Ask HN: What's the hardest part about learning a new skill on your own?
I've never able to swim. 2 weeks ago I set myself a challenge to be able to swim in 7 days. By the end of the first day, I was able to tread water. By the end of 7 days of swimming, I was able to do a full lap of the pool[1]. My technique wasn't great but I'm still happy with my progress.
Looking back, there are definitely things that I could have done to learn even faster. This has made me curious about how other people learn new skills.
What do you find most difficult when learning a new skill? Are there any recurring things that help you learn new skills faster? Would love to hear your thoughts!
[1]I was rained out for 3 days in the middle :(
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Most new skills require you to get past the stage where you feel that no matter how hard you try you won't be able to learn. There's confusion, self dought and anxiety in addition to having to continue day after day. A very strong advantage of learning in a classroom is that even if you feel lost there's someone to help.
I don't have any magic advice but when I want to learn a new task I set a goal, allocate an amount of time for it each day and when I feel like quitting I self talk and say that I will do whatever for the next 15 mins and do that until I finish my allocated time for the task with the hope that I can get past the initial anxiety and sell dought.
Another tip is to set goals. So set daily goals and longer-term goals.
I hope this helps.
Something I really struggle with is getting past the “things I don’t know that I don’t know” stage. Whenever I start learning something new, I try to come up as quickly as possible with a mental framework about how all the pieces fit together. However, sometimes I don’t even know what pieces I might be missing for this framework. I just accept it takes time and is part of the process, but it is still something that I keep in the back of my mind.
It doesn't answer your question exactly..but for many things you should find help instead of learning on your own.
For example, take shooting; if you try to learn on your own, all you will do is develop bad habits that have to be unlearned later.
Currently, its that what I'm want to learn requires me to learn something else which in turn requires me to learn yet another, more fundamental thing and I really dont have the attention span or patience to do all that.
Reminds me of a book that you might find interesting: "The First 20 Hours"