20 Hours to Learn Something New

​Given Protagion’s preoccupation with development and lifelong learning, today we share a video which we hope will inspire you to learn something new. Josh Kaufman’s TEDx talk sets out four steps to learning something in only 20 hours.

His entertaining talk is almost 20 minutes long, and within this time is a practical demonstration of Josh himself practising the ukelele, singing a pop medley! His endearing presentation style is quirky, and well-suited to the university audience he was speaking to (Colorado State University).

The key question Josh poses is “How long does it take to acquire a new skill?”. The topic of acquiring knowledge and learning new things is referenced in two other Protagion posts about breadth, depth and expertise:

• In Pursuit of Knowledge: Specialising vs Generalising as a Career Strategy, which discusses depth / specialising / focus and breadth / generalist knowledge / openness
• Technical Experts Make Great Leaders, which shares the research of Amanda Goodall

Josh refers to the 10 000 hour rule (which he points out is the same as a “full-time job for 5 years”) which argues that it takes that amount of practice time to get to the top of your field. It comes from studies of expert-level performance among professional athletes, world-class musicians and chess grandmasters.

But, he also argues that people can get ‘good’ at something with a little bit of practice, given the slope of the learning curve. He proposes that with 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice, done efficiently, we can perform at a reasonable level. He sets out some steps to rapid skill acquisition, which we’ve added our own thoughts to:

1) Deconstruct the skill

• Decide exactly what you want to be able to do when you’ve invested the time i.e. know yourself and define the goal you want to achieve
• Break the broader skill into small elements, and focus on those which help you get to your goal
• Practise the most important elements first, including the fundamentals – as Josh says, there is a very small set of things that will be really important, including techniques that you’ll use all the time

2) Learn enough to self-correct

• Josh suggests finding 3-5 resources about what you’re trying to learn (e.g. books, courses) that importantly allow you to notice when you’re making a mistake
• Learn just enough so that you can self-correct / self-edit when you practise
• We’d add that speaking to / learning from others who’ve done it before can also guide you to use your time most efficiently, using their tips or tricks, and avoid common pitfalls

3) Remove barriers to practice like distractions

• While Josh was referring mostly to changes to your environment to help you concentrate, making commitments to others and/or finding partners to practise with can help you to “sit down and do the work” too

4) Practise for at least 20 hours

• Commit in advance to get through the initial frustration barrier i.e. recognise the emotional hurdles you will face when you first start, and power through the feelings of stupidity/fear/frustration
• Upfront preparation can also help you to follow-through e.g. crafting a plan/schedule of when you’ll practise, getting all your equipment ready in advance, familiarising yourself with what the key components are, and deciding how you’ll demonstrate your new skill after 20 hours

And, for those looking for the highlights of Josh’s talk only (or a refresher), here is a 3 minute version.