developing skill

Skill is tough to develop, but easy to maintain.

Think of acquiring skill as like riding riding a bike uphill. At first getting over the inertia and getting through the incline at low speed makes it difficult to see progress. At this stage you are becoming accustomed to the wide degrees of freedom required to produce a certain skill. Although it feels as if no progress is being made at all, you cannot yet see the links forming beneath the surface.

The moment you reach the brow of the hill, everything comes easy to you, with momentum coming in and a flat surface to glide across. This is when enough degrees of freedom combine to at least inconsistently produce the skill. In English language, we might call this stage ‘ability’ rather than skill, as one is able, but not necessarily consistently or on cue.

Note that once you acquire a skill, it does not deteriorate quickly. Especially with technical skills, it is possible to go long periods of time without much deterioration in quality.

With this in mind, it is consistent training over an extended period of time which is required to climb the hill / acquire a technique, versus slight maintenance to retain it. You should always remember this when you train: first with emphasis on making the most of the time you have available; second with being willing to give enough practice to new skills that you are attempting to integrate, rather than quitting after a couple of sessions when improvements are not yet visible.