I was just listening to a podcast about the science and psychology of Golfing and Golf pro Phil Mickelson said a few things about directed practice that I think relate to developing a facility with a lot of things including learning Japanese.

First off, he said that he finds that he can only stay focused for about 45-50 minutes before he has to take a breather.  I find this to be true in my own studies and usually study for 20-30 minutes at a time, but spread many study sessions out throughout the day.  If I find myself with an hour block of study time, I usually find my mind wondering and getting less and less out of marginal additional time.  Mickelson has a putting green at his house where he can sneak out and practice for 10 or 15 minutes if he has some free time.  This not only allows him to make use of what otherwise would be unused time, which is powerful enough, but the time that he is spending is quality, focused time so even better.  I try to do the same thing when I am waiting for food at a restaurant, or getting an oil change, or waiting for my wife, I whip out my phone and sneak in a little practice.

Another interesting thing that Mickelson says is that he tries to stay intently focussed on what he is doing.  He says that he sees other players “practicing” all the time, but they don’t seem to be focused on what they are doing and, spend most of their time joking and socializing.  Unfocussed practice basically doesn’t count as practice.  Fortunately, since I do most of my studying on my phone, away from people and the internet, I don’t have too many disruptions.  But if I were studying at the computer, I’m sure I would have a lot of distractions and not get as much accomplished in the same amount of time.

This is also a good time to bring up that I don’t consider browsing japanese forums, reading websites, or adding cards to Anki to be study time.  The only activity I consider to be study time is the time I spend answering cards in Anki or reading Tae Kim’s Grammer Guide.  That’s it.

Mickelson also touches on the amount of time it takes to get good at something.  He said that he got interested in Golfing when he was three and a half and from then on, spent as much time as he could practicing and getting better.  This just gives more support for ideas like the 10,000 hours rule.

Edit:  I just read another interesting article about Kobe Bryant’s Directed Practice schedule.