How fast can you learn a new skill?

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How fast does it take for you to master a skill that you just learned? By mastering the skill, I mean being able to use it consistently without making too many mistakes.

When it comes to my learning capabilites... well a lot of it depends on how I'm taught and how much I want to learn the skill, but I can actually pick up on things pretty fast. Two particular instances that come to mind is when I learned to shoot a handgun and when I learned to drive a manual transmission.

Both times it was something I wanted to learn, and both times I had someone that I trusted teaching me the skill, who knew what they were doing. in the case of the handgun, it was my uncle Lee, who is a certified NRA tactical firearms instructor from Colorado; as for the driving, that was taught to me by my mother, who learned how to drive at the age of 16 on a manual transmission and has been doing so ever since. Both times I was able to learn the skill insanely quickly. With the handgun, I was able to bullseye a target 15-20 ft consistently after about 10 minutes and 3 or so magazines. With the car, I was able to incorporate the act of shifting into what I already knew about driving, and go from circling a parking lot to handling rush hour city and interstate traffic within an hour or two.

So has anyone been able to learn something that was supposed to take weeks or months in the space of days or even hours? Is this common for Aspies? I want your input!

I'm generally a slow learner because the steps tend to become jumbled in my mind, or I will completely forget them. But there are some things I have picked up pretty quickly.

in art and most other creative things. about 1/10th the time it takes the average person

As far as anything else goes if it is physical, I learn quickly,

However my mind is broken for understandimng math...just plain broken. All I can do is add, subtract, multiply and divide and some basic fractions...thats it. when it comes to anything beyond the basics...my mind does not compute.
It took me 3 years to understand multiplication and division...the only way they taught me was to teach me to memorize the multication table 1-12.

It doesn't take me as long to learn new skills or apply them consistently at all, like in Karate. I learned the Kata, combinations and strikes in about 1/10 the time it took the rest of the class.

I learned Metallica songs on guitar at the rate of 6 in 2 hours, complete with fills and solos.

I learned how to play pool pretty quickly, I can now pot pretty much any ball on the table, do snooker-style cut-shots and pot from jump shots.

For me it depends on what I am trying to learn and how interested I am. I pick up some things insanely fast. I learnt to play a simple guitar riff straight away (having never previously played a guitar) whereas my classmates were struggling for several minutes with the same riff. My teacher actually had to ask me if I had been given lessons because he was convinced I had!

I am a very fast learner in nearly all cases, weather I am interested in the topic or not. Sometimes exact steps escape me when I try to teach someone else, or I am unable to explain a step, even if I know it well.

Too broad a question to give a blanket answer, but I can offer some specifics for me:

If it's a skill which is related to one I already have, then it's easy as pie. I can "master" it with only a little practice in most cases. Case in point, I worked as an electronics repair technician for a long time, and I repaired TVs, camcorders, VCRs, etc. Then about 12 years ago, I got obsessed with small Diesel engines and I started collecting Toyotas with Diesel engines (VERY rare in the USA). A big problem with those, is the very fine mechanical workings of the Diesel injector pump, and the tractor belt timing, etc. I had no problem at all mastering all the procedures to repair and adjust those, since I was already fine with tiny mechanical timed parts in camcorders. The fundamentals of understanding technical manuals and schematics and exploded-view diagrams, etc., are very similar. So is the use of tiny tools for fine work. I have picked up many, many skills which I can't say I have "mastered" as if to represent them as qualifications for offering as a trade, but I like having at least some good experience in many many fields. In the event I should want to master one of those skills, I am sure I could do it as quickly as most anyone could. My latest thing, is that I was always fascinated with heavy equipment... Since I do have decent mechanical skills, and a good working understanding of physics, I found it very easy to train to operate a 50,000-lb Caterpillar bulldozer . It's actually a lot of fun!! ! With the economy so bad right now on the construction industry, I bought a Caterpillar 963 track loader (dozer) for a very good price, and can use it on our ranch for many improvements, and then sell it for what I paid or more in a year or 2 when I want to. I had never touched a piece of heavy equipment in my life, but since I have a fairly good understanding of physics, weights & balances and inertia, I simply read the operations manual cover-to-cover, and also completed an online operators qualifications course (3 hours), and I can operate the machine safely and correctly. Obviously I will get better and faster (while keeping safe), the more practice I get on it.

Other skills, such as trying to learn another language, are a little tougher for me. I can do it, but it doesn't just come to me naturally. Maybe the key is that I can learn anything I WANT to learn...

Charles

I'm a slow learner of skills. I really think I'm clumsy and it is in my nature.


This applies to me too, except that I don't recall anything I've learned quickly. I would rather say there are some things I picked up relatively quickly, like driving manual, to stay at the example.

I'd say I learn quickly, whether it's math or guitar.

I can pick up some physical skills pretty quick.

One time I surprised myself how quickly I got a handle on a skill. I had been invited to go bowling with some co-workers. That usually doesn't happen, so I went. I'd never been bowling before, never even held a bowling ball. But I remember being a kid and watching professional bowlers on TV with my dad. I've also seen countless images of bowlers on TV and in movies. So I just did what I remembered seeing. My first time bowling I got quite a few strikes and a number of spares. Nobody believed me when I said I'd never bowled before.

The time it takes me to learn something depends directly on how interested I am in it. I picked up pen spinning in a matter of weeks because I was really interested in it. On the other hand, I have never been able to learn vectors in math because I don't care about it, even though I needed it for my major.

I can always learn the basics of something very quickly, but to truly master anything seems to take an eternity.