Deliberate practice is a structured, systematic training method developed by psychologist Anders Ericsson that distinguishes expert performance from mere repetition. Unlike casual practice, it involves focused attention on specific weaknesses, immediate corrective feedback, and continuous adjustment just beyond current skill levels. This method is used by top performers in music, sports, medicine, chess, and other expertise-demanding fields to achieve mastery. A key insight: improvement requires more than time invested—it demands purposeful effort targeting the specific skills that separate good from great, with performance plateaus broken through identifying and addressing precise deficiencies rather than simply practicing more.