Cover Image: Photo of me taken by Arnold Street Media
Short answers to important questions
People call me a polymath because I can do things like programming, writing and photography well. The only way I reached that level of expertise was to become a good skill learner, which came accidentally through practicing three new skills every month for years.
The better a learner I was becoming, the more people started asking me questions about how I got there. Over time, I started coaching people, gave talks, organized workshops, wrote books, built courses, and created mastermind groups.
In this article, I compiled some frequently asked questions and answered them as simply as I could while linking to additional resources where necessary. The questions are broken down into five categories: benefits, process, choosing, techniques, and about me.
It hope you enjoy it and learn something from it!
Benefits
What are the biggest benefits you have seen in your life since you started learning new skills every month?
There are at least eight benefits I’ve seen in my life. They entertain me, are useful in life and at work, make me more interesting, help me learn faster, keep me motivated, raise my energy, help me thrive, and raise my confidence.
“The future belongs to those who learn many skills and combine them in creative ways.” — Robert Greene
What are some of the benefits according to science and research?
All the above points can be verified with science. The more researched ones touch on learning faster and on confidence. The more you learn the faster you learn. This is because you create a library of “chunks” that can transfer from one skill to another. As for confidence, learning more skills teaches you that you are a capable human being. Confidence is only raised when you accomplish something you previously thought was hard.
Process
What are the steps for learning new skills?
The steps I use are not usual, but they work. I have 8 steps to become a master learner:
Just do it
Shatter your limiting beliefs
Learn how to learn
Choose the right skills to learn
Plan your learning process
Be smart in your practice
Measure your progress
Collect honest and constructive feedback
How universal are those steps for any skill?
The above steps work for any skill you want to learn. The reason they work is that most people have a hard time with the first step. But without it, nothing else can happen. The second step is equally important and is the cause of many people not starting in the first place — they don’t think they can succeed.
How should we set our expectations for how we learn? And for what we can learn in 20 hours?
The trick is to limit yourself to a very clear goal that you can easily measure progress towards. For example, it could be a specific song you want to play, or even just a part of it. Instead of saying that you want to learn Spanish, you could say that you want to sustain a 10-minute long conversation about a specific topic in Spanish. The more precise you are, the easier it will be to track your progress and move in the right direction.
What are the differences between the pursuit of knowledge and skill development?
Knowledge is useless until it’s being put to use. That usually comes in two forms: teaching it or practicing it. Most people chase knowledge because it requires less effort. But the thing with knowledge is that it decays fast unless you use it. Skills use multiple parts of your brain and tend to be really hard to lose.
What is the role of talent when learning a new skill?
Talent accelerates your learning curve. That’s all it does. According to science, 49% of your traits are given to you at birth. You don’t know what your talents are unless you discover them by experimenting with many things. You could be prone to learning to play the trumpet without you knowing it. That’s why it’s important to diversify and try as many things as you can. Sadly, most people reach the end of their lives without knowing what their talents are.
What do you think the hardest part of getting started is for people?
Mostly the fear of failure, and the “fake” excuse of not having enough time. Adults dread failure. We learn to become good in our work and hate going back to square one because it involves a lot of setbacks. As for time, you can integrate practice with your daily activities. You just need to choose skills that work with your schedule. You also need a very strong why.
Choosing
Should we focus on something we must do or something we want to do?
How about something you must and want to do? That’s by far the ideal scenario. If you don’t have the motivation to do something, you won’t follow through, it’s that simple. If a skill is for work, you must do it, but you also want to do it because it ultimately leads to money. In general, you will learn more if you find a purpose behind what you set out to learn. For the things I want to learn, I usually create a project around it where I share my progress publicly.
How do we find the right-sized skill?
The answer comes down to the next question. People are always too broad in choosing skills they want to learn. They want to learn programming, writing, playing an instrument, learning a language, etc. This is too hard to measure. The best way I found is to have a very specific goal in mind, or have your goal be focused on the process instead. For example, instead of saying: “I want to be a top writer on Quora”, you could say: “I want to answer 3 questions daily.” The latter is achievable, easier to measure, and could lead to the former.
How should we break down a skill and why?
I strongly encourage you to learn how to build skill trees either on paper or using software. I go in-depth in this video. The short version is that you need to list the concepts, facts, and procedures that relate to the skill you want to learn. Concepts must be understood. Facts must be memorized. And procedures must be practiced. Before learning any skill, Google a bunch of resources to find the answers to those three things. Once you know everything that’s involved in the skill, choose the ones you care most about and can do within the timeframe you set yourself.
Techniques
Can you share some techniques you have found useful in learning so many skills?
These are 10 of the most important meta-skills to learn. I also have a (very affordable) course on this exact topic.
Focusing — Figure out your why
Assessing Proficiency — Find a concrete way to measure your progress
Progress Logging — Record your progress daily, weekly, and monthly
Habit Management — Stay on track with simple daily actions
Spaced Repetition — Recall your learning at the right times
Interleaving — Mix multiple topics during a learning session
Note-taking — Involve more senses into your learning
Mind-mapping — Organize your thoughts
Making skill trees — Raise your proficiency awareness and figure out where you should focus
Visual Analogies — An image is worth 1,000 words
How do you get the most out of your time?
There are two ways to get the most out of your time: preparation and by using the 80/20 rule. Treat learning a skill like a project you have to plan for. Spend at least 10% of your scheduled time on preparations, for a minimum of two hours. After that, practice for at least 70% of your time and acquire knowledge for the rest of the time.
How can you set up your practice time for success?
The easiest is by having a goal based on the process, not a result. After all, the process leads to results. Always schedule your learning session. If you’re stressed with time, integrate your session into an activity you’re already doing. For the most part, you want to practice when you wouldn’t be distracted. For most people, it’s early in the morning or late at night.
About me
What motivated you to start learning so many skills?
I felt that my professional life had stagnated and that my personal life was just the same day on repeat. I figured that if I learned new skills, it would advance my career and spice up my life. I was right.
How did you get started learning so many skills and becoming a skill expert?
I was in a co-working co-living space in Cambodia working 12–14 hours every day for 6–7 days a week. I decided to cut 2 hours of work time daily to focus on my self-improvement, and more specifically, working out and learning new skills. I never aimed to become an expert doing that. Photography and writing were two accidental skills I became an expert in.
What has been the biggest surprise in the last 3 years since you started learning 3 skills a month?
Talent does exist. I used to refute that. According to science, 49% of your traits are given to you at birth. It doesn’t work as people think. A talent is dormant in you. Unless you find it, it will remain dormant. That’s why I’m able to learn to write faster than others while I have a harder time than most with music, for example.
I hope this helps!
— Danny
Ready to take your learning to the next level? Check out my course!