When we asked whether or not there are shortcuts to becoming an expert, many of the responses revolved around a single theme:

The quickest path to expertise is to take direct action, get a lot of experience, and work your ass off.

There may be some mental or physical tricks that you can use to save a little bit of time, but major shortcuts just don't exist to becoming an expert.

There's a lot of emphasis on trying to accelerate the path to success by spending a ton of time studying the methods of those have succeeded before us in the hope that we'll be able to avoid many of the mistakes they made.

- Jonathan Fields

There is no system to game, way to cheat, or 30 steps to success that you can use to become the best at something. Practice and focus are the key.

Yes, you should learn necessary things such as the safety procedures before you do something dangerous like rock climbing or strenuous like running a marathon, but just get out there. Go for a climb. Go for a run.

Learn from what you did, not what you read.