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Most of us go through life trying
to do our best at whatever we do,

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whether it's our job, family, school

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or anything else.

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I feel that way. I try my best.

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But some time ago, I came to a realization

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that I wasn't getting much better
at the things I cared most about,

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whether it was being a husband or a friend

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or a professional or teammate,

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and I wasn't improving
much at those things

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even though I was spending a lot of time

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working hard at them.

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I've since realized from conversations
I've had and from research

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that this stagnation, despite hard work,

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turns out to be pretty common.

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So I'd like to share with you
some insights into why that is

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and what we can all do about it.

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What I've learned
is that the most effective people

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and teams in any domain

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do something we can all emulate.

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They go through life deliberately
alternating between two zones:

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the learning zone
and the performance zone.

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The learning zone
is when our goal is to improve.

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Then we do activities
designed for improvement,

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concentrating on what
we haven't mastered yet,

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which means we have to expect
to make mistakes,

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knowing that we will learn from them.

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That is very different from what we do
when we're in our performance zone,

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which is when our goal is to do something
as best as we can, to execute.

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Then we concentrate
on what we have already mastered

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and we try to minimize mistakes.

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Both of these zones
should be part of our lives,

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but being clear about
when we want to be in each of them,

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with what goal, focus and expectations,

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helps us better perform
and better improve.

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The performance zone maximizes
our immediate performance,

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while the learning zone
maximizes our growth

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and our future performance.

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The reason many of us don't improve much

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despite our hard work

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is that we tend to spend almost
all of our time in the performance zone.

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This hinders our growth,

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and ironically, over the long term,
also our performance.

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So what does the learning zone look like?

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Take Demosthenes, a political leader

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and the greatest orator
and lawyer in ancient Greece.

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To become great,
he didn't spend all his time

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just being an orator or a lawyer,

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which would be his performance zone.

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But instead, he did activities
designed for improvement.

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Of course, he studied a lot.

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He studied law and philosophy
with guidance from mentors,

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but he also realized that being a lawyer
involved persuading other people,

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so he also studied great speeches

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and acting.

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To get rid of an odd habit he had
of involuntarily lifting his shoulder,

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he practiced his speeches
in front of a mirror,

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and he suspended a sword from the ceiling

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so that if he raised his shoulder,

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it would hurt.

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(Laughter)

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To speak more clearly despite a lisp,

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he went through his speeches
with stones in his mouth.

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He built an underground room

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where he could practice
without interruptions

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and not disturb other people.

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And since courts at the time
were very noisy,

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he also practiced by the ocean,

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projecting his voice
above the roar of the waves.

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His activities in the learning zone

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were very different
from his activities in court,

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his performance zone.

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In the learning zone,

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he did what Dr. Anders Ericsson
calls deliberate practice.

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This involves breaking down
abilities into component skills,

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being clear about what subskill
we're working to improve,

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like keeping our shoulders down,

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giving full concentration
to a high level of challenge

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outside our comfort zone,

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just beyond what we can currently do,

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using frequent feedback
with repetition and adjustments,

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and ideally engaging the guidance
of a skilled coach,

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because activities
designed for improvement

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are domain-specific,

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and great teachers and coaches
know what those activities are

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and can also give us expert feedback.

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It is this type of practice
in the learning zone

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which leads to substantial improvement,

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not just time on task performing.

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For example, research shows
that after the first couple of years

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working in a profession,

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performance usually plateaus.

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This has been shown to be true
in teaching, general medicine,

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nursing and other fields,

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and it happens because once we think
we have become good enough,

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adequate,

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then we stop spending time
in the learning zone.

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We focus all our time
on just doing our job,

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performing,

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which turns out not to be
a great way to improve.

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But the people who continue
to spend time in the learning zone

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do continue to always improve.

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The best salespeople at least once a week

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do activities with
the goal of improvement.

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They read to extend their knowledge,

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consult with colleagues or domain experts,

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try out new strategies,
solicit feedback and reflect.

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The best chess players

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spend a lot of time
not playing games of chess,

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which would be their performance zone,

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but trying to predict the moves
grand masters made and analyzing them.

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Each of us has probably spent
many, many, many hours

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typing on a computer

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without getting faster,

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but if we spent 10 to 20 minutes each day

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fully concentrating
on typing 10 to 20 percent faster

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than our current reliable speed,

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we would get faster,

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especially if we also identified
what mistakes we're making

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and practiced typing those words.

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That's deliberate practice.

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In what other parts of our lives,

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perhaps that we care more about,

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are we working hard but not improving much

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because we're always
in the performance zone?

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Now, this is not to say
that the performance zone has no value.

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It very much does.

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When I needed a knee surgery,
I didn't tell the surgeon,

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"Poke around in there
and focus on what you don't know."

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(Laughter)

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"We'll learn from your mistakes!"

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I looked for a surgeon
who I felt would do a good job,

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and I wanted her to do a good job.

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Being in the performance zone

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allows us to get things done
as best as we can.

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It can also be motivating,

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and it provides us with information
to identify what to focus on next

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when we go back to the learning zone.

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So the way to high performance

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is to alternate between the learning zone
and the performance zone,

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purposefully building our skills
in the learning zone,

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then applying those skills
in the performance zone.

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When Beyoncé is on tour,

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during the concert,
she's in her performance zone,

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but every night when she
gets back to the hotel room,

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she goes right back
into her learning zone.

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She watches a video
of the show that just ended.

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She identifies opportunities
for improvement,

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for herself, her dancers
and her camera staff.

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And the next morning,

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everyone receives pages of notes
with what to adjust,

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which they then work on during the day
before the next performance.

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It's a spiral

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to ever-increasing capabilities,

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but we need to know when we seek to learn,
and when we seek to perform,

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and while we want
to spend time doing both,

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the more time we spend
in the learning zone,

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the more we'll improve.

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So how can we spend
more time in the learning zone?

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First, we must believe and understand

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that we can improve,

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what we call a growth mindset.

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Second, we must want
to improve at that particular skill.

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There has to be a purpose we care about,

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because it takes time and effort.

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Third, we must have an idea
about how to improve,

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what we can do to improve,

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not how I used to practice
the guitar as a teenager,

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performing songs over and over again,

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but doing deliberate practice.

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And fourth, we must be
in a low-stakes situation,

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because if mistakes are to be expected,

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then the consequence of making them
must not be catastrophic,

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or even very significant.

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A tightrope walker doesn't practice
new tricks without a net underneath,

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and an athlete wouldn't set out
to first try a new move

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during a championship match.

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One reason that in our lives

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we spend so much time
in the performance zone

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is that our environments
often are, unnecessarily, high stakes.

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We create social risks for one another,

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even in schools which are supposed
to be all about learning,

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and I'm not talking
about standardized tests.

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I mean that every minute of every day,

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many students in elementary
schools through colleges

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feel that if they make a mistake,
others will think less of them.

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No wonder they're always stressed out

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and not taking the risks
necessary for learning.

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But they learn
that mistakes are undesirable

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inadvertently

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when teachers or parents
are eager to hear just correct answers

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and reject mistakes
rather than welcome and examine them

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to learn from them,

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or when we look for narrow responses

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rather than encourage
more exploratory thinking

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that we can all learn from.

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When all homework or student work
has a number or a letter on it,

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and counts towards a final grade,

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rather than being used for practice,
mistakes, feedback and revision,

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we send the message
that school is a performance zone.

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The same is true in our workplaces.

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In the companies I consult with,
I often see flawless execution cultures

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which leaders foster
to encourage great work.

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But that leads employees
to stay within what they know

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and not try new things,

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so companies struggle
to innovate and improve,

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and they fall behind.

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We can create more spaces for growth

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by starting conversations with one another

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about when we want to be in each zone.

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What do we want to get better at and how?

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And when do we want
to execute and minimize mistakes?

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That way, we gain clarity
about what success is,

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when, and how to best support one another.

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But what if we find ourselves
in a chronic high-stakes setting

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and we feel we can't
start those conversations yet?

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Then here are three things
that we can still do as individuals.

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First, we can create low-stakes islands
in an otherwise high-stakes sea.

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These are spaces where mistakes
have little consequence.

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For example, we might find
a mentor or a trusted colleague

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with whom we can exchange ideas
or have vulnerable conversations

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or even role-play.

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Or we can ask for feedback-oriented
meetings as projects progress.

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Or we can set aside time to read
or watch videos or take online courses.

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Those are just some examples.

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Second, we can execute
and perform as we're expected,

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but then reflect on what
we could do better next time,

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like Beyoncé does,

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and we can observe and emulate experts.

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The observation, reflection
and adjustment is a learning zone.

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And finally, we can lead

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and lower the stakes for others
by sharing what we want to get better at,

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by asking questions
about what we don't know,

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by soliciting feedback
and by sharing our mistakes

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and what we've learned from them,

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so that others
can feel safe to do the same.

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Real confidence is about
modeling ongoing learning.

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What if, instead of spending
our lives doing, doing, doing,

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performing, performing, performing,

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we spent more time exploring,

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asking,

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listening,

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experimenting, reflecting,

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striving and becoming?

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What if we each always had something

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we were working to improve?

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What if we created more low-stakes islands

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and waters?

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And what if we got clear,

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within ourselves and with our teammates,

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about when we seek to learn
and when we seek to perform,

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so that our efforts
can become more consequential,

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our improvement never-ending

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and our best even better?

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Thank you.