The First 20 Hours – How to Learn anything

The First 20 Hours – How to Learn anything

Josh Kaufman

How long does it take to acquire a new skill? Popular belief is that you need a practice of 10,000 hours which means Full time job for 5 years. However that is for becoming an ‘Expert’ or a ‘Master’. What if your target is not that lofty? If you just want to be fairly or reasonably good at it. According to Kaufman you need merely 20 hours of focused and deliberate practice i.e. 45 minutes per day for a month.

There are four simple steps involved in the process which are as follows:

1.  Deconstruct the skill: Break down the skill to smaller pieces or steps and practice most important steps first.

2.  Learn enough to self-correct: Learn just enough before starting to practice so that you are able to self-correct.

3.  Remove practice barriers which are often often not intellectual but emotional or psychological.

4.  Practice regularly for at least 20 hours. Overcome the frustrating period.

So which new skill you are planning to learn next?