Written by: Mark Steele on May 19, 2014

Most people I talk to have some form of a bucket list. A bucket list are those life time goals most want to complete before they die. The concept was popularized by the movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman called The Bucket List. The bucket list can be goals like learning a new language, climb a major mountain, travel to Australia, visit every continent on earth, fly into space, write a book and the list can go on and on. Some people will write their goals and review them annually while others keep them in their heads.

Josh Kaufman in his book “The First 20 Hours; How to learn anything…fast” shares effective ideas on how to accomplish those life bucket list goals in minimal time and concentrated focus. Kaufman shares that becoming a world expert in any subject or skill takes 10,000 hours. He believes that becoming proficient in different skills can take 20 hours in comparison. Kaufman elaborates on this idea by sharing the 4 major steps to rapid skill acquisition. These steps are: deconstructing, learning, removing and practicing. After breaking down the 4 steps, he then elaborates on the 10 principles of rapid skill acquisition. These principles are:

1.  Choose a lovable project.

2.  Focus your energy on one skill at a time.

3.  Define your target performance level.

4.  Deconstruct the skills into sub skills.

5.  Obtain critical tools.

6.  Eliminate barriers to practice.

7.  Make dedicated time for practice.

8.  Create fast feedback loops.

9.  Practice by the clock in short bursts.

10.  Emphasize quality and speed.

Kaufman then explains in his book how he used these principles to learn his own life goals which include learning yoga, programing computers, touch typing, the Go game, the ukulele and windsurfing.

This book encouraged me to review my buck list goals and to reflect on accomplishing these goals by applying the 10 principles. Some of my bucket list goals are to paint mountain-scapes with a pallet knife, learn conversational Mandarin, improve my golf, learn kayaking and climb Mount Rainer with my son etc…

I plan to be in China for 4 to 6 weeks in June and I have developed a plan based on the 10 principles. I am excited to use the rapid skill acquisition plan and I believe I will achieve my goal. How about you? What bucket list goals do you want to work on? Will these principles help you to achieve your bucket list goals quicker than your past methodology?

About the Author

Mark Steele