The 1-Hour Learning Rule

One of my guiding principals in life is that everything is worth at least 1 hour of my time to give it a try and learn about it.

What exactly does this mean?

The rule means that if you are serious about wanting to do something that you should dedicate at least 1-hour to it before making a decision if it is right for you.

How have I used this?

As an example, I wanted to learn how to Ski more than 10-years ago. I put on those boots, latched into my ski's, grabbed my poles, and fell. I did this over and over, and by the end of the first hour, I was no longer falling as much and was actually starting to enjoy skiing. I enjoyed it so much I kept going back to the mountain and trying different skill level courses. It took me the whole first hour to really begin to learn the skill and decide whether or not I wanted to continue or stop there.

I've used this for Hobby's such as Wood Working, Shooting, Bowling, Soccer, Painting, Welding, Amateur Radio, and so many more. If I am going to take the time to try something, then I'm going to do it for at least 1-hour.

A recent example was that I wanted to learn how Smart Contracts work. I found an amazing resource, CryptoZombies, that made it a fun and interactive way to learn a bit more how smart contracts work in Solidity and the Ethereum blockchain. By the time the hour was up, I didn't want to stop, which was a sign to me that I need to dedicate more time to learning and developing solidity.

How can you apply it?

As a developer, or really anyone for that matter, you can choose to apply this 1-hour rule to any new skill or technology that you wish to learn. If you want to check out the hot and trendy Web3 then spend an hour researching, learning, following a tutorial, watching a YouTube video, or writing your first smart contract.

If you are wanting to learn Remix then spend an hour and go through my quick and simple data fetch tutorial here. This is about an hour of content from start to finish to give you the basic idea on whether you want to further your learning on Remix.

If you want to become a React developer, then spend 1-hour following a tutorial on React and make a small app.

The Key?

The key to this whole learning is that you have to give yourself a reasonable amount of time to actually try learning something. You can learn a lot in an hour, but more importantly you will have a rational idea as to whether or not you want to dedicate more time to learning this subject.

You don't have to try and learn the entire subject in 1-hour. It's not like you are going to make it through this book that quickly.

Conclusion

Are you getting the trend here, pick something you want to learn this week, and put 1-hour aside to learn it. Don't think of learning the entire thing in 1-hour, but you are getting your feet wet and deciding whether or not you want to dive in and go for a swim or if you are going to step back out.

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Let me know what you have tried and whether or not this rule worked for you.