The Best Way to Master a Skill

Jerry Seinfeld, the famous comedian, gave a surprisingly effective advice on how to master the skill you’re most interested in (in his case, being a better comic).

Source: http://www.brockpress.com/2015/03/jerry-seinfeld-will-make-his-way-to-niagara-this-june-456/

He said that in order to be a better comic, he had to create better jokes, and in order to create better jokes, he had to write daily.

That’s a pretty common advice you’d find anywhere. The thing which stood out was the way he implemented this routine.

He asks people to get a big calendar and a marker. Each day — after you complete your task of writing — simply cross that date on the calendar. After a few days, you’ll have a chain for yourself which you’d not want to break. Your only job will be to not break the chain!

Don’t break the chain!

Want to learn how to play a guitar?

Just play everyday for 1 hour. It doesn’t matter how terrible you are in the beginning. If you practice and improve daily, you will definitely be above average in an year.

Want to learn how to dance?

Karen X. Cheng learned how to dance in one year by practising everyday! Take a look at her video and see the difference between Day 4 and Day 86. That’s about 3 months!

Want to learn website development?

Create a new website every day! Jennifer Dewalt made 180 Websites in 180 days which helped her learn about web development. She has recently founded her own company.

I myself have written code everyday for the past 5 years which helped me become a programmer despite not studying Computer Science in college.

This habit of mine helped me launch a small company, Inkmat, in just 8 hours!

To help with this learning style, I made an app which helps you maintain the habit chain. Streaks Android App. The app keeps a score of the number of days you’ve been doing your tasks in a row and reminds you to complete the task if you haven’t already. This removes the need to have a big calendar as suggested by Seinfeld and makes the process a lot easier!

So what are you going to master next? :)

If you liked this piece, you might also enjoy: The Best Advice for Living Comes from Steve Martin

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