'cause that's just who i am this week

[erika]

"Don't be afraid, it's all about practice."

How I did it: I originally learned to drive on my mother's automatic.  Eventually it was time for me to buy a car of my own.  My father and I found a great car, with one problem:  it was manual, and I'd never learned how to drive a stick.

That meant it was time to learn!  (OK, ok, first I whined about it, but then I realized finding a car for less than 4k with so few miles was really rare, so I could live with it being stick.)

The first lesson I had was with a friend who used to be a helicopter flight instructor.  He was very calm and didn't get worked up about the few times that I stalled.  We started in a parking lot late at night, when there weren't any cars around, and then we went out on the roads.

Then I went out with my dad and we worked on pop-starting the car, stopping and starting, and not riding the clutch.  Sort of an advanced lesson, if you will.

After that, I made it a point to take the car out every day for a week on my own to continue practicing.

Lessons & tips:

1. Having a patient instructor for the first few lessons is key. 


2. After you learn the basics, go out there on your own and practice by yourself.


3. I recommend learning how to drive on an automatic first, and then learning how to shift.

I only needed to drive with someone else telling me what to do twice before I could drive alone, YMMV.

Practicing by myself helped me because I felt much less embarrassed when I screwed up.

It took me 2 weeks.

It made me accomplished

See more progress on: learn how to drive stick-shift