How To Master Difficult Skills

image: lifehacker.com

In 2011, the Finance and Investment world looked very difficult to understand. Every book I read only exposed my knowledge gaps and there seemed to be no end to what to learn. Today, I am not only very conversant with that world I even consult for that world. 

In 2011, I knew next to nothing about Microsoft Excel. The amazing dashboards I see people make looked like work of magic. Today, I am a full-time Excel consultant doing all those things that used to amaze me back then.

In 2013, I knew nothing about Financial Modelling. People would ask me about financial modelling, if I teach it, and I would say no and refer them to someone else. Today, I now train finance managers on Financial Modelling. It was not an easy task to skill up in that area.

In 2014, I became serious about building my stock investment app. I needed to learn C#, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3 and Bootstrap. It has been my most difficult skill to acquire so far but I am making good progress. I have learned a lot and getting closer to achieving my goal.

In 2014, I quit my job to run my own consulting business. I am not the business type and had little business experience having been in purely technical roles all through my paid job careers. I had to learn from scratch. It wasn't easy but I came out fine. Now I am proud of myself and the progress I have made with no desire to go back to the paid employment world. 

All these skills I have listed -- Finance & Investment, Microsoft Excel to the extreme, Financial Modelling, Web Programming and Entrepreneurship -- are very difficult skills to master. And I have learned something very valuable in the process of mastering them that I want to share with you.

To master any difficult skill, your most important tool is long-term consistent learning with creative practice. Don't be too bogged down by the speed of your progress. Just keep learning and practicing what you are learning. Soon, you will see everything fitting together and that skill becoming your slave as you will suddenly, when you are almost giving up, jump up the skill ladder to mastery.

Bruce Lee says it better: