Coyle describes how he journeyed the world for over a year—traveling to Russia, Brazil, Texas, California, and New York—to study talent hotbeds and the factors that contribute to their development. When he arrived in these hotbeds, he expected to be impressed by extraordinary feats and natural gifts. However, this was only true for about half the places he visited. In the other half, he witnessed a style of practice that was similar to that of Clarissa the clarinet player, consisting of “slow, fitful struggle” (12).

Coyle introduces the concept of “deep practice,” which he describes as a type of practice that is focused, challenging, and engages the brain in creating new neural connections. He acknowledges that this notion of practice goes against accepted beliefs. While most people would want to avoid struggling while practicing, viewing continuous performance as more beneficial than a practice broken up by starts and stops, Coyle believes that targeted struggle, paired with intense focus on correcting mistakes, is key to achieving mastery and developing talent.

To underscore his argument, he introduces the example of Edwin Link, an inventor who revolutionized pilot training through the creation of flight simulators.