Practice does not necessarily make perfect, it merely makes pretty good. Only deliberate and intentional practice makes perfect.

The Old Masters — and the New Masters too — recognised this better than most. Deliberate practice can also play a crucial role in the modern-day career.

This week our inspiration comes via several masters. First is Van Gogh. His famous Sunflowers hangs in the National Gallery. But it is also in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and in galleries in Tokyo, Philadelphia and Munich and in several private collections.

That is because he painted at least 11 versions with only small variations in detail as the master strove for perfection.

Monet painted 18 almost identical versions of Rouen Cathedral, Munch evolved at least four versions of his Scream; even Michelangelo had a second go at his Virgin of the Rocks.

Deliberate and intentional practice thus played a crucial role in the way that the masters developed their skills and their careers. The recently published Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance shows that mere repetition does not constitute practice. Excellence is achieved only when repetition is combined with stretch, ambition and reflection. More specifically, mastery through practice typically occurs through consciously applying a four-step cycle: 1. Experience: commit yourself to an achievable yet demanding goal that takes you out of your comfort zone and challenges you. 2. Reflect: observe how you deal with your challenging initiative — recognise what has worked and what could have been done more effectively. Gain feedback from others too. 3. Model: recognise patterns across the different situations in which you experiment. 4. Trial: deliberately set up the next experience for which you will aim, to repeat the cycle.

Deliberate practice worked for the masters and can work for you too. As Émile Zola observed to Paul Cézanne, “There are two men within the artist: the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet; one becomes a craftsman.” Max Landsberg is a partner at Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search and consultancy firm, and author of The Tools of Leadership Next week: The final ingredient for career success — passion.

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