Learn / The Archive / Does practice alone make you great?
Does practice alone make you great?
A large review found focused practice mattered most in games like chess, where it explained about a quarter of the differences in skill. The rest came from other things, and researchers still debate the size. No poker players were in it.
Macnamara, Hambrick and Oswald, 2014, Psychological Science · Read the study
Some studies agree, some do not. Our summary, in our own words.