5 Simple Steps to Mastering a New Skill in 30 Days

Today we’ll be exploring how to acquire new skills.

Grandma Cuddles has a superpower. Not only does she run the meanest, leanest day care center in the greater Metro area, but she’s also a superlearner. When she decides it’s time to master a new skill, she does it quickly, and with ruthless efficiency. In a world where they say you’ll change careers seven times, there’s no better skill than the ability to get up-to-speed quickly on something new.

Cuddles’s doctor recently recommended she learn Yoga. Cuddles has biceps to die for—running a daycare center, she has to crack the whip all day long. But other than biceps, she could use a good makeover. So, she’s turned her razor-sharp intellect on reshaping her body from the inside out. When her razor-sharp intellect takes on a task, get out the bandages, because it will slice right through anything in her way. 

When you want to master a new skill, follow Grandma’s example.

1. Identify the key elements to master

Start by finding the most important components of a skill. What are the basics that underly everything else? Talk to people who are good at what you want to learn. Read blog posts. Read books. With just a little bit of exploration, you’ll be able to identify a few key elements.

If you’re learning photography, you might decide that understanding lighting, composing good shots, and doing post-processing will get you the most photography bang for your efforts.

If you’re learning to write stories, understanding the basics of constructing a plot, writing dialog, and improving your grammar might be what you decide is most important. You’ll want to focus your initial learning on mastering these elements. 

Very quickly, Grandma discovers that increasing flexibility, mindfulness, breath control, and balance are key elements to mastering yoga.

2. Create a 30-day challenge

Grab a blank calendar and design a 30-day challenge for yourself to practice the foundational skills. Decide how much time you’ll devote each day to learning. Then write down 30 incremental things you’ll do each day to move yourself along the learning curve. Each day should focus on just one new skill, but those skills combined should add up to real progress.

As a photographer, your challenges might look like this:

• Day one: Learn how to operate your camera (or your camera app if you’re using a smartphone)
• Day two: Compose and shoot ten pictures using the rule of thirds
• Day three: Use an image editor to rotate and crop each picture three or four ways to begin getting a feel for cropping

… and so on. You can layer on more and more skills every...

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