grit]] research and [[Carol Dweck]]'s [[Growth Mindset]]. ## Key Contributions | Contribution | Significance | |--------------|--------------| | Deliberate practice | Quality > quantity of practice | | Mental representations | How experts think differently | | *Peak* (2016) | Popular science summary | ## Quotes <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/quote AND [[Anders Ericsson]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## Books <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/book AND [[Anders Ericsson]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## Related - [[Deliberate Practice]] - [[Expertise]] - [[Angela Duckworth]] - [[Grit]] ## References - Ericsson, Anders. *Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise* (2016) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Anders_Ericsson