Since early adulthood, my bookshelf has been filled with the latest and greatest in the fields of psychology, success, and performance. Recently, I discovered Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at Wharton Business School whose primary research is in motivation and meaning. He has given numerous TED Talks, most of which can be viewed online, and his podcast Re:Thinking is a weekly staple. Hidden Potential helps readers recognize and understand qualities that lead to overall success in a wide range of fields. Many former and current athletes may not be surprised that possessing a growth mindset, pushing discomfort, being coachable, and embracing failure are among the many topics discussed.

Grant’s chapter Transforming the Daily Grind narrows down the importance of deliberate play. In particular, he highlights the relationship between trainer Brandon Payne and Steph Curry in which Payne transforms Curry’s intense training sessions into a game. I’ve long believed passionately about the value of deliberate play, which began with my time as an athlete and continued into my teaching and coaching practices. It is the secret ingredient in athletes and teams transferring skills and concepts from the training ground to the competitive field.

Here's a brief passage:

To make practice fun while building technical skills, Brandon created a menu of deliberate play activities. In Twenty-One, you get a minute to score twenty-one points with three-pointers, jump shots, and layups (worth one). But after each shot, you have to sprint to the middle of the court and back. Getting out of breath during the game stimulates the fatigue of the real game. “Every drill is a game,” Brandon explains. “There’s always a time to beat. There’s always a number to beat. If you beat the number and you don’t beat the time, you still lose.”

The downside of competing against others is that you can win without improving. They might have a bad day, or you might benefit from a stroke of good luck. In Brandon’s form of deliberate play, the person you’re competing with is your past self, and the bar you’re raising is for your future self. You’re not aiming for perfect—you’re shooting for better. The only way to win is to grow.

The basis of deliberate play is finding a flow state that balances fun and focus. It’s the understanding that how one practices is what separates great people, teams, and organizations from the rest. It’s been a philosophy long adopted by Brazilian soccer players, award-winning writers and musicians, and many other successful creators.

Grant’s work in not only primary research but in compiling the research of others draws upon a wide range of thinkers and doers. Even in his previous books, Think Again and Originals, he explores small characteristics successful people and groups share that may just help the rest of us find what we need to move that needle closer in our favor.