The First 20 Hours: How to Learn (Almost) Anything

A lot of us love learning.

But life has a way of shrinking the empty space where learning used to fit—especially when responsibilities pile up.

Josh Kaufman describes hitting that moment after becoming a parent: sleep-deprived, busy, and suddenly convinced he’d never have free time again.

And that was a problem, because learning new skills wasn’t just a hobby—it was part of who he was.

So he went looking for an answer to a deceptively simple question:

How long does it take to learn something new?

If you’ve ever searched this question, you’ve probably run into the same number Kaufman did:

10,000 hours.

That number is everywhere. It’s repeated in books, blogs, and business talks like it’s the universal price of admission for learning.

But here’s the catch.

What the “10,000-hour rule” actually means

The research behind the 10,000-hour idea came from studies of expert-level performance.

K. Anders Ericsson studied:

• Professional athletes
• World-class musicians
• Chess grandmasters

The finding was straightforward: the people at the very top put in enormous amounts of deliberate practice—often around 10,000 hours.

What happened next was a game of telephone.

“It takes 10,000 hours to reach the top of an ultra-competitive field” became:

• “It takes 10,000 hours to become an expert”
• which became “It takes 10,000 hours to become good”
• which became “It takes 10,000 hours to learn anything”

That last version isn’t true.

The learning curve: why the early hours matter most

Skill acquisition studies show a consistent pattern.

When you start, you’re slow, awkward, and you make obvious mistakes.

Then, with a bit of practice, improvement comes fast—really fast.

That steep early progress is the point most people miss.

You don’t need years to go from “I know nothing” to “I can do this decently.”

The surprising answer: 20 hours

Kaufman’s claim is simple and motivating:

If you put 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice into a skill, you can go from knowing nothing to being “reasonably good.”

20 hours is not magical. It’s just small enough to be realistic.

It’s roughly:

• 45 minutes a day
• for about a month

Even with a few skipped days.

The key is not just time.

It’s how you use it.

A practical method to learn anything (in the first 20 hours)

Kaufman offers a four-step approach that works for nearly any skill.

1) Deconstruct the skill

Define what “good enough” looks like.

Then break the skill into smaller parts.

Most skills aren’t one thing—they’re bundles of sub-skills.

The more clearly you identify the pieces, the easier it is to practice what matters first.

2) Learn enough to self-correct

Get a small set of resources—about 3 to 5 is enough.

Examples:

• A book
• A short course
• A few high-quality tutorials

But don’t use resources to delay practice.

If you keep collecting materials and keep “preparing,” you’re probably procrastinating.

The goal is to learn just enough to notice mistakes and adjust.

3) Remove barriers to practice

Practice doesn’t fail because you’re not capable.

It fails because distractions win.

Before you start:

• Turn off notifications
• Close extra tabs
• Make the tools easy to access

The less friction, the more likely you’ll follow through.

4) Practice at least 20 hours

Most skills come with a frustration barrier.

In the beginning you feel clumsy and “stupid,” and that emotional discomfort pushes you away from practice.

A simple workaround is pre-commitment.

Decide up front:

“I’m doing 20 hours no matter what.”

Not because you’ll be amazing by hour 20.

Because you’ll stay in the game long enough to break through the worst part.

The ukulele example: focus on the smallest useful set

To test the idea, Kaufman chose a skill he’d wanted for years: playing the ukulele.

He didn’t start by trying to learn hundreds of chords.

He looked for what mattered most.

As it turns out, many pop songs rely on a small, repeating set of chords.

So he focused on four:

• G
• D
• Em
• C

After practicing, he performed a medley built on those chords—and revealed it was his 20th hour of practice.

The point wasn’t to become a world-class musician.

It was to prove that meaningful progress is possible quickly with smart focus.

The real barrier isn’t intellectual—it’s emotional

One of the strongest takeaways from the talk is this:

The biggest obstacle to learning isn’t your ability.

It’s the discomfort of being bad at something in public—or even in private.

Feeling stupid doesn’t feel good.

But it’s also temporary.

If you can push through the first 20 hours, you’ll often surprise yourself with what you can do.

What should you learn next?

A useful question to end with is the one Kaufman asks:

What lights you up?

• A language?
• Cooking?
• Drawing?
• Coding?
• An instrument?

Pick one.

Deconstruct it.

Remove distractions.

Put in 20 hours.

And give yourself permission to be awkward at the start.