Trying out a new hobby or skill can be daunting. After all, most people don’t enjoy failure. And your first few hours of doing something new are likely going to be full of mistakes. And yet, with a bit of perseverance and smart practice, you can get decently good at something fairly quickly.
The conventional ‘wisdom’ that you need to spend 10,000 hours honing a skill to become a grandmaster doesn’t necessarily apply. All you really need is around 20 hours. That is, at least, according to Josh Kaufman, the author of ‘The First 20 Hours: How To Learn Anything… Fast!’
According to Kaufman, most people are “deeply disturbed” by the idea of being bad at something. Even if it’s temporary!
“When you try something new, you’re usually very bad, and you know it. The easiest way to eliminate that feeling of angst is to quit practicing and go do something else, so that’s what most of us do,” he explained to Forbes.
Kaufman points out that by precommitting to putting in at least 20 hours into learning a new skill, you’ll find it easier to progress despite any setbacks. According to him, it’s vital to learn just enough about the core concept of the skills so that you can apply it.
Meanwhile, it helps to break down any skill into smaller and more manageable parts so that you’re less overwhelmed.
The paradox is that the very idea of having to master a new skill can be extremely overwhelming.
As Kaufman told Forbes, this is counterproductive and can prevent you from exploring the new skill in the first place.
On the flip side, things are easier when you shift your focus, say, to having fun with a personal hobby or performing well enough to get meaningful results from the skill.
And, of course, you don’t actually have to master every single skill that you learn. Far from it.
“I believe that developing new skills in a way that allows you to perform well enough for your own purposes is – by far – the most common and valuable purpose of skill acquisition. Based on my research, reaching that level doesn’t take anywhere close to 10,000 hours – you can usually achieve the goals you set yourself in around 20 hours of deliberate practice,” Kaufman explained.
Meanwhile, Joseph Weintraub, a professor of management and organizational behavior at Babson College, told the Harvard Business Review that it’s essential to focus on constantly improving oneself.
“We need to constantly look for opportunities to stretch ourselves in ways that may not always feel comfortable at first. Continual improvement is necessary to get ahead,” he said.
