I have a problem. And it’s stopping me from learning.
I’ve swallowed the line that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, and it’s scared me off learning new things.
I am naturally curious. I want to learn, but I put off doing so because I know I’ll never be an expert in that field. So instead I potter around the fringes and play with things half-heartedly.
That was, until I watched this TEDx video: The first 20 hours (20 minutes)
In it, Josh Kaufman discusses why you don’t need to burn 10,000 hours on a subject, why 20 hours of focused practice is “good enough”, and how to overcome the inertia that prevents you from learning new things in the first place.
It’s well worth a watch, especially if – like me – you’re putting off learning because you’re scared of the amount of effort it’ll take to be good: because 20 hours is good enough 🙂