The 5-hour rule: how long it takes to become marginally competent at a basic skill

Mike Boyd is familiar with Gladwell's 10,000, that being the approximate number of hours of practice supposedly required to master something. He wondered how long it would take him to learn to kickflip on a skateboard. It took him about 5 hours and 47 minutes, but some of that was him just fooling around, seething in pain, etc. [via Reddit]