If you read Lifehacker you're probably familiar with Tim Ferriss, the best-selling author and human guinea pig who will do just about anything to make life more efficient and acheive his goals. In his new book The Four Hour Chef Ferriss shares with corporate weblog Business Insider his key to learning skills as diverse as body hacking, business development, and amassing languages with his four step system: Deconstruct, Selection, Sequencing, and Stakes.



Let's say Tim wants to learn a martial art. He would first deconstruct the art down into the minimum learnable units, the building blocks that make up the overall discipline he wishes to learn. Next he will utilize the 80/20 rule to select which blocks make up the 20% of subject matter that will take him 80% of the way to competency. He must then sequence in which order to learn those blocks and finally setup stakes to create consequences, make sure he follows the program, and tests his growing facility. Perhaps in this case it would be entering a martial arts tournament.

Apply the 80/20 rule to your life The 80/20 rule says that 80% of consequences stem from 20% of causes (in economics.) Productivity… Read more

Ferriss also points out that it is important to track your data so you can figure out points of failure and measure your progress. This broad overview of skill acquisition can apply to nearly any subject.

The 4-Step Process for Mastering Any Skill | Business Insider