The First 50

It takes the average adult 50 attempts at learning a new skill before they can truly decide whether or not they can or cannot master it. The same study found that most adults give up by the 10th attempt.

In short, by setting our failure threshold too low, we’re setting ourselves up for failure!

It’s unrealistic to think that we can master every task we encounter on the first try (or even the 10th try). However, if we don’t see some immediate gain, we often stop trying well before we start getting the hang of it and making larger strides.

The key is to plan on getting through those first 50 steps.