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Has there been a skill you’ve been wanting to learn, but you’ve been putting it off for years? It can be hard to find the time, energy, and motivation to learn something new. Fortunately, in the international bestseller The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman provides a simple and effective method for learning almost any skill in just 20 hours. Whether you want to learn how to cook, speak a foreign language, or practice a martial art, by following Kaufman’s rapid skill acquisition process, you’ll pick up and enjoy your new skills as fast as humanly possible.

Kaufman is an expert in business...

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The First 20 Hours Summary The Myth of the 10,000 Hour Rule

Learning a new skill requires time and effort, but Kaufman argues that it’s not as hard as people often think: You can achieve a decent level of proficiency in most skills with only 20 hours of practice. He attributes the misconception that learning new things is too hard and too time-consuming in part to the 10,000 hour rule, an idea first popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers. According to Gladwell, becoming an expert in any skill requires at least 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.

(Shortform note: Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule may be even more misconstrued than Kaufman suggests. In Outliers, Gladwell writes that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in a particular skill, but he uses that estimate not as a recommendation but instead as an illustration of the role opportunity plays in being able to master skills. He argues that most highly successful people have had the luxury to be able to devote thousands of hours to their craft, and that mastery isn’t just a matter of talent or effort, but also of luck and...

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The First 20 Hours Summary How to Learn a New Skill in 20 Hours

While there’s no way to skip straight to the last stage of the skill acquisition process, you can speed up the process. You can do this by researching the skill enough to practice intelligently, breaking the skill down into its essential components, and then putting in 20 hours of focused practice time. Kaufman explains that the rate at which you learn a new skill depends on two factors: 1) How much time you devote to concentrated practice and 2) How intelligently you practice. To master the basics of a new skill in 20 hours, you need to optimize both of these factors. Kaufman’s process helps you do this—let’s look at it in more detail.

(Shortform note: The two factors affecting how quickly you learn a skill are both things you can control. However, other experts point out there are also factors outside of your control that affect your skill acquisition speed—for example, your personality, genetics, confidence, past experiences, and preexisting skills.)

Step 1: Choose Your Skill

First, decide what skill you want to learn. Kaufman suggests you **choose the skill you’re most excited...

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Shortform Exercise: Prepare for Your 20 Hours of Practice

To learn a skill with only 20 hours of practice, you must do some preliminary work before you start practicing. Research a skill you’re interested in and plan how to optimize your practice time.


Describe the skill you’re most interested in learning. What’s your goal? What do you hope to achieve with the skill? For example, you might want to learn how to draw so you can make art assets for a game you’re developing.

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