I just saw a great Ted talk I hadn't encountered yet. It was on how long it takes to learn something new. Studies show it takes about 10,000 hours. BUT that is the time it takes to become top tier at it, like pro athlete level. That is mastering something not simply learning it. When we look at the learning curve at the start we improve rapidly at the task of learning, then it falls off and plateaus. According to the speaker the time it takes to get to the plateau is about 20 hours. At that point you've learned enough to be functional at your new skill.
As I was watching it I was pondering what I wanted to do for my 20 hours. Then I saw another Ted talk on speed reading - and being a very slow reader - I realized that was it. So I think my 20 hour task is to learn to speed read. It would definitely be useful and would greatly aid in learning other new things. Maybe it'll make future 20 hour tasks easier.
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