The 7 biggest barriers to learning a new skill (and how to smash through them)

A woman in a bright yellow jacket stands before a desert landscape, highlighted by a dashed line selection tool and a "Object Mask" label that suggests a digital photo editing interface.

I’ve been meaning to properly learn a specific piece of design software for about three years now. I’ve bookmarked tutorials, joined Discord servers, even bought a course in a sale. What I haven’t done? Actually opened it and made anything.

Sound familiar? Whether it’s motion graphics, UX design, copywriting or that new coding framework everyone keeps banging on about, most creatives have skills sitting in a mental “someday” pile. And we’re particularly good at finding reasons why now isn’t the right time – even if we've tooled up with one of the best drawing tablets.