Sticky Skills

My son has been leaning towards Yahtzee the last few weeks, instead of chess. He had been beating me fairly regularly in chess, so I guess maybe he was bored? Ha!

But when we came back to chess recently, I beat him pretty easily in both games. His skills, which had grown stronger than mine, diminished quickly when not reinforced daily, while mine, which haven’t changed much lately, stayed more intact.

Not all skills are equally sticky: A mixture of consistent practice and long-term reinforcement is needed to really make them stick.

Put it another way: anyone might be able to make a single great work of art, by focusing, drilling, and using concentrated practice. But if you want to make a career of art, you need to build the long-term skills that will last from one project to the next, even with breaks in between.

You need sticky skills to be a long-term success.