Why Mastery Comes From Fewer Fundamentals: Josh Waitzkin’s “Making Smaller Circles” Method Explained

Why Mastery Often Starts by Doing Less

Most people try to improve performance by adding more techniques.

More frameworks.

More strategies.

More information.

But research on expertise suggests improvement rarely comes from expansion alone.

It comes from deeper internalization of fundamentals.

Chess prodigy and performance coach Josh Waitzkin describes this process as making smaller circles, refining core skills until they become intuitive.

Depth Before Expansion

Decades of expertise research show that experts do not necessarily think faster than novices.

They recognize patterns faster.

Studies of elite chess players demonstrate that expert advantage comes from deeply internalized configurations often called chunking, built through repeated exposure and deliberate practice.

Instead of consciously selecting from many techniques, experts rapidly recognize familiar structures and respond efficiently.

In other words:

Performance improves when knowledge becomes organized around core patterns rather than accumulated as isolated techniques.

Returning to Fundamentals Under Pressure

Expert knowledge tends to be structured around underlying principles rather than surface details.

When situations become complex or stressful, high performers often return to foundational elements that remain stable across contexts.

This does not mean experts know fewer techniques, but their decisions are guided by deeply integrated fundamentals that remain reliable under pressure.

Depth creates consistency.

Why Sustained Practice Matters

Deliberate practice research shows that mastery develops through prolonged, effortful engagement focused on improving specific components of performance.

Internalizing fundamentals requires sustained attention over time, repeated exposure, feedback, and refinement.

Tools designed to support sustained mental engagement, such as Numin, are built with this goal in mind: helping individuals remain cognitively engaged during extended learning and decision cycles.

(Importantly, this reflects design intention rather than a validated performance outcome.)

Mastery as Compression

Waitzkin’s “smaller circles” idea mirrors what cognitive science observes in expert learning.

Over time, experts form more efficient mental representations:

• fewer conscious steps
• faster recognition
• deeper sensitivity to subtle differences

Understanding becomes more compact, even as capability expands.

Beginners often expand outward.

Experts refine inward.