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Learn any skill in 20 hours. How many times do we see something inspirational or appealing and we say “I wish I could do that!”, and then never go on to actually learn anything. As Josh Kaufman puts it, our main issue is emotional not intellectual. You may or may not have heard the 10,000 hour rule in which studies have suggested that to become a master in any given skill you have to dedicate 10,000 hours. Well for some perspective that is a full time job for 5 years! Now, if that sounds daunting your in luck. The study was originally based on professional world class musicians and athletes among others charting how hard and long in which they practiced in there field to get to the minuscule minority top of their field. World class experts.

Luckily the information, like a game of Chinese whispers got distorted over time ‘it takes 10,000 hours to be the top of your field’ then, ‘it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert’ then, ‘it takes 10,000 hours to become good‘ which finally became ‘it takes 10,000 hours to learn something’. See what happened there? It turns out that in order to get the basics covered and learn enough to then be able self-correct and then fine tune your new skill is just 20 hours.

Just 45 minutes every single day for a month and you will notice how far you have come.

By putting in 20 hours of focused and deliberate practice you will be astounded with the level in which you can perform your new skill, you wont be world class sure, but you will have acquired a new skill and it’s up to you how far you take it. So go buy your tools / instruments / language resources and start practicing today, don’t let the initial doubts stop you in your tracks. Just 45 minutes every single day for a month and you will notice how far you have come.

For more information and a nice demonstration here is a video of Josh Kaufman himself

[title subtitle=”45 minutes for 30 days”]Start the Experiment[/title]

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“All life is an experiment, the more experiments you make the better” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

We challenge you to get involved and explore through experience.

Take a skill/topic you’ve been putting off learning and dedicate 45 minutes a day to it. Do this for one month and let us know how you get on. Deciding for yourself, through your own experience whether a new skill can be learnt in just 30 days.

Already tried this experiment?

Are there any tips that have worked for you? What’s your experience with this technique?

Thanks for reading.