The problem with trying to learn new things is ultimately I never get that far before moving on to something else. The trick is to work on it slowly and steadily until you can really improve.
Imagine if each day you spent 10 minutes exercising, 10 minutes learning French, 10 minutes practicing drawing, and finally 10 minutes writing. You won’t progress quickly, but a little bit of consistent progress each day will take you really far. Plus it is much better than always talking about your dreams and ideas, but never acting on them.
In September 2002 Jonathan Hardesty decided he was going to draw and paint everyday. He started as a beginner and years later is a professional artist. His journey is documented in this 70 page thread on ConceptArt.org. He spent a lot more than 10 minutes a day, but his story shows what you can accomplish with consistent progress.
Here is an interview with Jonathan in 2010.
These are a few of his creations. First with where he started a few years ago.
I’ve been programming almost every day for a little more than a year. In that time I’ve gone from beginner to having 3 iPhone applications written. All with slow steady progress each day.
If you have a new business you want to start, a language you want to learn, or a new skill to acquire, you should start by doing a little bit each day. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish. What will you learn by this time next year?
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Great post Nathan! I too am learning computer programming just now. Started with ruby, rails and vim. I also wanted to improve my writing skills, so I plan to write daily too. And I’m following this daily-short-dose advice for the past 1 month. It’s going great. I should be careful not to be distracted by “new year resolutions” though!
great advice! I agree… if you DON’T work on something (no matter how little you work on it) you will never learn that skill. “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither are new skills ;)