The easiest 4-step strategy to learn a new hobby

We’ve all got a host of hobbies we want to become better at, but what is it that keeps us from reaching those goals?

Why don’t we actually pursue any of the things that we set out to do?

Vallemi, Paraguay 2019

For me, my impatience immobilizes me into indecision. I want it all, and I want it now. Who doesn’t? But I also know that one day isn’t going to make me an expert…

For example…

Over the past 5 years since graduating from Georgetown, I know I want to “be well read”, so I’ve compiled a list of 30+ books in my Notes App. (I’ve purchased a great deal of them, and I’ve also got a bunch on my Kindle.)

You’ve got the usual suspects of great novels, self-help books, personal finance books, a couple of Stoicism picks, and an array of everything in between. I can’t help but to think, “Damn, I’d really love to read ___.”

(Fill in the blank with anything from the most recent Twitter thread you saved of the “10 best books to read before you’re 30” list.)

Honestly, I think we’ve all been there before.

How about these?

• YouTube channel about entrepreneurship and project creation.

• Instagram videos about the importance of Guaraní in Paraguayan culture.

• Learn Korean so I can speak to my mother in her native tongue.

• Learn the guitar so I can have a few songs ready at the next bonfire.

Ok, you get the picture.

And yet, even though I have so much I want to do, I still have trouble putting my phone down and actually doing it.

I know logically that to become good at something, it takes time, yet somehow my spirit overwhelms me with anxiety that I must do all of this now.

It clutters my mind. It is my impatience that immobilizes me into indecision.

If I have 1 hour of free time, and I choose to read right now, then that means I can’t study Korean, I can’t practice the guitar, and I can’t workout. Plus, I’m not going to reduce that list of 30 books in a single hour.

Okay, nevermind. I’ll just continue to scroll.

The solution lies in the balance between Urgency and Patience.

We hear it all the time: results don’t happen overnight. But they do happen after compounding a 1% increase day after day.

I’ve found the most success acting on a sense of Urgency and actually picking up my book, but balancing that with Patience by setting a timer for just 15 minutes.

I don’t have to finish the book today. And plus, come on. Who doesn’t have 15 minutes to spare?

The idea of compounding exists everywhere - not just in Finance, where I first heard the phrase. It’s also found in our spiritual lives and even our daily habits.

If something compounds - if a little growth serves as the fuel for future growth - a small starting base can lead to results so extraordinary they seem to defy logic. It can be so logic-defying that you underestimate what’s possible, where growth comes from, and what it can lead to.

The Psychology of Money (Morgan Housel)

Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature.

Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)

But when we repeat 1 percent errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results. It’s the accumulation of many missteps - a 1 percent decline here and there - that eventually leads to a problem.

Atomic Habits (James Clear)

So here’s the solution: don’t aim so high. Don’t try to “be well read.” Don’t try to master Korean today. Instead, take it in 15 minute chunks.

What - you can’t focus for 15 minutes?

Airplane mode your phone and close your computer. Nothing will happen in the world that we need to know within 15 minutes.

Here’s what works for me, and I believe it will work for you. It’s similar to Warren Buffet’s “2 List” Strategy, yet even simpler.

STEP 1.

Make a list of 10 hobbies you want to pursue and rank them in order of importance for you.

STEP 2.

Cross out numbers 2-10 and focus only on number 1. Yes. Actually forget about the rest of them and only focus on 1.

STEP 3.

Add it to your morning ritual to work on this singular hobby for 15 minutes every morning.

STEP 4.

Rinse and repeat for 30 days.

Think about it like this. Let’s say you and I have the same goal to “become well read”. 15 minutes is nothing if you only do it once. But it’s HUGE when you compound that over just a single year.

15 minutes per day might be the equivalent of 12 pages.

The average book is 240 pages long.

That means you can read a book in 20 days.

Leading to 18 books a year! Many of us haven't read that many books since high school! Now, imagine reading 18 books a year for the next 5 years. That's 90 books of knowledge flowing right into your brain.

Just remember, don’t think too big.

Don’t try to become an expert.

Have the urgency to start today. But have the patience not to ruin it for yourself.

Take it in 15 minute chunks.

You don’t build a house in a day. You lay bricks. And brick by brick, we become well read.