Use Those 20 Hours Properly To Acquire A New Skill
Yes that’s all it takes, and it’s pretty simple too.
It does not take you much time to acquire a new skill, on the contrary of what most might think, it’s actually pretty simple.
The first thing we need to know is that the main barrier in learning something new, or doing anything new, is emotional, thus being scared of failing.
When you have your mind set on acquiring a new skill, one that you truly need or love, then you’ve accomplished the first step. Motivating and believing in yourself is the key to anything you want to do.
Josh Kaufman, the author of ‘The First 20 hours’, sends out a very important message that,
if you can put full focus and practice into something you want to be good at, you will be astounded by how fast you will learn it and become great at it.
I’ve watched his Ted X talk “The first 20 hours- How to learn anything”, and I learned that it highlighted four important and simple steps to go about this.
1- Breaking down the most important parts
Whenever you want to learn a new skill, you will have to find the most important factors of it, break them down, and practice them the most. For instance, if you are learning a new language, find out what the most common words are and practice them, that way you are bound to have 80% of that language’s words covered.
2- Learn how to correct your own self
Make sure you use as much reference materials as possible, that way you’d be learning enough to be able to spot your own mistakes and correct them.
3- Distractions are to be abolished
Anything that distracts you from sitting down, practicing, and learning is simply a barrier. All you have to do is find out what it is and move it away from you, that way you can efficiently focus on what your learning.
4- Give that new skill you’re learning just 20 hours of your time!
Yes, just 20 hours! Did that sound like too much? Well, guess what? It’s not at all, actually it’s only 40 minutes a day for a month. I bet that just made it sound 100 times easier to do.
So after reading these easy steps, are you still afraid of failing? Even though, you must keep in mind that it’s the only way you learn and develop. Do you still think you cannot acquire a new skill in such a short period of time? I highly doubt, and it’s pretty easy too! Aim all the focus you’ve got on practicing that new learning of yours, and you’re good to go.
I am certain we all have 20 hours to spare per month.
