Four tips to acquire new skills such as English and musical instruments in 20 hours

"Outliers"The book" I am starting to study something new and it takes 10,000 hours to reach a certain level "Law of 10,000 hoursAs an exampleBill GatesHe cited many famous people such as Mr. and became the best seller in the United States. However, Josh Kaufman, a writer who felt that "10,000 hours is too busy for contemporary people,The First 20 HoursI wrote a book that summarizes the methods and points for acquiring new skills in 20 hours, and a presentation on that content was held at Colorado State University in 2013TED x CSUI did it.

The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU - YouTube


Mr. Josh Kaufman, who wrote The First 20 Hours, has been sending a lot of busy days to work and to take care of children, because his wife bore his child, and his husband and wife worked together.


Recently, it is about to start thinking "I can never have free time never again" on every day when I am too busy.


Mr. Kaufman who likes to learn something new using free time decided to examine how much time it would take to acquire one skill.


I read various books and search the internet and found that it takes 10,000 hours to get one skill and it takes about 3 and a half even if I study 8 hours every day Law of 10,000 hours ".


Mr. Kaufman who thought "I do not have free time 10,000 hours oneself who is doing child rearing and working!" Further examination,10,000 hoursIt is time to take from zero to reach the professional level. Next, Mr. Kaufman said that "From zero, how long will it take to improve skills to a certain level rather than a professional?"


In the graph below, the vertical axis represents "time to finish the task", the horizontal axis represents "practice time", and although it takes a long time to finish the task at the beginning of the practice, the practice time gradually As time goes by, the time it takes to finish the task tends to decrease. Because accumulating practice makes it possible to achieve high quality performance, that is, the efficiency of learning increases.


In this graph, the vertical axis shows "degree of growth" and the horizontal axis shows "practice time", and although the growth speed is fast at the beginning of practicing, the growth speed will drop as practice time accumulates. Mr. Kaufman wants to know how long it will take from zero to the point of slow growth.


Mr. Kaufman investigated on its own, and found that it takes 20 hours to learn new skills from scratch to a certain extent.


However, there seems to be some small tricks to master new skills in 20 hours, and Mr. Kaufman will introduce the tips.


◆ 1: Disintegrate skills you want to master


Skill is a collection of various elements. Decomposing the aggregate is necessary to master skills and also clarifies the important foundation part. By clarifying the foundation, you can improve your learning speed afterward by practicing from important things first.

◆ 2: Learn to a level that can be self-corrected


It seems that if you can correct mistakes yourself while learning, learning efficiency will rise further.

◆ 3: Elimination of obstructions


It is important to exclude things that impede learning such as television and PC, focus on study as much as possible.

◆ 4: Practice at least 20 hours


At least I practiced for 20 hours discarding preconceived things such as maybe impossible for myself. After 20 hours, you will be confident enough to overcome the preconceptions you had before you started studying, and it will also be a factor to keep studying after that. Even if you spend 30 minutes a day for new skills, it takes only 40 days.

Mr. Kaufman practiced the ukulele for 20 hours using the above tips. Initially I started studying from the name of the parts etc.


Next, when studying the code to play the ukulele, it seems that if you have at least four of the codes that are over 100, you can play some songs.


Mr. Kaufman who begins to play the ukulele actually practicing for only 20 hours. It is never a level that is comparable to a professional, but the performance was full of confidence.


The audience listens to the performance and finally sends a big applause to Mr. Kaufman.


Mr. Kaufman said, "It is an emotion that comes from fear of studying new things, not hindrance or incorrect way of studying, so it is 20 hours to start with anything from language to cooking as well Please try to study, "concludes the end of the presentation.