20 Hours.
That’s all. Only 20 hours of dedicated focus towards a skill, and within that time you will be competent at it. Not 1000 hours, or even years, just 20 hours. This was a misconception I had throughout my entire life, I thought if I wanted to learn something new, I would have to invest so many hours into it, and that the large number alone prevented me from beginning.
After watching Josh Kaufman’s TED Talk where he described the process of learning a new skills, I discovered how wrong I was. He explained the process of learning something new into four steps.
- Deconstruct the skill, because often that skill is composed of various skills, and knowing them will make it easier to learn.
- Self-correct
- Remove practice barriers and distractions
- Practice for at least 20 hours
This week I began crocheting as a new hobby, and after spending a few hours on it I was at the point of giving up. After watching the same tutorial for four times, I was not getting any better at it – I found it so much more difficult in comparison to knitting. But then I was reminded of this video – of the significance of 20 hours. After getting a good night’s sleep, I attempted the same tutorial again, and finally – I was able to complete it!