This article has everything you need to know about how to learn new skills.
Most career moves and a good number of personal ones come down to learning something new. It’s also slow, and no trick changes that. What helps is structure. Pick a goal, cut the skill into small pieces, practice daily, and give yourself someone or something to answer to. That’s the whole method, and it works better than it sounds.
How To Learn New Skills:
1. Set a realistic goal
Your goal doesn’t have to be the finish line. It only has to stretch you a little. Say you’re curious about web design. Building your own portfolio site from scratch would do nicely.
- Start smaller than feels right. Want to learn to cook? Forget the three-course dinner for now and get one dish right. Then add another. Once you’ve got a few recipes in your hands, the big meal stops being a stunt.
2. Break your goal into steps
A reasonable goal can still freeze you if you can’t see the first move. So find a small one. How many steps you end up with depends on the goal, and no formula will tell you.
- Aim for steps that take one or two sessions. Shorter than that and it’s hardly a step. Longer and you’re back to feeling swamped, and the small wins add up faster than you’d expect.
- Photography shows how this works. Learning your camera’s settings is a good first step. Turning the flash on and off isn’t, because that takes seconds. From settings you can move to light, still shots, action shots and editing.
3. Choose a platform that fits how you learn
Tutorials, classes, books, articles, videos: nearly anything can be learned from at least one of these. What matters is which format actually sticks for you.
- If you’re a visual learner, a video will likely do more for you than a text-only book or a podcast.
- The skill has a say too. Teaching yourself a language from books alone is a rough plan, since text can’t tell you how a word sounds or how people really talk.
4. Find a mentor
If you do only one thing on this list, make it this one. Someone who’s already good at the skill can steer you, and they’ll catch mistakes you can’t see yet. Contact an expert and ask to meet in person to talk about working together.
- Mentoring is a formal setup in some fields and a loose, friendly thing in others. A little online digging will show how people in your area found theirs.
- Learning Excel? A friend or relative who knows it cold may be enough. For something like windsurfing, pay an experienced instructor.
5. Set deadlines
A deadline keeps you honest. If you’re setting it alone, put something on the line, or you’ll quietly move it forever.
- Promise yourself you’ll conjugate 10 Spanish verbs by next week, and when you do, take yourself to lunch or spend an hour doing something you love, guilt-free.
- Want outside pressure instead? Book a slot at an open mic night. A song you’ve been putting off gets learned quickly when people are waiting to hear it.
6. Learn the fundamentals first
Start with the basics. Before tai chi, read about where the martial art came from and how it developed. Before changing your own oil, learn what oil does inside an engine, then pull up a diagram of your car’s engine bay so you know what you’re looking at.
7. Take courses and tutorials
Classes and workshops build your skill and put you in a room with other learners. For regular, structured teaching, check your local community college, community center or professional organization.
- Hobby groups and local businesses often run workshops, usually one or two days on a single piece of the skill.
- A specialty food shop near you might offer make-ahead meals or cooking for college freshmen.
- Don’t skip the free options. YouTube has a tutorial for nearly everything.
- Online educational forums are another cheap way in.
8. Start with step one and move on once you’ve nailed it
You learn by doing, so start doing. Use whatever you have, whether that’s a tutorial or an expert walking you through each move. Finish each step, and make sure it’s solid before you go on.
- For typing, begin with the home keys. When those are automatic, add the keys under your right hand, then your left.
9. Ask your mentor for help when you’re stuck
You will get stuck, and it will be annoying. That’s no reason to quit. Take the problem to your mentor, who can usually see in minutes what has you spinning for days, and get back to making progress.
10. Practice a little every day
Skills take time, so build the habit early. Once you’ve learned a piece, practice it daily, and keep that separate from the time you spend on new material.
- On piano, that might be an hour a day: 30 minutes reviewing chords you know, 30 on new ones.
- How much you need depends on the skill and on you.
11. Think about skills that would benefit you
Motivation comes easier when the skill pays off somewhere real. Ask yourself what would help you get ahead at work, do better in school or simplify daily life.
- Popular picks for education and careers include a new language, programming, photography, writing, public speaking, data analysis and cooking.
- Look for the gaps in your abilities and aim there. Practical skills often yield to courses and classes. Others, like confidence or interpersonal skills, run deeper, and a coach can help.
12. List skills you’d enjoy learning
Write down 5-10 skills that sound fun. They don’t have to help your job or schoolwork, though they might. What have you always been curious about?
- Maybe you’ve always wanted to make your own scarf, in which case knitting or crocheting is the obvious start. Or maybe it’s a new sport, or card tricks.
- Excitement does a lot of the work. When you care about the subject, nobody has to push you.
13. Work out how much time you have
Be honest about your daily or weekly time. With a packed schedule, pick something lighter, like driving a manual car. With more room, an instrument might fit.
- Choose a skill you can fit in right now. Picking a hard one and hoping the time shows up usually ends in quitting.
14. Focus on one skill at a time
Give one skill your full attention. Split it across several and each takes longer.
- That doesn’t mean you can only learn one thing in your life. Get the basics of one skill down, then start the next.
