One of our most far-reaching jobs as Patriotic Moms is to teach our children how to learn important skills.
The skills themselves are important (sometimes even vital) for happy, successful lives.
But perhaps the most powerful skill we can teach our kids may be the transformational ability to effectively teach themselves significant skills.
If so, this TED talk is a gold mine! Josh Kaufman specializes in teaching people from all walks of life how to master practical knowledge and skills.
In his talk, he tells how his first child inspired him to approach learning in a whole new way.
Josh believes that if you put 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice into learning a skill, you will be astounded. You just need to:
1. Deconstruct the skill. Break it down into its smallest component parts. Determine the essential parts to achieve your goal and practice them first. That will allow you to improve your performance in the least amount of time possible.
2. Learn enough to self-correct. Get 3 to 5 resources about what you are trying to learn. Learn just enough that you can actually practice and self correct as you practice. Get better at recognizing when you are making a mistake and then do something a little different.
3. Remove practice barriers, including distractions like TV and the internet.
4. Practice at least 20 hours. Committing to 20 hours helps you overcome the initial frustration barrier we all face and stick with your project long enough to experience the rewards.
You can use these four simple steps to learn anything. Start by gathering the necessary tools and skills to get started.
The major barrier to skill acquisition isn't intellectual...it's emotional. We all feel stupid at the beginning of learning a new skill, and feeling stupid isn't fun. But it's worth it.
All it take is 20 hours.
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