Practicing any skill deeply works to make anybody better at the thing they are practicing because when we focus intently on a specific skill or study and drill it over and over again, we force our brain to fire a specific circuit in our brain over and over again.
When this brain circuit repeats again and again, it causes cells in our brain, called oligodendrocytes to wrap layers of a substance called myelin around the neurons in those circuits. Myelin insulates the transmission of electric pulses through our mind and literally helps us to think and function faster.
This slowly takes that skill we’re practicing and cements it into our nervous system and helps us get better and faster at doing or thinking about the things we’re deliberately focusing on (i.e. practicing!)
Practice sessions that are made up of un-distracted, deep, and intent focus on a single idea or skill are vital to this process.