The skill you start this year is the one you’ll be thanked for in five.

The useful skills all have a long gap between the work and the payoff, which is why they get postponed forever. Writing clearly, fixing things, speaking another language, staying calm in a hard conversation: each looks pointless in month two and looks like luck to everybody else by year five. People who seem naturally good at something usually started earlier than anyone noticed.

Choose one now with a five-year view rather than a five-week one. Give it small, regular time and stop checking weekly. It does not need to be fast, only started.