The First 20 Hours Book Online

This is the actual secret. Kaufman literally kept a timer on his desk. He forced himself to hit 20 hours on a variety of skills (yoga, programming, touch-typing, the ukulele) before he allowed himself to judge his progress.

Willpower is a finite resource. If your guitar is in the attic in a hard-to-open case, you won't practice. If your running shoes are buried in the closet, you won't run. Remove the friction. Put the tools where you can see them. Turn off your phone. Clear the physical space. the first 20 hours book

That’s where Josh Kaufman’s brilliant book, , comes in. And his message is incredibly liberating: You can go from knowing nothing to being surprisingly good at almost any new skill in just 20 hours of focused practice. This is the actual secret

We’ve all heard the mantra: “It takes 10,000 hours to master a skill.” Willpower is a finite resource

We want to play a few songs on guitar without sounding like a dying cat. We want to hold a basic conversation in Spanish. We want to cook a decent stir-fry or hit a tennis ball over the net.

But if you can push through that initial valley of discomfort for just 20 hours, you will be shocked at your progress. Kaufman doesn't just tell you to practice for 20 hours; he gives you a specific methodology to make those hours count. Here is his framework:

The magic happens around hour 8 or 10. Suddenly, the frustration fades, and the competency begins. The 10,000-hour rule focuses on the far end of the learning curve—moving from "good" to "great." The 20-hour rule focuses on the front end of the curve—moving from "nothing" to "good enough."