A New New Year’s Resolution?

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Letters from David

We’ve all come up with a New Year’s resolution only to see it slowly fade as January turns into February. Let’s be honest, some of us don’t even get out of January before our New Year’s resolution dies like the poinsettia on our front porch.

A Forbes Health/One Poll survey found that the average resolution lasts 3.74 months. Only 8% of respondents tend to stick with their goals for one month, while 22% last two months, 20% last three months and 13% last four months. Most people aren’t ready to commit to their resolutions and give up because they either lose motivation, haven’t prioritized their goals, or swap their resolutions for newer, more relevant personal goals. Swapping resolutions for newer personal goals is exactly what I suggest for 2024!

This year, instead of beginning the New Year with a resolution, try learning something new. Supposedly it takes approximately 10,000 hours to learn a new skill. If that’s the case, I’m an expert on binge-watching Netflix! Learning something new always sounds fun, but then we must put in the work. When it’s day three trying to master a new language on Babble and a Seinfeld episode that I’ve already seen 30 times comes on, it’s easy to put down the Babble app.

According to Josh Kaufman, author of The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything…. Fast, it only takes 20 hours to learn a skill. He says, “20 hours are doable – that’s about 45 minutes a day for about a month.” Here are 4 steps to help you get started on your journey and stay focused:

  1. Break down a skill into its components. The first thing you need to do is decide what you want to learn, and then break it down into smaller, manageable pieces.
  2. Learn enough to know when you’re making a mistake. Get three to four resources about what it is you’re trying to learn. It could be books, YouTube, or online information.
  3. Remove all barriers to practice. Stay focused while concentrating on your new activity. No watching Seinfeld during French lessons on Babble!
  4. Practice for at least 20 hours. To overcome what Kaufman calls the “frustration barrier” (that period in the beginning when you’re painfully incompetent and you know it), you must commit to sticking with your new activity for at least 20 hours. By that point, you will be amazed at how good you are!

For 2024, I’m thinking “Learn to Play Chinese Mahjong Step by Step!”