The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU
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0:09 - 0:11Hi everyone.
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0:12 - 0:17Two year ago, my life changed forever.
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0:17 - 0:19My wife Kelsey and I
-
0:19 - 0:23welcomed our daughter Lela
into the world. -
0:23 - 0:27Now, becoming a parent
is an amazing experience. -
0:27 - 0:31Your whole world changes over night.
-
0:31 - 0:33And all of your priorities
change immediately. -
0:33 - 0:39So fast that it makes it really difficult
to process sometimes. -
0:39 - 0:44Now, you also have to learn
a tremendous amount about being a parent -
0:44 - 0:47like, for example,
how to dress your child. -
0:47 - 0:48(Laughter)
-
0:48 - 0:50This was new to me.
-
0:50 - 0:54This is an actual outfit,
I thought this was a good idea. -
0:54 - 1:00And even Lela knows
that it's not a good idea. (Laughter) -
1:00 - 1:04So there is so much to learn and
so much craziness all at once. -
1:04 - 1:09And to add to the craziness,
Kelsey and I both work from home, -
1:09 - 1:11we're entrepreneurs,
we run our own businesses. -
1:11 - 1:17So, Kelsey develops courses
online for yoga teachers. -
1:17 - 1:18I'm an author.
-
1:18 - 1:21And so, I'm working from home,
Kelsey's working from home. -
1:21 - 1:24We have an infant
and we're trying to make sure -
1:24 - 1:27that everything gets done
that needs done. -
1:27 - 1:31And life is really, really busy.
-
1:32 - 1:37And a couple of weeks
into this amazing experience, -
1:37 - 1:40when the sleep deprivation
really kicked in, -
1:40 - 1:42like around week eight,
-
1:42 - 1:46I had this thought,
and it was the same thought -
1:46 - 1:50that parents across the ages,
internationally, -
1:50 - 1:52everybody has had this thought,
which is: -
1:52 - 1:58I am never going to have
free time ever again. -
1:58 - 1:59(Laughter)
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1:59 - 2:02Somebody said it's true.
-
2:02 - 2:05It's not exactly true,
-
2:05 - 2:10but it feels really, really true
in that moment. -
2:10 - 2:12And this was really
disconcerning to me, -
2:12 - 2:15because one of the things that I enjoy
-
2:15 - 2:19more than anything else
is learning new things. -
2:19 - 2:22Getting curious about something
and diving in -
2:22 - 2:25and fiddling around and
learning through trial and error. -
2:25 - 2:28And eventually becoming pretty good
at something. -
2:28 - 2:32And without this free time,
-
2:32 - 2:36I didn't know how I was ever
going to do that ever again. -
2:36 - 2:39And so, I'm a big geek,
-
2:39 - 2:42I want to keep learning things,
I want to keep growing. -
2:42 - 2:45And so what I've decided to do was,
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2:45 - 2:48go to the library,
and go to the bookstore, -
2:48 - 2:50and look at what research says about
-
2:50 - 2:54how we learn and how we learn quickly.
-
2:54 - 2:57And I read a bunch of books,
I read a bunch of websites. -
2:57 - 2:59And tried to answer this question,
-
2:59 - 3:03how long does it take
to acquire a new skill? -
3:03 - 3:05You know what I found?
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3:05 - 3:0910,000 hours!
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3:09 - 3:11Anybody ever heard this?
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3:11 - 3:14It takes 10,000 hours.
If you want to learn something new, -
3:14 - 3:16if you want to be good at it,
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3:16 - 3:18it's going to take 10,000 hours
to get there. -
3:18 - 3:21And I read this in book after book,
in website after website. -
3:21 - 3:28And my mental experience
of reading all of this stuff was like: -
3:28 - 3:31No!!
-
3:31 - 3:35I don't have time!
I don't have 10,000 hours. -
3:35 - 3:39I am never going to be able
to learn anything new. -
3:39 - 3:42Ever again.
(Laughter) -
3:42 - 3:43But that's not true.
-
3:43 - 3:47So, 10,000 hours, just to give you
a rough order of magnitude, -
3:47 - 3:5210,000 hours is a full-time job
for five years. -
3:52 - 3:54That's a long time.
-
3:54 - 3:56And we've all had the experience
of learning something new, -
3:56 - 4:00and it didn't take us anywhere
close to that amount of time, right? -
4:00 - 4:04So, what's up? There's something
kinda funky going on here. -
4:04 - 4:07What the research says and what we expect,
and have experiences, -
4:07 - 4:09they don't match up.
-
4:09 - 4:13And what I found, here's the wrinkle:
-
4:13 - 4:20The 10,000 hour rule came out of studies
of expert-level performance. -
4:20 - 4:22There's a professor
at Florida State University, -
4:22 - 4:24his name is K. Anders Ericsson.
-
4:24 - 4:27He is the originator
of the 10,00 hour rule. -
4:27 - 4:31And where that came from is,
he studied professional athletes, -
4:31 - 4:36world class musicians,
chess grand masters. -
4:36 - 4:41All of this ultra competitive folks
in ultra-high performing fields. -
4:41 - 4:44And he tried to figure out
how long does it take -
4:44 - 4:47to get to the top
of those kinds of fields. -
4:47 - 4:50And what he found is,
the more deliberate practice, -
4:50 - 4:52the more time
that those individuals spend -
4:52 - 4:55practicing the elements
of whatever it is that they do, -
4:55 - 4:57the more time you spend,
the better you get. -
4:57 - 5:00And the folks at the tippy top
of their fields -
5:00 - 5:05put in around 10,000 hours of practice.
-
5:05 - 5:09Now, we were talking about the game
of telephone a little bit earlier. -
5:09 - 5:11Here's what happened:
-
5:11 - 5:13an author by the name
of Malcolm Gladwell -
5:13 - 5:18wrote a book in 2007 called
"Outliers: The Story of Success", -
5:18 - 5:22and the central piece of that book
was the 10,000 hour rule. -
5:22 - 5:26Practice a lot, practice well,
and you will do extremely well, -
5:26 - 5:27you will reach the top of your field.
-
5:27 - 5:29So, the message,
-
5:29 - 5:32what Dr. Ericsson was actually saying is,
-
5:32 - 5:37it takes 10,000 hours to get
at the top of an ultra competitive field -
5:37 - 5:42in a very narrow subject,
that's what that means. -
5:42 - 5:45But here's what happened:
ever since Outliers came out, -
5:45 - 5:47immediately came out,
reached the top of best seller lists, -
5:47 - 5:50stayed there for three solid months.
-
5:50 - 5:54All of a sudden the 10,000 hour rule
was everywhere. -
5:54 - 6:00And a society-wide game of telephone
started to be played. -
6:00 - 6:05So this message, it takes 10,000 hours
to reach the top of an ultra competitive field, -
6:05 - 6:10became, it takes 10,000 hours
to become an expert at something, -
6:10 - 6:11which became,
-
6:11 - 6:16it takes 10,000 hours to become
good at something, -
6:16 - 6:17which became,
-
6:17 - 6:21it takes 10,000 hours
to learn something. -
6:21 - 6:25But that last statement,
it takes 10,000 hours to learn something, -
6:25 - 6:29is not true.
It's not true. -
6:29 - 6:33So, what the research actually says --
-
6:33 - 6:36I spent a lot of time here
at the CSU library -
6:36 - 6:40in the cognitive psychology stacks
'cause I'm a geek. -
6:40 - 6:44And when you actually look
at the studies of skill acquisition, -
6:44 - 6:48you see over and over
a graph like this. -
6:48 - 6:52Now, researchers,
whether they're studying a motor skill, -
6:52 - 6:54something you do physically
or a mental skill, -
6:54 - 6:57they like to study things
that they can time. -
6:57 - 6:59'Cause you can quantify that, right?
-
6:59 - 7:02So, they'll give research participants
a little task, -
7:02 - 7:04something that requires
physical arrangement, -
7:04 - 7:09or something that requires
learning a little mental trick, -
7:09 - 7:13and they'll time how long a participant
takes to complete the skill. -
7:13 - 7:16And here's what this graph says,
when you start -- -
7:16 - 7:20so when researchers gave participants
a task, it took them a really long time, -
7:20 - 7:23'cause it was new
and they were horrible. -
7:23 - 7:27With a little bit of practice,
they get better and better and better. -
7:27 - 7:31And that early part of practice
is really, really efficient. -
7:31 - 7:36People get good at things
with just a little bit of practice. -
7:36 - 7:40Now, what's interesting to note is that,
-
7:40 - 7:43for skills that we want to learn
for ourselves, -
7:43 - 7:46we don't care so much about time,
right? -
7:46 - 7:49We just care about how good we are,
whatever good happens to mean. -
7:49 - 7:55So if we relabel performance time
to how good you are, -
7:55 - 7:59the graph flips, and you get
his famous and widely known, -
7:59 - 8:01this is the learning curve.
-
8:01 - 8:04And the story of the learning curve
is when you start, -
8:04 - 8:07you're grossly incompetent
and you know it, right? -
8:07 - 8:09(Laughter)
-
8:09 - 8:12With a little bit of practice,
you get really good, really quick. -
8:12 - 8:16So that early level of improvement
is really fast. -
8:16 - 8:19And then at a certain point
you reach a plateau, -
8:19 - 8:22and the subsequent games
become much harder to get, -
8:22 - 8:25they take more time to get.
-
8:25 - 8:29Now, my question is,
I want that, right? -
8:29 - 8:32How long does it take
from starting something -
8:32 - 8:35and being grossly incompetent
and knowing it -
8:35 - 8:38to being reasonably good?
-
8:38 - 8:42In hopefully, as short a period of time
as possible. -
8:42 - 8:45So, how long does that take?
-
8:45 - 8:50Here's what my research says: 20 hours.
-
8:50 - 8:53That's it.
You can go from knowing nothing -
8:53 - 8:56about any skill that you can think of.
-
8:56 - 8:59Want to learn a language?
Want to learn how to draw? -
8:59 - 9:02Want to learn how to juggle
flaming chainsaws? -
9:02 - 9:03(Laughter)
-
9:03 - 9:09If you put 20 hours of focused
deliberate practice into that thing, -
9:09 - 9:11you will be astounded.
-
9:11 - 9:14Astounded at how good you are.
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9:14 - 9:1620 hours is doable,
-
9:16 - 9:20that's about 45 minutes a day
for about a month. -
9:20 - 9:22Even skipping a couple days,
here and there. -
9:22 - 9:2520 hours isn't that hard to accumulate.
-
9:25 - 9:28Now, there's a method to doing this.
-
9:28 - 9:31Because it's not like you can just start
fiddling around for about 20 hours -
9:31 - 9:33and expect these massive improvements.
-
9:33 - 9:36There's a way to practice intelligently.
-
9:36 - 9:38There's a way to practice efficiently,
-
9:38 - 9:41that will make sure that you invest
those 20 hours -
9:41 - 9:44in the most effective way
that you possibly can. -
9:44 - 9:48And here's the method,
it applies to anything: -
9:48 - 9:51The first is to deconstruct the skill.
-
9:51 - 9:56Decide exactly what you want
to be able to do when you're done, -
9:56 - 10:02and then look into the skill
and break it down into smaller pieces. -
10:02 - 10:06Most of the things
that we think of as skills -
10:06 - 10:11are actually big bundles of skills
that require all sorts of different things. -
10:11 - 10:14The more you can break apart the skill,
-
10:14 - 10:17the more you're able to decide,
-
10:17 - 10:19what are the parts of this skill
that would actually help me -
10:19 - 10:21get to what I want?
-
10:21 - 10:24And then you can practice those first.
-
10:24 - 10:26And if you practice
the most important things first, -
10:26 - 10:29you'll be able to improve
your performance -
10:29 - 10:32in the least amount of time possible.
-
10:32 - 10:34The second is, learn enough
to self correct. -
10:34 - 10:38So, get three to five resources
about what it is you're trying to learn. -
10:38 - 10:44Could be book, could be DVDs,
could be courses, could be anything. -
10:44 - 10:49But don't use those as a way
to procrastinate on practice. -
10:49 - 10:51I know I do this, right?
-
10:51 - 10:53Get like 20 books about the topic,
like, -
10:53 - 10:55"I'm going to start learning
how to program a computer -
10:55 - 10:58when I complete these 20 books".
-
10:58 - 11:00No. That's procrastination.
-
11:00 - 11:04What you want to do
is learn just enough -
11:04 - 11:06that you can actually practice
-
11:06 - 11:11and self correct or self edit
as you practice. -
11:11 - 11:14So the learning becomes
a way of getting better -
11:14 - 11:17at noticing
when you're making a mistake -
11:17 - 11:20and then doing something
a little different. -
11:20 - 11:24The third is to remove barriers
to practice. -
11:24 - 11:27Distractions, television, internet.
-
11:27 - 11:30All of these things
that get in the way -
11:30 - 11:33of you actually sitting down
and doing the work. -
11:33 - 11:37And the more you're able to use
just a little bit of willpower -
11:37 - 11:40to remove the distractions that
are keeping you from practicing, -
11:40 - 11:46the more likely you are to actually
sit down and practice, right? -
11:46 - 11:51And the fourth is to practice
for at least 20 hours. -
11:51 - 11:55Now, most skills have what I call
a frustration barrier. -
11:55 - 11:58You know, the grossly-incompetent-
and-knowing-it part? -
11:58 - 12:02That's really, really frustrating.
We don't like to feel stupid. -
12:02 - 12:07And feeling stupid is a barrier to us
actually sitting down and doing the work. -
12:07 - 12:12So, by pre-committing to practicing
whatever it is that you want to do -
12:12 - 12:14for at least 20 hours,
-
12:14 - 12:19you will be able to overcome
that initial frustration barrier -
12:19 - 12:23and stick with the practice long enough
to actually reap the rewards. -
12:23 - 12:25That's it! It's not rocket science.
-
12:25 - 12:30Four very simple steps that
you can use to learn anything. -
12:31 - 12:35Now, this is easy to talk
about in theory, -
12:35 - 12:38but it's more fun to talk about
in practice. -
12:38 - 12:42So one of the things that I've wanted
to learn how to do for a long time -
12:42 - 12:44is play the ukulele.
-
12:44 - 12:48Has anybody seen
Jake Shimabukuro's TEDTalk -
12:48 - 12:51where he plays the ukulele
and makes it sound like -- -
12:51 - 12:52he's like a ukulele god.
-
12:52 - 12:54It's amazing.
-
12:54 - 12:57I saw it, I was like,
"That is so cool!" -
12:57 - 13:01It's such a neat instrument.
I would really like to learn how to play. -
13:01 - 13:04And so I decided
that to test this theory -
13:04 - 13:08I wanted to put 20 hours
into practicing ukulele -
13:08 - 13:10and see where it got.
-
13:10 - 13:14And so the first thing
about playing the ukulele is, -
13:14 - 13:18in order to practice,
you have to have one, right? -
13:18 - 13:22So, I got an ukulele and
-- My lovely assistant? -
13:22 - 13:25(Laughter)
-
13:25 - 13:30Thank you sir.
I think I need the chord here. -
13:32 - 13:36It's not just an ukulele,
it's an electric ukulele. (Laughter) -
13:36 - 13:37Yeah.
-
13:41 - 13:45So, the first couple hours are just
like the first couple hours of anything. -
13:45 - 13:49You have to get the tools
that you are using to practice. -
13:49 - 13:51You have to make sure
they're available. -
13:51 - 13:53My ukulele didn't come
with strings attached. -
13:53 - 13:55I had to figure out
how to put those on. -
13:55 - 13:57Like, that's kind of important, right?
-
13:57 - 13:58And learning how to tune,
learning how to make sure -
13:58 - 14:00that all of the things
that need to be done -
14:00 - 14:05in order to start practicing
get done, right? -
14:05 - 14:11Now, one of the things when I was
ready to actually start practicing -
14:11 - 14:16was I looked in online databases
and songbooks for how to play songs. -
14:16 - 14:19And they say, okay, ukuleles, you can
play more than one string at a time, -
14:19 - 14:21so you can play chords, that's cool,
-
14:21 - 14:24you are accompanying yourself,
yay you. (Laughter) -
14:24 - 14:28And when I started looking at songs,
-
14:28 - 14:32I had an ukulele chord book
that had like hundreds of chords. -
14:32 - 14:36Looking at this and
"Wow, that's intimidating". -
14:36 - 14:38But when you look at the actual songs,
-
14:38 - 14:43you see the same chords
over and over, right? -
14:43 - 14:46As it turns out, playing the ukulele
is kind of like doing anything, -
14:46 - 14:50There's a very small set of things
that are really important -
14:50 - 14:52and techniques that you'll use
all the time. -
14:52 - 14:58And in most songs
you'll use four, maybe five chords, -
14:58 - 15:00and that's it, that's the song.
-
15:00 - 15:05You don't have to know hundreds,
as long as you know the four or the five. -
15:05 - 15:07So, while I was doing my research,
-
15:07 - 15:11I found a wonderful little medley
of pop songs -
15:11 - 15:16by a band called Axis of Awesome.
(Whistles) -
15:16 - 15:19-- Somebody knows it. --
-
15:19 - 15:23And what Axis of Awesome says
is that you can learn, -
15:23 - 15:27or you can play pretty much
any pop song of the past five decades, -
15:27 - 15:29if you know four chords,
-
15:29 - 15:33and those chords are G, D, Em and C.
-
15:33 - 15:38Four chords pump out
every pop song ever, right? -
15:38 - 15:39So I thought, this is cool!
-
15:39 - 15:43I would like to play
every pop song ever. (Laughter) -
15:43 - 15:46So, that was the first song
I decided to learn, -
15:46 - 15:49and I would like to actually
share it with you. Ready? -
15:49 - 15:51(Applause)
Alright. -
15:51 - 15:55(Music)
-
16:04 - 16:06(Singing)
Just a small town girl, -
16:06 - 16:09living in a lonely world,
-
16:09 - 16:15she took the midnight train
going anywhere. -
16:15 - 16:18I heard that you settled down,
(Laughter) -
16:18 - 16:22that you found a girl,
-
16:22 - 16:25that you're married now.
-
16:25 - 16:27Every night in my dreams
(Laughter) -
16:27 - 16:30I see you, I feel you,
-
16:30 - 16:36that is how I know you go on.
(Laughter) -
16:36 - 16:42I won't hesitate no more, no more.
It cannot wait, I'm yours. -
16:42 - 16:48'Cause you were amazing,
we did amazing things. -
16:48 - 16:53If I could, then I would,
I'd go wherever you will -- -
16:53 - 16:58Can you feel the love tonight.
(Laughter) -
16:58 - 17:03I can't live with or without you.
-
17:03 - 17:05When I find myself --
-
17:05 - 17:07When I find myself in times of trouble,
mother Mary comes to me, -
17:07 - 17:12Sometimes I feel like I don't have partner.
No woman, no cry. -
17:12 - 17:14Yeah mama, this surely is a dream.
-
17:14 - 17:16I come from a land down under.
(Laughter) -
17:16 - 17:19Once a jolly swagman
camped by a billabong. -
17:19 - 17:22Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy,
(Laughter) -
17:22 - 17:26but here's my number, so call me
-
17:26 - 17:30Hey sexy lady, op, op, op, op,
oppan gangnam style. (Laughter) -
17:30 - 17:36It's time to say goodbye.
-
17:36 - 17:46Closing time, every new beginning
comes from some other beginning's end. -
17:46 - 17:50(Singing and music ends)
(Applause) -
17:57 - 18:01Thank you, thank you.
-
18:03 - 18:07I love that song.
(Laughter) -
18:07 - 18:10And I have a secret to share with you.
-
18:10 - 18:14So, by playing that song for you,
-
18:14 - 18:19I just hit my twentieth hour
of practicing the ukulele. -
18:19 - 18:23(Applause)
Thank you. -
18:25 - 18:29And so it's amazing, pretty much
anything that you can think of, -
18:29 - 18:31what do you want to do.
-
18:31 - 18:35The major barrier to learn
something new is not intellectual, -
18:35 - 18:41it's not the process of you learning
a bunch of little tips or tricks or things. -
18:41 - 18:45The major barrier's emotional.
We're scared. -
18:45 - 18:47Feeling stupid doesn't feel good,
-
18:47 - 18:49in the beginning of learning
anything new -
18:49 - 18:52you feel really stupid.
-
18:52 - 18:56So the major barrier's not intellectual,
it's emotional. -
18:56 - 18:59But put 20 hours into anything.
-
18:59 - 19:01It doesn't matter.
What do you want to learn? -
19:01 - 19:05Do you want to learn a language?
Want to learn how to cook? -
19:05 - 19:07Want to learn how to draw?
-
19:07 - 19:11What turns you on?
What lights you up? -
19:11 - 19:15Go out and do that thing.
It only takes 20 hours. -
19:15 - 19:16Have fun.
-
19:16 - 19:19(Applause)
- Title:
- The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU
- Description:
-
In his talk, Josh Kaufman shares how having his first child inspired him to approach learning in a whole new way.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 19:27
Ivana Korom commented on English subtitles for The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU | ||
Ivana Korom approved English subtitles for The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU | ||
Ivana Korom commented on English subtitles for The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU | ||
Ivana Korom approved English subtitles for The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything: Josh Kaufman at TEDxCSU |
Ivana Korom
Overall, a good transcript. Please don't forget to edit the description of the talk:it should contain 1-2 sentences describing the talk, and info about the speaker should be left out. Some of the lines were too long, please break them using shift+enter and the character counter in the new editor. Sentences should end in linguistic wholes, do not end them with "and", "of", "to"... Use this guide: http://translations.ted.org/wiki/How_to_break_lines
Marssi Draw
I got it. Thanks for reminding!
Ivana Korom
Overall, a good transcript. Please don't forget to edit the description of the talk:it should contain 1-2 sentences describing the talk, and info about the speaker should be left out. Some of the lines were too long, please break them using shift+enter and the character counter in the new editor. Sentences should end in linguistic wholes, do not end them with "and", "of", "to"... Use this guide: http://translations.ted.org/wiki/How_to_break_lines
Krystyna Wasilewska
(noticed while translating to other language)
Line 13:24.526 - it should be "cord" instead of "chord" - the speaker needs to plug the electric ukulele in.
Ivana Korom
Overall, a good transcript. Please don't forget to edit the description of the talk:it should contain 1-2 sentences describing the talk, and info about the speaker should be left out. Some of the lines were too long, please break them using shift+enter and the character counter in the new editor. Sentences should end in linguistic wholes, do not end them with "and", "of", "to"... Use this guide: http://translations.ted.org/wiki/How_to_break_lines
Ivana Korom
Overall, a good transcript. Please don't forget to edit the description of the talk:it should contain 1-2 sentences describing the talk, and info about the speaker should be left out. Some of the lines were too long, please break them using shift+enter and the character counter in the new editor. Sentences should end in linguistic wholes, do not end them with "and", "of", "to"... Use this guide: http://translations.ted.org/wiki/How_to_break_lines