Something I&#x27;ve noticed, which the article doesn&#x27;t quite say (but sure hints at): you can accidentally teach yourself performance-degrading &quot;techniques&quot; if you keep practicing beyond a certain point.<p>I used to study (modern) drums 5+ hours a day. This would happen sometimes, around the time when I was learning a new technique: I&#x27;d start on the new material, practice it for a while, then I&#x27;d get it to a so-so point and I&#x27;d stall there making the same mistake over and over again. At that point I would have to stop and play something else and only come back to the new material the next day, otherwise it would take me weeks to get past the plateau.<p>The thing is, I think, when you practice, your body (or, I guess, your mind) doesn&#x27;t know what you&#x27;re learning- whether it&#x27;s good or bad. Maybe for dancers or athletes there is some physical feedback, some pain from doing the wrong thing, but for many other types of performance there isn&#x27;t and so it&#x27;s very easy to just practice the wrong thing and learn it really, really well.