Yeah, it's Gladwell's conflation, I think. (And the writer's conflation of Gladwell's assertions with Ericsson's.) If you're interested in this type of thing,

Yeah, it's Gladwell's conflation, I think. (And the writer's conflation of Gladwell's assertions with Ericsson's.) If you're interested in this type of thing, I'd recommend ":59 Seconds" for a somewhat more down-to-earth and research-based approach. Amongst many of the more interesting findings is that just having actual physical plants around[1] helps improve creativity and that brainstorming in groups (as opposed to separately and then comparing results later) is counterproductive. (Of course that's also provisional, so some of the research referenced therein may have been refuted, so... Such is that Way of Science.) [1] Interestingly, pictures of plants/nature don't work.