And if you learn Emacs instead, you can skip the VIM stage completely.
It's better to learn both, to have more tools in your toolbox and use the right tool for the job. Both emacs and vim have their strengths and weaknesses, and it's great to have the option to use either when you need it.
Or you can use things like evil [1] to have your vi-style modal editing and eat your Emacs cake too.