These are six general steps to acquire any particular skill. This is a snapshot of the core patterns I've found in books that deal in skill acquisition across a wide range of subject matter.
1. Observe the skill to be learned as a whole
2. Break the skill down into very small chunks and compress practices into a small amount of time
3. Connect the bits together
4. Get external feedback
5. Revisit #2
6. Take the incremental training and practice and combine into a whole
Don't waste time doing aimless practice. You must be totally into the moment of learning the skill. The skill learning needs to be short, intense and repetitive in order to have your brain reinforce the correct pathways. You will lose the skill if you don't lose it--your brain will treat the skill as being less valued and reinforce those areas with something else.
