How I learn skills quickly

This is the meta-skill everyone needs to learn.

It’s how I can move the big needles in my businesses and personal brand.

I can learn new skills to get to where I want to be faster than most.

Let’s use my experience hosting events as an example.

I was able to get great results for my first event in just 5 days of prep and execution.

I’ll show you my step-by-step playbook.

Estimated reading time: 3 min 5 secs

1. Start from the end goal

Figure out your North Star before you start.

What outcome do you want from learning this skill?

How will it benefit you?

Everything you learn and do will stem from this goal.

Sometimes this goal will change over time, and that’s okay. The path isn’t always linear.

My event hosting goals were:

• Build a personal brand IRL

• 100x my network

• Use it as a funnel for products and services

It’s that simple.

2. Figure out the tasks

Learning a new skill is overwhelming.

That’s why breaking down the skill into essential responsibilities is important.

It helps you align on what to research and execute.

This will make it easier to tackle the skill step-by-step.

For event hosting, the main tasks I identified were:

• Venue selection and research

  • Cold call and DM venues

  • Negotiating rates

• Marketing

  • Where to market events

  • Who to target for my social media marketing

• Managing guest lists and RSVPs

• Building relationships

• Getting sponsors

• Public relations

  • How do I want people to perceive my brand?

• Logistics

  • Food and drink coordination

  • Venue coordination

• Post-event follow-up and feedback collection

  • Pushing people down the funnel

  • Gather data for better events

3. Research and learn

People take too long on this.

They consume too much but never actually do it.

I like to limit myself to prevent analysis paralysis.

I consume 3 to 5 pieces of content (articles, YouTube videos, etc.) for practical advice instead of deep theory.

I follow people on social media who have successfully done this.

They give the highest-quality information.

You can learn in weeks or months what others take years to master.

I take a lot of notes during this process to create the initial playbook.

Here’s what I consumed during this phase:

• How to attract sponsors to your events

• Andrew Yeung’s Tweets

• How to host a networking event that doesn’t suck

4. Create the playbook

You want a repeatable process for your skill.

I write all my playbooks in my second brain, which lives in Obsidian.

I reference it a lot when I first execute so I can get used to this new skill.

It needs to feel second nature so you can do it well.

The best part is that it stays with you, so if you don’t remember how to do it, reference the playbook!

My playbook started with:

• Event types

• Cold Email Message

• Event hosting routine

• Event venue ideas

5. Execute

Now it’s time to do the fun part: executing the new skill.

You get a head start for prepping beforehand.

You can use your background knowledge to propel your mastery a lot faster than others.

Take more notes to refine your playbook even further.

My first event had 494 signups and 200+ people attending which I was really happy about!

Here’s what I did in a nutshell:

• Cold called until I got a free venue

• Marketed my event in 3 different places

  • Luma

  • Twitter

  • NYC communities I’m in

• Met some awesome people at the event

6. Refine the playbook

Refining your playbook is as important as creating it.

During this step, revisit your notes and add new learnings for what worked for you.

Throw away information that isn’t as relevant as you thought it was.

Through this step, you refine your skill and make it your own.

You gain a deeper understanding and it becomes intuitive.

This is when you start mastering the skill.

Here’s what I added to the playbook since then:

• No / low spend venues

• Paid venues

• Places to find guest speakers

• People I can contact for help

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6

Becoming an expert means repeating the 2 steps before.

You have the playbook, so you can reference it anytime.

At this point, you start creating shortcuts to get you where you want to be even faster.

Conclusion

Once you feel you’ve learned enough, you can repeat this same playbook with a new skill.

This is how you build a web of knowledge or skills to get where you want to be.

I don’t understand why more people don’t do this.

This playbook is the biggest life hack and it has given me a lot of benefits and serendipity.

What I’m reading

• Millionaires Don't Use To-Do Lists

• How to do an “SEO Heist”

• How to monetize your interests