What does it take to develop a new skill? Maybe you've heard of the 10,000-hour rule. Popularized by Malcolm Gladwell's, Outliers, the rule states that it takes 10,000 hours to become to master a skill. It's short, catchy, and pretty much entirely wrong for our purposes.
If it were true and you spent one hour each day rigorously training, it would take you over 27 years to learn something new. Does that sound right?
K. Anders Ericsson, the professor who originated the 10,000 rule, studied world-class athletes, musicians, and chess grandmasters. Ericsson found that the more time spent deliberately practicing, the better they got. Those at the absolute top of their field put in about 10,000 hours of practice.
The problem is, he wasn't studying just any experts. Ericsson was examining the top percentile of top performers in ultra-competitive fields. They're the Tigers and LeBrons.
Luckily for you and me, we don't have to be ultra-specialized experts to make a living doing what we love (unless you love basketball). Maybe you simply want to learn an instrument just for fun. You don’t need to be an expert to enjoy strumming your guitar.
So, what does the research actually say about learning a new skill?
In reality, it only takes 20 hours.
That's about 40 mins a day for a month.
There's a caveat, however. You can't just fiddle around for 20 hours and expect massive improvement. There's a way to practice effectively and I'll tell you how.
To learn a skill, you must first deconstruct it into smaller pieces. Many skills are often composed of multiple sub-skills. Break it down to find the most important sub-skill to practice first. By focusing on the fundamentals, you'll improve must faster.
Second, obtain 3-5 resources to aid your learning process. Avoid using these resources to procrastinate. Instead, learn just enough to self-correct and begin practice. Learning involves having the ability to spot when you are doing something wrong. The goal is to actively practice and learn as you go.
Third, remove barriers to practice. Leave your yoga mat unrolled in your room or keep your juggling balls on your desk. The less work you have to do to begin practice, the more likely you are to start.
Finally, practice for at least 20 hours. It seems silly, but you must commit to these 20 hours. The largest barrier to improvement is not an intellectual one, but an emotional one. If you're anything like me, you hate being bad at things. The minute practice gets difficult, I'm off to half-learning the next skill. So I learned to commit to the process. It's the only thing that will get you over that initial hurdle of frustration.
I need to learn to type more quickly, so I'm committing to learning this skill. I've watched a few videos that recommended sites to practice on, I’ve bookmarked the ones I liked, and I'm going to track my time spent practicing. My current typing speed is around 50 words per minute. I’ll report back next month with my progress.
What is it that you want to learn?
Awesome read, I want to be become a better writer✌️
Thank you so much for the kind words. You’re writing will improve if you are determined to post regularly. All it takes is a few hours of attention to detail each week and you’ll get to where you want to be.