[ramenbytes]

That is a much better way of putting it, thank you.

(edit) One thing neither of us directly mentioned in our comments, but which I feel is important is this bit from your article intro:

> Insufficient automaticity, particularly in basic skills, inflates the cognitive load of tasks, making it exceedingly difficult for students to learn

A real-world example for myself was when I was learning a small lick on guitar with an uncomfortable-to-me rhythm. I initially just played it slowly so I could get everything right, trying to speed it up every now and again to check progress. I progressed, but slowly. What ended up demolishing the challenge is the separation of the rhythm element(s) from everything else involved in the lick, and practicing those individually. By themselves they were easy to knock out (matter of minutes), and after those few minutes when I revisited the entire integrated lick I could suddenly knock it out of the park.

[JustinSkycak]

Great example. Yeah, I fully agree that in general, the fastest way acquire a complex skill is to focus your practice on the particular components that are giving you the most trouble. That's the main theme behind deliberate practice: find the bottlenecks and concentrate your practice time on them.

[ramenbytes]

I've been surprised to find that this isn't a common viewpoint. In fact, I have a long-term bet with a friend that I'll learn something faster using deliberate practice 'n stuff then he did trying to learn everything at once.