How long does it take to learn a new skill?

How long does it take to learn a new skill? I have just watched this amazing TED talk by Josh Kaufman. He discusses his life as a new parent, and the fact that he felt like he would never have free time ever again.

It got him thinking about how long it actually takes to learn something new. His research found that rather than the 10,000 hours that you need to become an expert in a competitive field, it is possible to become good at something by committing 20 hours of practice to it. That’s less than an hour a day for a month!

The learning curve is steep at first, and then our performance plateaus out. We need to invest our first 20 hours of practice wisely, so Josh suggests the following four steps.

Firstly, break the skill down into its component parts to see which are most important, and practice those first. This allows us to improve in the shortest time possible.

Secondly, learn enough that we can notice our errors, and correct ourselves. Don’t allow this to become procrastination though, learn just enough to get started!

Thirdly, remove our barriers, including distractions that get in the way of our practice.

And lastly, put in the 20 hours of practice. This will get us past the frustration barrier of knowing we are terrible at something to begin with, also known as being consciously incompetent.

After showing us that he has learned to play the ukulele in 20 hours, Josh closes his talk by explaining that the barrier to learning something new isn’t intellectual, it’s emotional. Once we overcome the fear of feeling stupid, by just doing something new for 20 hours we can achieve anything. I can’t wait to try out his tips!

Project 365

I set up this website after deciding that I want to build a more creative life for myself, so I can give up my job and be in control of my own destiny.

I have set myself a goal of publishing an article on my website every day this year, to document my journey from employment to self-employment.

The name I chose was Project 365 because I see this as a year that I have dedicated to learning and self-development, as I countdown to freedom. It started on 1st January 2021, so I have 292 days to go!