Appreciating the Twenty Hour Rule

 It has been a while since I watched (324) The first 20 hours -- how to learn anything | Josh Kaufman | TEDxCSU - YouTube.  I remember learning powerful lessons that impacted me when I first watched this TED talk.  In the spirit of sharpening the saw, I decided to watch it again.  

I am happy that I did, and I am grateful that Kaufman did this TEDx talk.

In this video (and also in his books) Kaufman confesses that he is a learning addict.  He enjoys it and thrives at it.

Of course, there are more things to life other than lifelong learning. Kaufman cites a powerful example - the birth of his daughter Leila.  Parenthood all of a sudden took a priority, and the photos of Leila in that video underscores the importance of getting that right.

Being an entrepreneur and self-learner, he wondered how he can prioritize parenting while staying the course on the life journey he has set up for himself.  This need drove him to research available literature on rapid skill acquisition.  

This was the time when the 10000 rule was popular.  Kaufman reminds the audience what the rule was and provides a context for it.  

The rule was based on K Anders Erickson's research on EXPERT LEVEL PERFORMANCE.  Somehow this statement had morphed into it takes 10000 rules to be good at it.  For a person dedicated to a life of self-learning while attending to other priorities in life, this was discouraging.

Kaufman ended up challenging how the 10000 rule was portrayed and diffused amongst the public.  He did his own research and discovered that when it comes to growing from being absolutely ignorant on a topic to acquiring essential skills takes only twenty-hours.

I am grateful for this view, for this mental model.  For a novice on a quest for self-learning, it is easy to give in when hearing about the 10000 hours rule (without the proper context).  

It is one of those situations where the insular cortex in the brain registers pain.  The twenty hours rule, on the other hand, puts the responsibility of acquiring skill back into our alley.  

In addition to putting responsibility back into our yard, the twenty-hour rule is about learning smart.  In essence, we deconstruct the skills that we need to learn.  After that we learn enough to set up corrective feedbacks.  We need also remove barriers like distractions.  Finally, we put in twenty hours of deliberate (not naive) practice.

This approach gives us the traction we need to be self-learners.  It puts us on a path of self-discovery with our achievements defining our milestones.  Embracing our responsibility to train ourselves is easier.

I am grateful that Kaufman managed to make self-learning both approachable and rewarding.