Skill and Time are two essentials
for learning anything new. So the author suggests us to dedicate just twenty
hours to a thing which you want to learn. This will help us come out of the
frustration barrier which restrains us from experimenting with
something new.
“the best thing that can happen to a
human being is to find a problem, to fall in love with
that problem, and to live trying to solve that problem unless
another problem even more lovable appears”. The more excited, caring and focused we are on the skill we want to
acquire, the more quickly we’ll acquire it.
What needs
to be noted here is we are shooting for capacity and sufficiency at maximum
speed and not perfection.
Five steps to learn anything fast are:
1. Set Target Performance Level
We need to define our specific target
performance level for which we need to answer ourselves two questions; 1. Why do
you want to learn it? 2. How well do you want or need to be
at? You may talk to practitioners to set your expectations. This will help you
predetermine the time and energy you need to dedicate to learn the skill.
2. Deconstruction of Skill
Deconstruction means to break it down into the smallest possible
parts. We’ll be able to identify which subskills appear to be more important
and by focusing on them specifically we’ll be able to make more progress with
less effort.
One of the first professional skills that he acquired was web
development, i.e., being able to build useful functioning websites. Beginning
with a basic website he taught himself how to read and write HTML, CSS and JAVA
Script, use Adobe Photoshop to edit images, configure web servers, and maintain
the systems that publish his work.
3. Research Just Enough
Doing a bit of practice can save one’s precious time, energy,
and emotional fortitude. Identify the critical components and required tools
for practice, ASAP. Learn enough about each subskill to be able to practice
intelligently and self-correct during practice.
4. Remove Barriers
Skill acquisition requires significant periods of sustained and
focused concentration. So remove physical, mental, and emotional barriers that
get in the way of practice. Rearrange your environment. Identify low-value uses
of time and eliminate them.
Many of you might have planned to do so many things but then
fear, doubt, and embarrassment might have stopped you from going ahead with it.
The time has arrived; start today!
5. Pre-commit 20 hours of Practice
Pre-commit to the task one hour a day to learn anything new in
20days. Set a daily timer for say an hour. Once you start the timer, you must
practice until it goes off. It will make it easier to complete longer periods
of sustained practice, even when you get tired or frustrated. Schedule the
skills in a way to get spaced repetition and reinforcement possibilities which
will help us override the decay curve. Create scaffolds and checklists.
Lastly, Practice until you reach your target
level of performance. As you practice, your muscle coordination becomes
more automatic and synchronized with your
mental processes. Instead of trying to be perfect, focus on practicing as much
as you can as quickly as possible while maintaining “good enough” form. In the
early age practice, quantity and speed trump absolute quality.
No comments:
Post a Comment