Forget the 10,000-Hour Rule — You Only Need 20 to Learn a New Skill
By: Nabil Alouani
Tags: Business, Skills, Personal Development, Entrepreneurship, Startup

1. Deconstruct the skill

What we perceive as a skill is often a cocktail of tiny skills. For instance, if you want to learn digital marketing, you should consider mailing lists, Search Engine Optimization, and targeted ads on social media.

Josh’s idea is to list these sub-skills and determine the most relevant and profitable ones.

Keeping the digital marketing example: if you can’t afford to pay for social media ads yet, discard them. Focus on mailing lists and SEO instead. You’ll spend less effort in the process and reap the benefits sooner.

2. Learn enough to self-correct

It’s easy to fall into the “I should learn a ton of theory before taking action” trap. You’d pile up resources and tutorials only to let them rot on your (digital) shelf.

Put differently, you’re simply giving yourself an excuse to procrastinate. That’s why Josh suggests you pick up just enough knowledge to practice and notice your mistakes.

For example, if you want to learn how to grow a mailing list, you can learn the basics of sending automated emails then run tests with your personal email.

You’ll quickly notice bugs on download buttons, display, and embedded links. As you sort out these bugs, you’ll get better because fixing errors is one of the best ways to learn.

3. Get rid of distractions

This is a universal rule for a reason. It works.

Your brain loves distractions because they’re effort-free and exciting. In contrast, learning something new requires mental energy.

One way to convince your lazy brain to focus is to reduce its options.

Turn off your notifications and put (noise-cancel) headsets when you sit down to learn. Your brain will feel so bored that work will feel like tons of fun.

4. Overcome the frustration barrier by pre-committing to 20 hours

When you start something new, the first guests to join the adventure are often negative thoughts. “Holy Sweet Potato, I freaking suck,” you’d grumble after messing up once. “Perhaps, this isn’t for me.”

That’s frustration poisoning your mind with the idea to give up way too soon. Rest assured, though. There’s an antidote. When you pre-commit to at least 20 hours, you’ll lower the frustration barrier enough to step over it.

“Sure, I’m still grossly incompetent right now. But I’ve been learning for only five hours so far. Let’s see what happens once I’m done with all 20.”

5. Spread your schedule over at least four weeks

I added this one to Josh’s framework because I know how tempting the 20-hour idea can be. If you’re anything like me, you’d think: “Hmm, I can simply power through three consecutive days and voilà! New skill acquired!”

Not so fast, friend.

Your brain needs time to integrate new skills. The process is called neuroplasticity, and it’s your brain’s ability to rewire itself according to your daily experience — in particular, what you learn.

So instead of rushing the 20 hours, spread them across time.

If you aim for 45' every day, you’ll get decent at your skill within a month. If that sounds like a long time, remember that before this article, you needed five years.