Learning the Art of Baking in 20 Hours

I found this TED talk a while ago and decided to test out the premise on which it was based. The gist of the talk is this:

It takes 20 hours of focused concentration in practicing a new skill (applicable to anything).

So with holidays and free time, I decided to see if this is in fact true, thinking it’s the right time to learn something new. Since my mom just bought a new oven, I thought it would be appropriate to learn how to bake, maybe even cook! Hopefully it’ll work out according to these 4 simple steps to rapid skill acquisition:

1. Deconstruct the skill. The more you break apart the skill, the more you improve your performance
2. Learn enough to self correct ( books, courses, dvds)
3. Remove practice barriers (TV, internet etc.) It requires will power.
4. Practice at least 20 hours.

Now, on to Step 1!

I’ve got my mom’s cookbooks and the aid of internet recipes to help me out so I hope to update progress soon! Who knows, maybe I’ll soon be able to actually bake something delicious 🙂