I originally read this in a post about how to get better at golf (a thing I’m constantly trying to do) but the more I thought about it the more I wondered if it didn’t apply to pretty much everything.
From Dr. Christine Carter on Bulletproof Musicians:
“The fact is, repeated information does not receive the same amount of processing as new information. And on some level, we all know this. Constant repetition is boring and our boredom is telling us that our brains are not engaged.
But instead of listening to this instinctive voice of reason, we blame ourselves for our lack of attention and yell at ourselves to “focus!” Luckily, there is an alternative.
She goes on to talk about how we need to implement more random practice schedules in whatever field we’re trying to master and I think that’s probably really smart, lest my brain get slowed by the groove of unvaried repetition.