One thing that was nice was this find while reading one of my favorite financial/economics blogs, The Big Picture run by Barry Ritholtz. It's a discussion on sports psychology as it relates to trading--a topic that pretty much sums up everything I'm interested in (read: obsessed with) right now.
Research in Sports Psychology: What It Means for Traders
The post is from the blog of financial market analyst and trader, Brett Steenbarger. Steenbarger quotes some of the key findings, which I copy below.
- "The finding that experts in a particular sport are better than novices, not merely at physical skills but also on the underlying perceptual, cognitive, and strategic components of sport, is robust in both laboratory and field research"
- "The primary importance of the "10-year rule" is that it seems to hold up regardless of the domain investigated. As such, it is one of the most robust findings in expertise research to date"
- "Understanding what practice is best and how practice should be carried out are even more important questions than how much"
- "Data from sport studies also indicate that those practice activities that require the greatest physical effort and mental concentration are ultimately the most enjoyable"
- "Whether one examines wrestling, figure skating, karate, soccer, or field hockey, there is a montonic relationship between the amount of practice in which one has engaged throughout one's career, and one's eventual athletic success"
Steenbarger's own summaries of these conclusions provide some helpful color, if you want a less clinical sounding take on the ideas presented. For me, it reinforces some things I had suspected, mainly the role of specialization, and "honing" technique rather than simply accumulating technique. And some of it underscores some old notions that have recently come under fire, such as the idea that it shouldn't take "ten years" to get a black belt in jiu jitsu.
Performance studies suggest that, even if it didn't, ten years (referred to as the "ten-year rule") is apparently the average time it takes for mastery (if it ever is to be achieved) to truly develop. So, by this accounting, when you get your black belt is somewhat irrelevant to when mastery is likely to occur. Again, if it ever does.
At any rate, an interesting read in a weekend lacking in upsides. I managed to get in a "39" workout on Saturday, and spent most of today raking leaves in the front and back lawns--so I'lll give myself a point and a half for activity over the weekend. Monday will be a busy, stressful day, so we'll see if I can get anything athletic accomplished or not.
I'm thinking about taking the day class on Monday--I've got a conference call at 10 a.m. but if I can be done with it by 10:30 a.m. (which I should), then there's a halfway decent shot at making the 11:45-12:30 p.m. "all levels" class. I'd need to leave at 11:15 a.m., but I should be able to make it back to the office by 1:15 p.m. The trick is to make sure I bring my gear to work with me so I don't have to make the detour of running by the house first.
