The Science of Rapid Skill Acquisition

Stay realistic—you know yourself, and don’t compare yourself to the standards of anyone else

This is called an opportunity cost, which is what you give up to focus on learning.

To quote Zig Ziglar, “The elevator to success is out of order, but the stairs are always available.”

Set expectations according to what you already know, what you want to know, and a realistic sense of how much more you’ll have to learn to gain the skills you desire.

Learn the basics,

So what are reasonable expectations?

around 25–30 hours to conquer the basics of a brand-new skill.

it takes an average of 66 days—just over two months—before a new behavior becomes habitual.

Without pragmatic, attainable expectations, the excitement of a new achievement can turn into resentment or despair.

If you can pragmatically and accurately envision what you anticipate will happen, your chances of completing inevitably hard work increase.