Do the Real Thing
Definitely agree with the article, and would like to offer a useful supplement to "doing the real thing": "watch someone very skilled do the real thing".Watching a pro can really accelerate skill acquisition because it will expose you to high quality ideas that would have been difficult to develop on your own.Want to get better at Backgammon/Chess/Go? Play a lot of games (at various time controls). Yes. But also watch professional players and read their analyses of games.Want to get better at programming? Write a lot of programs. Yes. But also read a lot of high quality code written by others.Want to become a better mathematician? Spend your time mastering mathematical knowledge and techniques. Yes. But also spend some time trying to get in the heads of the masters - learning their patterns of thought at the mathematical and meta-mathematical levels.The increased accessibility of this kind of content is one of the greatest achievements of the internet.