We bring you 12 impressive skills you can learn in just one week!

We definitely have something out of the ordinary for you! During his 2013 TEDx Talk, “The first 20 hours” author and business expert Josh Kaufman managed to bust the myth that learning new skills takes a long time. According to Kaufman to become good at something you don’t have to “waste” a whole lot of time, 20 hours is all that you need. If you divide the 20 hours into two or three-hour practices, you have around one week to perfect whatever you want. Thanks to Kaufman we bring you a list of 12 cool things you can easily conquer over the course of one week:

#1 Learn to play a song on a musical instrument
Many of you will think that music is highly complex, but one week is suffice to learn just one song on a musical instrument at least that is what Kaufman claims. He backed up this by demonstrating his skill on his ukulele at the end of the TEDx Talk show. But if you really want to impress people you should pick a somewhat rare instrument at least that’s what Karan Babar suggests.

#2 Learn to drive stick shift
The automatic transmission is a piece of cake for everyone but when you know how to drive a stick shift you can still turn some heads, plus it actually comes handy if you find yourself in need to drive someone’s car. Learning to drive a stick shift is not that hard, the clutch and gear lever are pretty much simple it all comes down to coordination and timing. A week is also enough for this one.

#3 Learn to solve a Rubik’s cube
To those who do not understand it, Rubik cube is a strange and unsolvable puzzle. Speed-cubers – the people who solve Rubik’s cubes in 10 seconds or less, will tell you that its no big deal. All you need to know is a set of algorithms or turn patterns, and you can solve it with success. So, start memorizing the order of those turns, and in just 20 hours you will crack the little pest with ease.

#4 Learn to parallel park
Parallel parking scares a lot of people and a lot of people can’t do it right, even though its a requirement to get your license. This one is also an easy skill to learn and 20 hours or one week is more than enough to get used to positioning the car next to the car in front and learning when and how much to turn the wheel.

#5 Learn to cook amazing food
Cooking is truly a basic skill, and making meals for others is impressive which is the reason you should learn at least one extraordinary dish that will blow your company of their feet. We advise something simple like pasta with a well-seasoned sauce or learn to make a nice steak. Nowadays you don’t always have to wait for a weeks-long dry aging.

#6 Learn martial arts – or at least basics
Self-defense is something that is neat to know, and that could sometimes come in handy. It doesn’t take that much time to learn the basic blocks, punches, and take-down maneuvers which can easily one day save your life. So, get cracking I know I will.

#7 Learn to recite multiple digits of pi
One of the impressive skills from this list is a good memory. Memory experts are able to remember very long strings of words or numbers simply by “chunking” them to different pieces and then putting them together. A cool skill is if you could remember multiple digits of pi – ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter – and you can do just that by learning a few numbers after the decimal and add each new batch to the overall string each day.

#8 Learn to speak the basics of a new language
People who can talk in different languages are called polyglots, and Matthew Youlden and his brother Michael can speak over a dozen, which makes them “hyperpolyglots.” The latest one they have learned is conversational Turkish, and they did it in a week. According to these guys, they had some help from a language learning app called Babbel, lots of flash cards, and Turkish pop culture. Sounds pretty easy right?!

#9 Learn to break an apple in half with your bare hands
This is more of a neat trick than an actual skill but its good to know how to do it. What you need to do is firstly remove the stem, after that place your fingertips underneath the apple with the fleshy part of both palms on the top of the apple. Pull up with your fingers and roll your hands out. You will certainly need to try this a few times, but after some time you will have a cleanly broken in half apple.

#10 Learn to juggle
Now here is a real skill. Why is it so? Well mainly because you actually need to coordinate your hands and eyes. How will you learn this easiest? Well, to start off you should use just two balls. Practice tossing just those two up in the air, first with your right hand and then with your left. Slowly work your way up to throwing a third when the first is at its peak. After a short period, you will be able to juggle like a pro.

#11 Learn to write with both hands
Ambidexterity or the ability to perform an action with both hands surely sounds hard, and you are probably right, but according to Ibnu Putra, it can be done. To start off correctly, you should practice for two hours each day in 15-minute intervals. On day one and two practice drawing a circle with a line through it. Days three and four write an upper-case Z and lower-case y. Use the fifth day to practice e and b, and on day six, move onto l, a, y, e, and z. The last day should be used to write as much as possible. So pick an interesting topic and get started.

#12 Learn to tell a great story
Storytelling is another great skill everyone should know. If you want to learn this skill, then you must follow some rules and know the mistakes you have to avoid. The greatest storytellers manage to captivate audiences by telling authentic stories that deliver on a promise, at least that is what author and entrepreneur Seth Godin explained. The stories have to have drama and an arc, and they have to lead somewhere as well. One more important thing to know if you want to be a great storyteller – you have to know when to end.