Anders Ericsson (mentioned in the story) wrote an accessible book ("Peak") about his research.* He says that the route to optimal performance is "deliberate pr

Anders Ericsson (mentioned in the story) wrote an accessible book ("Peak") about his research.* He says that the route to optimal performance is "deliberate practice" and that one of the components of deliberate practice is supervision by a coach who can provide feedback and personalized challenges. I think that kind of fits with your idea, except that he suggests that the source of feedback should be another person. * Incidentally, he also debunks the whole "20000 hours" thing and seems not too keen on Malcolm Gladwell.