Automaticity

Goals

1. Describe automaticity.
2. Achieve automaticity in anything you want.

What Is Automaticity?

Automaticity is the ability to perform useful tasks effortlessly, typically with little or no conscious thought.

Examples of Automaticity

1. Playing guitar fluently and expressively with minimal conscious effort.
2. Driving a car without needing to actively think about every movement—it’s automatic.
3. Applying core concepts in statistics quickly and intuitively, without having to stop and analyze.
4. Speaking a foreign language so naturally that it feels like a native tongue.
5. Writing computer code fluently, recalling syntax and solving problems with ease.
6. Playing tennis gracefully at a high level, reacting instinctively to the game.
7. Thinking in calculus, applying principles so naturally that complex problems are simple.
8. Doing engineering so easily that it seems like common sense.

Automaticity can be achieved in many things: accounting, welding, cooking, law, playing the cello, painting, public speaking, computer programming, dancing, martial arts, medical diagnosis, carpentry, graphic design, chess, marketing, active listening, aviation, and so on.

How Automaticity is Achieved

Achieving automaticity is a natural brain process. For example, most people learn to drive a car, talk, type using a keyboard, tie their shoes, ride a bicycle, brush their teeth, read words without sounding them out, and use smartphones without thinking about every tap or swipe.

Researchers, e.g. Anders Ericsson et. al., have figured out how to achieve automaticity in anything. The name of this method is “Deliberate Practice”. Here is is the recipe.

1. Goal. Set a goal that involves doing something well.

2. Analysis. If the goal is too big, break it down into subgoals and pick a subgoal to focus on.

3. Repetitions: While you are in process of attaining a given goal/subgoal, do the following things over and over. Space these repetitions out over days, weeks, or months.

   1. Research. Get high-quality information that tells you how to reach your subgoal. Figure it out and document it using your own words.

   2. Application. Apply the information in the real world while systematically imitating what experts do. Get feedback that tells you your strengths and next steps for improving.

   3. Reflective Thinking. Figure out next steps towards goal attainment. Figure out how to improve your abilities to learn.

Note: There are many details that empower this method, but these steps capture the essence.