How You Can Become More Successful by Practicing Less

In the late 1800’s, Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted a memory experiment on himself to see if he could learn faster by learning a lot of new information in one sitting or if learning through multiple shorter sessions was more efficient.

He created 2,300 nonsense syllables and he tested his ability to remember these syllables by trying to learn some of them in shorter sessions over a longer period of time.

In his tests, he experimented with two methods. The first method was to conduct fewer, but longer learning sessions to memorize the syllables and the second method was to use shorter learning sessions that were spaced out over a longer period of time.

Ebbinghaus discovered that he was able to memorize syllables more effectively when he used shorter learning sessions over a longer time frame. This practice became known as distributed learning or distributed practice.

Later research studies confirmed that people could learn and master skills more effectively by applying distributed learning rather than trying to practice a new skill too much in a short period of time.

Are you trying to master a new skill?

Whether you are trying to learn how to play a new instrument, learning a new language or trying to get better at marketing your business, applying the concept of distributed practice can help. Let’s take a closer look at why it works and a few examples.

Forgetting is part of learning

When learning new material, it’s likely that you’ll forget some of it. Having multiple learning sessions over a longer period of time gives you a chance to review old material that you may have forgotten and strengthen your memory of that information.

Studies also show that people can re-learn and remember old skills faster than learning a new skill for the first time.

Less retention due to fatigue

Mental and physical fatigue and stress also affect learning and memory. A study published in 2016 showed that students underperformed on standardized tests if they took the test later in the day as they were more fatigued from the day’s activities. Trying to learn too much at one time can result in fatigue and therefore lower overall recall.

Lower risk of boredom

Learning often requires repetition, which can lead to boredom over a long period of time. Spacing out practice sessions and making them short can reduce risk of boredom and allow the person to stay interested. Commitment to practice becomes easier when the time commitment for each session is low.

Examples

Here are a few examples of how people have applied distributed practice to enhance learning in real life.

Music

Some music instructors use distributed practice when training their students to become proficient with a musical instrument. In 2007, researchers at the University of Texas conducted a study to see if test subjects could learn and perform a 9-note sequence on the piano better if they had 5 minute, 6 hour or 24 hour breaks between training sessions. The groups with longer breaks were able to recall and perform the 9-note sequence faster than the group that only had 5 minute breaks between the three sessions.

Reading

Thomas Frank makes YouTube videos teaching students how to study more effectively and get better grades. In one of his videos, a viewer (Kamran Siddiqui) mentioned that he had trouble getting into the habit of reading.

Thomas replied that he once made a $100 bet with a friend to read 25 pages a day for 3 months. He ultimately ended up reading 13 books in that time frame. While it was challenging at first, his focus improved after a couple of weeks and reading became faster and easier.

Learning a New Language

The Pimsleur method is a popular language learning system that use distributed learning to enhance language recall. Students using the system learn and are reminded of words at increasing intervals of time. The system also focuses on core vocabulary and limits the amount of words learned at a given time so that the brain can retain the information before moving on.

Masoto Hagiwara and Burr Settles published a language learning study on Tech Crunch, which revealed that people who studied just a little each day were more likely to stick with learning a language than people who only studied on weekends or who binge studied. Reviewing old material periodically also helped in language development.

Practice less, but be consistent

Sometimes when we want to master a new skill, our eagerness pushes us to spend a lot of time learning in a short time frame. However, people can often develop mastery in a skill with greater efficiency by practicing less, but being consistent over a longer period of time.