Lessons Learned: Recent Episodes
Lessons Learned
Lessons, insights and ideas from interesting people and books packed into short and practical episodes.
The book Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown shares interesting and counter-intuitive findings on how we learn. Learning methods and strategies can have a significant impact on our lives, but most people don’t ever think about them. Unless you’re in school right now, you probably don’t think about how we learn. Or you may feel you have a solid grasp on how you learn new skills or practice existing skills. In this short episode I’ll discuss the main finding I’ve taken away from the book and why you should rethink the way you practice and work on anything you’re learning.
Parkinson’s Law can either make any task, goal or job you need to work on either harder or easier. It’s a counterintuitive finding that goes against everything we feel when we try to work on something.
In this episode I share my story with how I learned about Parkinson’s Law, how it changed my perceptions on a lot of things I assumed were correct and how you can use it to your advantage.
Along with the 80/20 principle (Pareto’s Law), Parkinson’s Law can have a big impact on your productivity and effectiveness on anything you’re trying to make progress on.
Every year we’re bombarded with a flood of New Year’s Resolution articles, videos, podcasts and posts. In this episode let’s take a different approach and look critically at New Year’s Resolutions and the thinking behind them. Are New Year’s Resolutions stupid? Should you be setting them now to ‘get a head start’ on 2018? Or is there a better alternative?
Whether or not you agree with the opinion shared in this episode, think about what New Year’s Resolutions means to you and whether your viewpoint is missing something important or whether there is an alternative you haven’t considered.
In the last episode I set the challenge of trying to learn how to solve a Rubik’s Cube. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, go back and listen to it before this episode.
In this episode I discuss the lessons you could have learned from the challenge if you gave it a go. This episode explains why it’s worthwhile taking on challenges like this one and what you missed out on if you didn’t even attempt the challenge. Sure you can listen to me explain the lessons, but it’s not the same as experiencing them firsthand.
A new challenge will be set each month to give you different opportunities to experience firsthand some of the lessons I talk about in these episodes.
The goal of this podcast is to share valuable lessons and insights you can apply to your life. Some lessons need to be experienced first hand to get the most out of them. So each month I’ll set a challenge for you based on worthwhile lessons I’ve learned.
You may see this month’s challenge as easy, boring or impossible depending on your current perception of the Rubik’s Cube. Whatever your initial thoughts of this challenge, I highly recommend you attempt it.
In the next lesson I’ll discuss why I set this challenge, how to apply the lessons to the rest of your life and why challenges like these are worth the effort.
I highly recommend this challenge to everybody (unless you already know how to solve the Rubik’s Cube) for reasons I’ll explain in the next episode.
There are a lot of ways we can label or categorize ourselves. One popular way is based on whether you’re a left-brain or right-brain person.
Regardless of what you think you know about the left-brain right-brain idea, this episode is for you. It looks at the dangers in labels and categories and how it affects us. It also looks at why we need to question things like the left-brain right-brain idea and how ideas like this one places artificial limits on ourselves.
After this episode you should have more skepticism over other ways we can categorize ourselves based on personality or abilities.
How you think about luck and probability can have a significant impact on your decision making whether you notice it or not. In this short episode let’s look at how our perception of luck and probability changes and how it can lead us to poor choices or long term success.
The main lesson to take away from this episode is to be aware of any time when you think ‘luck’ played a role in an event. The entrepreneur who was bought out by Google for millions wasn’t lucky - he worked hard for a decade to get to that point. The lottery winner wasn’t lucky, she just had a tiny probability of winning and somebody had to win.
The reason this is such an important shift in perception is because it affects your future. If you believe luck or fate plays a role in your future success, you’re less likely to take any actions that can improve your probability of success.
Believing in luck, fate, destiny or some sort of divine intervention is belie [...]
Understanding how we learn can make a big difference in developing skills or studying new topics. In this episode I’ll share the most common learning myth that the majority of people still believe today, how it hurts us and what to do instead.
I’ve seen first hand how this learning myth affects people so if you’re unfamiliar with it, listen to this episode to learn why it’s wrong.
In this episode I’ll share the best lesson I took away from the book and how it can be applied in your life. It’s a simple lesson to understand yet a lesson most people don’t put the effort in to apply in their lives.
I also share an example of how I’ve been applying the lesson in my life and why it’s worth the effort to focus on.
If you tell somebody that you skipped breakfast, you’re almost certain to hear them tell you that ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. Why do people have this knee-jerk reaction and use this exact phrase?
Looking into the history of breakfast teaches us much more than the value of breakfast, it teaches us why we should question conventional wisdom.
The Pomodoro Technique is a very simple way to structure your work habits and may improve your productivity. While some people may be able to be productive for hours of continuous work, it’s not an effective approach for most people.
If you haven’t tried the Pomodoro Technique before, have a listen to this short episode and give it a go. At the very least it will get you thinking about your focus levels and make better choices on how you work.
If you haven’t read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, this episode looks at an interesting way to look at wealth, assets and liabilities. Find out why you shouldn’t think of your home or car as assets and why it matters. A slight change in the way you think about where your money goes can make a big difference to your financial future.
Getting a new habit to stick or getting rid of a bad habit can feel frustratingly hard. In this two minute lesson let’s look at how the ‘Don’t break the chain’ method can help you form new habits or change old habits.
Here are some habit tracking apps to check out that make use of the Don’t Break The Chain Method:
Loop (the app I use), Don’t Break The Chain, Streaks, Habitica
Spaced repetition can be used to help you learn a language, study for an exam or memorize anything you want easier and faster.
Find out why spaced repetition works, how it overcomes something known as the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve and how to get started with using it in this short 3 minute lesson.
Here are some great apps that make use of spaced repetition:
Anki, Memrise, Duolingo, Tinycards
Multitasking is a myth. Studies have shown over and over that people produce worse results when they multitask (compared to single-tasking). If multitasking is clearly a myth, why do people still believe it?
Why do so many people claim to be expert multitaskers like it’s a superpower?
In this two minute lesson you’ll find out why so many people believe this myth and what it teaches us about our ability to objectively assess our own performance.
“Win the morning, win the day” - your morning routine has a big impact on the rest of your day so it’s important to set a good routine. In this short episode let’s look at three very simple habits you can add to your morning routine and why they’re worth doing.
If you’re struggling to set a positive morning routine, these simple habits can make a big difference to your results.
The lessons from the book Mindset: The Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck can impact every important part of your life.
Having a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset can mean the difference between success or failure, happiness or misery, development or plateaus.
In this book summary let’s look at the book’s most valuable lessons, insights and ideas then look at how you can change your mindset.
The Law of Averages plays a huge part in your future success in life. Jim Rohn says that ‘you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with’. In this One Minute Lesson you will find out why the law of averages doesn’t just involve the people you spend your time with. Find out how online sources influence you and shape your future.
Listen to three key lessons from Tools of Titans you won’t find within the book. Let’s look at the book from Tim Ferriss’ point of view and perform a quick meta-analysis. Find out some useful lessons from the book and how to apply them in your own life. If you haven’t read Tools of Titans before, this episode will give you a good idea what to expect and why it’s worth your time to read.
Find out what Richard Feynman’s story of a little bird tells us about what it really means to know something. It’s a simple story that can change the way you think about knowledge, intelligence and wisdom. If you don’t know who Richard Feynman was, have a listen to this episode then check out the book ‘Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!’ for more insights into this fascinating person.