- Author
- Channing Allen
- Published
- 1 October 2025
- Kind
- Personal essay on a community site, with reader comments
- Original
- www.indiehackers.com/post/lifestyle/increasing-your-practice-surface-area-agxYGi9bL0gd1WYYQZAu
- Subject
- Mind, attention and practice
What it is
Channing Allen posted this essay on Indie Hackers. It challenges the idea that talent explains why some learners progress faster. It argues that hidden practice explains much of the gap.
What it says
- Allen defines practice surface area as all the time and space where practice can happen.
- Two learners log equal scheduled hours, but one does closer to 30 without noticing.
- Orwell hated sitting down to write. Allen says a mental diary gave Orwell years of practice.
- The essay says Bobby Fischer analyzed chess positions on ceiling tiles while lying in bed.
- For people not obsessed, Allen advises finding the smallest practice unit needing no equipment.
- Allen lists more tactics. Examples are mental movies for Phelps and mopping poems for Angelou.
What evidence it gives
The essay offers anecdotes about Sofia Polgar, Orwell, Feynman, Fischer and others. Only Orwell is quoted from a source. The five tips are suggestions, with no tests behind them.
Interests and limits
The story claims are unchecked, and the term practice surface area is the author's own. The post sits on a platform that promotes a newsletter. Comments include ads and scam posts. The live page was behind a bot check. The text came from a Wayback Machine copy. The companion essay was not opened.