Time anxiety: is it too late?

Post by kevinguh » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 12:22 AM UTC

joshkaufman wrote: post #27

ksdale wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would take it even farther than that and say that people vastly overestimate the time it takes to get good at most things. It might take 10,000 hours (or more) to be considered an expert pianist, but you could spend a tenth that much time getting good enough to impress everyone you know with a few songs at parties, and with just 50 hours of practice, you'll be better at the piano than basically everyone you know (y…

I wrote a book on this topic: https://first20hours.com There's a ton of (replicated) psychology research that supports this thesis: the early hours of skill acquisition are very effective/efficient in terms of improvement-per-hour-invested. 20-50 hours is enough to see very substantial improvements in any skill, even if you have no prior knowledge or experience. I wish more people focused on the early process of skil…

Post by scarejunba » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 12:44 AM UTC

rland wrote: post #51

The single consistent thing I have noticed in dealing with this type of anxiety is that if I spend time with people I actually like being with, it completely disappears. It's impossible to be so self-directed if there is another person in the room who I care about or love. To that end, the fix is simple: surround myself with people that I love. Friends and family. Easier said then done, especially in our modern world…

Post by jimstr » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:02 AM UTC

kevinguh wrote: post #81

joshkaufman wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a book on this topic: https://first20hours.com There's a ton of (replicated) psychology research that supports this thesis: the early hours of skill acquisition are very effective/efficient in terms of improvement-per-hour-invested. 20-50 hours is enough to see very substantial improvements in any skill, even if you have no prior knowledge or experience. I wish more people focused on the early process of skil…

I would add on by saying from personal experience that the wider your breadth of experiences, the more you find that experiences in seemingly unrelated fields overlap and synergize to make it even easier to pick up new skills. Anecdotally I found my background in software + college coursework in signal processing gave me a huge boost with getting into music production, and in line with the ROI perspective I feel like…

Post by lonelappde » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:08 AM UTC

kevinguh wrote: post #81

joshkaufman wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a book on this topic: https://first20hours.com There's a ton of (replicated) psychology research that supports this thesis: the early hours of skill acquisition are very effective/efficient in terms of improvement-per-hour-invested. 20-50 hours is enough to see very substantial improvements in any skill, even if you have no prior knowledge or experience. I wish more people focused on the early process of skil…

I would add on by saying from personal experience that the wider your breadth of experiences, the more you find that experiences in seemingly unrelated fields overlap and synergize to make it even easier to pick up new skills. Anecdotally I found my background in software + college coursework in signal processing gave me a huge boost with getting into music production, and in line with the ROI perspective I feel like…

Post by taneq » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:10 AM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #46

joshkaufman wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a book on this topic: https://first20hours.com There's a ton of (replicated) psychology research that supports this thesis: the early hours of skill acquisition are very effective/efficient in terms of improvement-per-hour-invested. 20-50 hours is enough to see very substantial improvements in any skill, even if you have no prior knowledge or experience. I wish more people focused on the early process of skil…

As long as you don’t get stuck in the expert beginner trap. I like to say that my long history of studying the art of studying helps me get over that hump quickly. But you’d have to ask other people if I have or I’m full of it.