Generally, whatever is being practiced requires some sort of repetitive nature, trial & error, and eventually getting decent at it over time. Practice tends to be intertwined with work so much that the terminology itself associates with the field accordingly (ie. Consultants in a Consulting practice, Doctors in a Medical practice, Lawyers in a Law practice, etc.).  

How long does it take to practice and be good at something? According to the book Outliers: The Story of Success, it says a person needs 10,000 hours of practicing the correct way to become a world-class expert in their skill. To put it in perspective, that’s 5 years of practicing on this task or skill set if treating it like a 9-5 job!            

This suggested time for expert level performance first came from K. Anders Ericsson, who studied professional athletes, world-class musicians and chess grand masters. All super level competitors in high performing fields and figured out how long it took for them to get to the top of their crafts. He found that the more deliberate practice, the more the individual spends practicing the elements of whatever it is they do, the better they get and top folks tend to spend around 10,000 hours of practice to learn something new. Clearly, one would need a superior natural talent to get over and beyond the rest of their competition as well when referring to super level competitors and practicing alone may not be enough in this context.

Typically, within the learning curve, one starts off grossly incompetent (and they know it), but with a little bit of practice they begin to get better and over time that early level of competency beings to improve over time until it eventually reaches a certain plateau. Subsequent gains become much harder and takes even more time to get, until one day they hopefully reach the level of The Answer.

Depending on what it is you want to practice on, here are some tips to help in your journey to acquire that new skill:

1. Break down the skill to its simple elements. Decide exactly what you want to have accomplished when you are done and be realistic. Most of the things that require practice are simply big bundles of skills that can be broken down. If you can break down that skill into different pieces, the easier it will be to prioritize which elements need to be practiced first. You will be able to improve performance in the least amount of time possible by focusing on what is important.

2. Gather Resources Accordingly. Get 3-5 resources for what you are trying to learn, and DON’T procrastinate on learning this material. Make sure your resources fit your system. A general rule of thumb is:

If you tend to say “Look”, “I see”, “that appears”, or “get the picture”, then you would primarily have a visual learning reference system visual learning reference system

If you tend say “Listen” or “sounds good”, you probably have an auditory learning reference system auditory learning reference system

If “I’m touched by that”, “Moving forward” or “tap into” are typically spoken or written, then you may have a kinesthetic learning reference system

 For example, if you primarily have an auditory learning reference system, then it may not be a good idea to practice by reading books. Similarly, if you primarily have a kinesthetic learning reference system, then you should probably not get audiobooks for practicing the task at hand.

3. Learn enough to self-correct what you are trying to practice. You want to learn just enough to practice that specific skill set and learning becomes a way of getting better when noticing a mistake is made. In most cases, it’s just as important to figure out what does not work and why, rather than setting it aside, as these mistakes get etched in our memories.

4. Remove distractions such as TV, internet, all the things that get in the way of you sitting down and putting that practice in. The more willpower to remove distractions that are keeping you from practicing, the more likely you can sit down and practice. At some point, we all go through the similar issue thinking there are not enough hours in a day. All of history’s most revolutionary folks all had the same amount of time in the day and worked around their own agendas to build their legacy. Although none of them had distractions like how we may have nowadays to keep us from zoning in, you can still set aside some time to practice. Even putting in an hour a day of distraction-free time aside would show a significant improvement within a month! 

5. Keep your eyes on the prize. It helps to write down the end goal and perhaps even why. If and when it hits the fan, remember what your initial objective was for practicing your craft. I would argue that managing emotions is the biggest barrier to learn something new and going through the process. It’s not so much about learning a bunch of tips and trick, it’s about being disciplined in your approach and sticking to it.   

 6. Embrace the struggle! We tend to have a frustration barrier when starting to learn something new because of feelings of being grossly incompetent. Naturally, no one likes to feel stupid and that’s a huge barrier to sitting down and putting in the work. By pre-committing to the end goal in mind, you will be able to overcome the initial frustration and stick with it long enough to reap the rewards. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your craft. Also, remember that if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. 

 Thanks for reading!