The term Renaissance literally means 'rebirth', but when you add 'man' to it, it refers to a person with multiple talents.

This kind of talent is exemplified by Leonardo da Vinci, who was not only a master artist but also knowledgeable in various fields such as science, astronomy, and anatomy, and was an inventor as well. It's possible that the term Renaissance man originated from da Vinci himself.

A Renaissance man is someone like da Vinci who possesses exceptional skills in multiple areas. It may sound like only those born with natural talent can reach this level, but in reality, that might not be the case.

If it's about skills, then we can train ourselves.

Josh Kaufman may not be a Renaissance man, but he has diverse skills because he has a method for quickly acquiring new skills. Within 12 months, he learned seven new skills, including coding, yoga, windsurfing, playing the ukulele, playing Go, mastering the Colemak typing technique (which is said to be faster than the QWERTY layout we've used since childhood), and filming and editing videos.

He calls this training method “Rapid Skill Acquisition”, and its core principle is focused practice within a set timeframe.

He trained in these skills from having no knowledge to becoming proficient. While he may not be a master like a Renaissance man, that’s not what matters; what he seeks is diversity.

“If you practice wisely and strategically, there are no limits to what you can learn, even rocket science,” Kaufman said.

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Why do we practice?

We may practice to find ways to increase our income.

To enhance our profiles so that others respect our value and create new opportunities for ourselves.

To improve our lives, see the world from new perspectives, and enjoy our personal growth.

Regardless of the reason, it’s always good to develop new skills, but few people actually take action because obstacles often arise, and many times, they come from within ourselves.

Kaufman states that there are three obstacles that prevent people from starting to practice.

The first is “Most people do not make a specific commitment to practice.”

They often say, “I think I’ll practice speaking Japanese someday,” but they don’t plan any practice. Worse, they don’t even consider why they are interested in this skill. When this happens, practicing doesn’t become more important than other things.

The second is “We fear learning.”

When we learn something new, there’s a vast gap of understanding we must bridge. We become apprehensive about what we don’t know, unsure of where to start, and feel the uncertainty looming. Then we instinctively decide to stop the fear by giving up.

The third is “Learning can be exhausting.”

Suppose you muster the courage to sit down and practice. The usual experience when starting is that you perform poorly. You can’t stand seeing your own inadequacy, feel disappointed in yourself, and to escape this situation, you stop practicing, perhaps telling yourself, “This skill isn’t interesting at all.”

Another hindrance to practice is the “10,000-Hour Rule” popularized by Malcolm Gladwell. This rule is widespread and has led some to misunderstand that 'if we want to practice a skill, we must practice until we become experts, which means we need to practice for 10,000 hours.'

Following the 10,000-Hour Rule means practicing every day for about 4 hours over approximately 7 years, which is not something most people can do. This kind of practice is suitable for those aiming to develop their skills to a world-class level, but if you just want to acquire valuable skills for yourself or practice for fun, then

20 hours is sufficient.

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Learning a New Skill in 20 Hours

1) Choose to practice one skill at a time and set a target performance level.

You may want to practice multiple skills, but when it comes time to choose, you must select one skill to focus on.

Pick one skill that is particularly important to you at that moment and dedicate your efforts to it. Remember that if you spread your efforts across multiple skills, you won’t make progress in any of them.

However, people often struggle to choose when faced with many options. Kaufman suggests writing down a list of skills you want to practice, then asking yourself,

“If I could only choose half of these skills to practice, which ones would I select?”

Then eliminate half of the list, ask the same question again, and cut it down by half again. Keep doing this until you’re left with just one skill to practice.

Once you’ve chosen your skill, the next step is to set a Target Performance Level.

You need to set a clear goal. The more detailed, the better. Make it clear what level you want to reach.

Simply saying 'I will practice Italian' is too vague. A Target Performance Level would be saying, 'I will learn Italian to use while traveling in Italy and to converse with waitstaff.' Writing it this way makes practice easier.

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2) Break it down into smaller skills to make practice easier.

Each skill is a combination of smaller skills. We need to break down the skill into smaller parts so that we can practice more easily and not feel overwhelmed.

For example, in golf, when you 'play golf', you’re not just doing one thing; it involves teeing off, various iron shots, chipping over sand traps, and putting on the green, each requiring different skills. The best way to practice is to focus on one aspect at a time.

You might start by practicing your putting, then work on selecting the right club, and gradually add in the more frequent elements.

Most skills have a similar pattern: there are 2-3 truly essential sub-skills, while the rest are either unimportant or have minimal impact on the outcome. Therefore, to learn quickly, we should practice the most important aspects first.

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3) Use the 80/20 rule to select sub-skills.

Find 2-3 books, courses, videos, or other resources related to the skill you’re practicing, but don’t study them all at once. Skim through to identify the most frequently mentioned topics; those are the most important.

1-2 hours is sufficient for gathering information. Over-researching can lead to procrastination. What you need is to gather information to find the most crucial sub-skills and avoid unplanned practice.

When Kaufman practiced coding, he bought 20 books and thought the best approach was to read them all and then start programming. In reality, his skills improved when he chose to read just 2-3 foundational books to grasp the main ideas of coding and spent the rest of his time programming.

“Do your homework, then start practicing as quickly as possible,” Kaufman advised.

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4) Eliminate distractions during practice.


 The more effort you put into starting practice, the less you develop.

For instance, if you want to practice guitar but you put it in a case and store it in a closet or somewhere far away, you can be sure you won’t practice much.

Kaufman’s method for practicing the ukulele is to keep it within easy reach every day. When the time comes, he just picks it up and practices.

Tim Grahl, a friend of Kaufman, shares a tip he uses for himself:

"I guess the future Tim will be lazy, stupid, and make poor decisions, so I set up my environment to prevent that from happening."

So instead of waiting for a miracle to make you start practicing, you should arrange your environment to make it easier to practice. Small changes, like placing your guitar in an easily accessible spot, can create significant changes.

And don’t forget to eliminate distractions during practice. When it’s time to practice, you should close the door, turn off the TV, disconnect the internet, and silence your phone—do whatever it takes to focus on your practice.

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5) Use the 'pre-commitment' psychology to overcome resistance.

“Are you willing to practice with focus for at least 20 hours?” The time Kaufman suggests you dedicate to each skill is 45 minutes a day for 30 days.

Sit down, grab a calendar, and figure out when you will practice. All you need for practice is just 45 minutes.

If you say you don’t have time, it shows that the skill isn’t truly important to you. If you’re not willing to spend 20 hours practicing the skill you’ve chosen, then give it up and do something else. It’s better than practicing half-heartedly and later feeling guilty about it.

From Kaufman’s experience, pre-commitment significantly influences our actions because what you need to do is practice with focus, which is different from casual practice. If you’re just practicing casually, you’ll give up quickly when you encounter something that becomes challenging. Remember that in the early stages of practice, we often perform poorly, making it easy to give up.

But if you 'pre-commit', your mindset will shift. You will continue until you either:

1) Develop the skill to the level you want, or

2) Complete 20 hours of practice. Even if you feel disappointed with your performance along the way, you’ll think, “If it’s going to be bad, let it be bad for just these 20 hours. At least if I meet my goal, there should be some improvement.”

Once you’ve scheduled your time, when you practice, you must ‘practice with focus’. This means while practicing, you need to pinpoint which aspects of the skill need improvement and then refine those elements. Therefore, continuous feedback is essential.

Focused practice is more challenging than casual practice because it requires concentration and effort, which is hard to maintain for long periods. People can typically practice with focus for only about 4-5 hours a day, often needing to break it into sessions of no more than 60-90 minutes.

However, with Kaufman’s method, we only need to dedicate 45 minutes each day, making this path manageable.

But why 20 hours?

Kaufman chose 20 hours because he found it psychologically reasonable. Twenty hours isn’t too long to induce fear, making it easier to commit in advance, yet it’s not so short that it yields no significant results.

From Kaufman’s experience, he found that in learning:

The first 1-2 hours are often confusing.

2-4 hours start to clarify things.

4-6 hours yield exciting results.

15-20 hours, you will perform better than most people.

After 20 hours, you will be in a better position to assess that skill. You may choose to further develop that skill or decide to stop and focus on something else that is more important.

Kaufman himself learned cooking in just a few hours. He only wanted to acquire the skill to cook delicious meals for his family, not to become a world-class chef, so he didn’t develop his cooking skills extensively.

However, for other skills like programming, it’s more valuable to continue developing. He spent 150 hours on this skill and continues to learn.

Kaufman states that you can practice anything during those 20 hours; it’s a time for exploration. You’re seeking answers about what it is and how it works. Once you see results from your practice, you don’t have to continue if you don’t want to. You don’t need to practice until you’re an expert in everything when you set out to learn.

But if you want to practice more, you can use this method and dedicate your energy and time until you reach a master level.

Be clear about what you want. Be patient until you achieve that, and then continue practicing.

References

The book Talent is Overrated

SOURCE: www.techsauce.co