Magic, Kettle Bells, Public Speaking - every skill I’ve acquired follows the same immutable laws. These laws govern how we learn, progress, and master new abilities. It’s possible these laws don’t apply to you, but I doubt it.
Law 1: You’ll Suck Until You Don’t
Everyone starts as a beginner - even Mozart had to learn his first notes. The first law of learning is accepting that you’ll be terrible at first. This isn’t a flaw in you or the skill, it’s the natural order of things. The key is to embrace the suck, knowing it’s temporary.
Think of a baby learning to walk. They fall hundreds of times, but never think “maybe walking isn’t for me.” They get up, try again, and eventually run. That’s how all skill acquisition works - you just have to be willing to be as persistent (and shameless) as a toddler.
Law 2: Practice Makes Permanent
“Practice makes perfect” is a lie - practice makes permanent. If you practice the wrong way, you’ll perfectly execute the wrong technique. This is why quality practice matters more than quantity.
The key is deliberate practice: focused, intentional improvement with feedback. Whether it’s from a teacher, a video of yourself, or careful self-reflection, you need to know what you’re doing wrong to fix it. Otherwise, you’re just reinforcing bad habits.
Law 3: Humans overestimate what can be done in a week, and underestimate what can be done in a year
You’ll have plateaus where it feels like you’re getting nowhere, followed by sudden jumps in ability. The trick is to keep showing up, especially during those plateaus, knowing that breakthroughs come to those who persist.
Just 20 minutes a day adds up to 121 hours in a year - that’s three full work weeks dedicated to your skill. Think about that: three weeks of focused practice, spread out in manageable daily chunks. With kettlebells, that took me from struggling with a 16kg bell to confidently swinging a 48kg one. In magic, it was the difference between fumbling basic card controls to smoothly performing complex routines.
Remember: The best time to plant a tree was 100 years ago. The second best time is now. The same applies to learning any new skill.
ps. This blog you’re reading, started when I heard about law 1, and made clear law 2 and law 3.