HOW TO

LEARN:
STRATEGIES FOR STARTING, PRACTICING & MASTERING

THE SKILLS
YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED

A SKILLSHARE CLASS
BY
MIKE BOYD
This class is taught by filmmaker and educational youtuber
Mike Boyd. It is an experience-backed class on how to pick
up a new skill, make effective progress, and avoid common
pitfalls.

“For the last 3 years, I have been learning skills as

quickly as possible….and over that time I have studied the
learning process empirically. This class will take you
through my findings, my practices and how to avoid
difficulties I’ve struggled with on my learning journey.”
MIKE’S METHOD TO LEARNING

1. Start immediately, as soon as the idea jumps into

your head. Leave no time for backing out. You’ll
find you try more things this way, so rather than
hesitating - jump right in!

2. Do very little background research on equipment

or techniques beforehand. Sometimes you can find
yourself put off if you look into it too much.

3. Always set a well-defined goal, clear concise and

unambiguous. Having a clear goal means when you
achieve it, there is no muddiness. You achieved
this, you have a reason to celebrate!

4. Journal your progress. Whether it be in a book,

filming yourself or taking photos. It will help
you see your success and this will keep your
morale and motivation levels high. It also allows
you to recall the struggles you endured and makes
the success even more rewarding, hopefully
changing how you see struggle; it is no longer
something that held you back but something you
have overcome.

5. Stay disciplined and motivated with practice,

this can be hard, especially when you are in the
‘dip’. Use the ‘practice smart’ techniques to get
you through this. (detailed later)

6. Embrace struggle as part of learning process

CALL TO ACTION:

Identify specifically what you’ like to learn for your particular skill. Make
it a tangible, bitesize chunk of the skill. For example, learning to play 3
chords on the guitar, or learning to write 1 simple programme in python.
 THE SCIENCE BEHIND HOW OUR

BRAINS LEARN
The brain is much more analogous to a muscle than
we previously thought. It can grow, change, adapt
diminish and thrive throughout life.

If there is something you are not good at

you can train and become better at it. You
are not born with set skills, nor are you
stuck with the abilities you currently
have. You can work on new skills, train
your body and mind to become better at...
Anything you like.

“THE MIND IS NOT A VESSEL TO BE FILLED,

BUT A FIRE TO BE KINDLED”.

Learning something new can be seen as training your

brain. By learning new skills your brain is fitter and
stronger and this fitness can be transferred into
learning really important skills. This mindset can
really help with how you approach and deal with
struggle. Treating it as a hard day’s training rather
than a setback.

CALL TO ACTION:

Learn something that’s fun but with no immediate obvious use. Do this just because it
keeps you sharp. I recommend the Rubik’s cube class (because it’s my class!).
GETTING STARTED:
FINDING P A S S I O N AND
YOUR
S T A R T I N G TO A C T

We are often told ‘follow your passion’ but that

doesn’t really help you if you don’t yet have one.

Passion is cultivated, you are not born with a

passion. You need to work on it. It comes from

trying lots of different things and then finally

finding something that spikes your interest and you

feel is worth investing your time in. Passion is

something that needs to be uncovered and

discovered.

You are not necessarily born with an inherent

talent, but you can foster and kindle a passion and

that passion can drive you to become an expert in

your chosen field. You need to have an underlying

interest to get you through the learning curve but

the only way to find out if that is there and it’s

worth pouring your time into is by trying and

quitting lots of different things. That’s all part

of finding and cultivating a passion.

CALL TO ACTION:

Try one of the classes you think you might like to learn. Just jump right
in and get started. Don’t hesitate any further. Maybe you won’t enjoy it.
Don’t feel bad about it. Feel free to try as many as you like.
Eventually, you will find something that really takes hold of you. And
that’s when you can really start making strides.
HOW TO PRACTICE SMART:
MAXIMISING THE EFFECT OF PRACTICE

GETTING STARTED.

One of the hardest things about practicing is finding

the time. Carving out that hour from a busy schedule to
sit down or go outside and put in a good practice
session. I’ve found one of the easiest ways to get
practice in with a busy schedule was really working it
around your daily routine.
When I was learning to solve a Rubik’s cube, I was able
to squeeze in 15 minutes of practice just by having the
cube at my desk. But sometimes, it’s not that simple.
You need to find a way that requires the minimum amount
of change to your day. If you can do this; reduce the
barriers to practice, you’ll find yourself naturally
practicing a lot more.

THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE.

The pomodoro technique is about engaging in deliberate

practice for 25 mins. Then taking a break for 3-5
minutes. This cycle should be repeated 4 times before
taking a longer break of around 15-30 minutes.
It seems reasonable to take a break after some time, but
more often than not, people tend to practice much longer
than is productive. This is essentially just a waste of
time. Our brains, just like muscles, get tired.
 BLENDING FUN PRACTICE WITH DELIBERATE PRACTICE.

I’ve found, broadly speaking, there are two types of

practice. Fun and deliberate. Fun practice is stuff
you are comfortable doing; stuff you enjoy. Easy
stuff. This is useful. You need to enjoy what you are
doing, so ensure you have a lot of this “fun” time.
However, practice can be accelerated hugely, when you
blend fun time with deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is all the stuff you know works,
but isn’t so fun to do. Isolating weak areas, doing
exercises, theory, focusing on what you suck at,
repetition, deliberately making it difficult in order
for you to expand your skill.

SELF DIAGNOSES.

We need to self diagnose issues. The technique is

pretty easy. You have a problem, you want to solve it.
You probably already have a pretty good idea of what
is causing the issue. You have probably narrowed it
down to one or two things. Isolate the issue, practice
exclusively on that. Change one thing at a time.
Monitor the results. Write them down. Did it work? Did
it have a negative impact? Repeat this until you crack
it.

CALL TO ACTION:

Next time you practice, try to practice smart using the techniques
outlined in this class. It will not be as enjoyable as your usual
practice. Try to get comfortable using this technique.
 PUSHING THROUGH:
THE LEARNING CURVE AND FRUSTRATION

ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE DIP IS REAL.

IT HAPPENS.

IT’S HAPPENING TO YOU WHEN YOU ARE FRUSTRATED.

YOU ARE IN THE DIP.

THIS IS THE WORST TIME FOR YOU WHEN YOU ARE LEARNING.

WHEN YOU ARE MOST LIKELY TO THROW IN THE TOWEL.

JUST KNOWING THAT YOU ARE IN THE DIP ALREADY, FOR ME,
MAKES IT MUCH MORE TOLERABLE TO EXIST THERE.

THE
RESULTS

DIP

EFFORT
 WE WANT TO MINIMIZE TIME
SPENT IN THE DIP.
HERE ARE SOME THINGS I DO TO MAKE IT MORE
TOLERABLE BEING IN THE DIP.

1. Put into action the “practice smart” techniques.

2. Remember how we have fun practice and deliberate practice?

Move the scale slightly towards fun practice, whilst still

getting enough focused practice in.

3. Shorten sessions to avoid poor morale. Take a few days off

and let your muscles or your mind do something else for a

little while. You’ll be amazed at how a cup of tea, a good

night’s sleep or even a few days off makes all the

difference.

4. Understanding what is happening and that you are in the

middle of the learning curve, not the end, is key.

5. Try to further split the skill into its component parts.

Sometimes, little successes can be overshadowed by a sea of

failures. Isolating components of the skill can make it
clearer when you are improving at something, which will

help boost morale until it all starts to come together.

6. Isolating issues can possibly shed light on what the issue

is. Often it is something so simple that is holding your

entire progress back.

CALL TO ACTION:

Next time you experience “the dip”. Try to rationalize what is happening.
Employ your “smart practice” techniques to reduce the time spent in this
region of the learning curve.
 SUCCESS
The best way to see success is when you clearly achieve a goal
you have set earlier. Setting goals isn’t easy though because
it’s usually the first thing you do. Before you begin learning
any new skill, you will set a goal. However, missing the mark
when setting goals can be problematic.

By setting overly ambitious goals, you may completely overlook

many smaller successes. These smaller successes will become
overshadowed by the enormous cloud of failure in trying to
achieve an overly ambitious goal.

At the other end of the scale, goals must have some weight to
them in order for you to enjoy success. No one wants to enjoy a
hollow victory.

So we have this fine line to tread when setting goals in order

to achieve success. Not too ambitious so that it’s impossible,
but not so easy so that it’s not worthwhile.

The answer to this problem, is to pivot and refine goals as you

progress. Rather than abandon your goals altogether, and
aimlessly try to continue, my advice is to just shift the goal
posts as you progress.

Don’t be too proud to change, alter and redefine your aim as

you learn more of the intricacies of your chosen field. To
further that, don’t be afraid to change direction entirely.

The aim here is to maximise your enjoyment, that dopamine hit

you get from learning a new skill. Stubbornness with goals,
whilst admirable, can cause you to consider your project as a
failure, which can cause you to quit.

Always have a goal, but as you learn, feel free to pivot and
refine, so that you can enjoy a well-deserved, achievable,
success.

CALL TO ACTION:

Celebrate success next time and refine / pivot goals as you progress