Sometimes I question my sanity. After all, what kind of person agrees to learn four languages in a year, including two linguistically unrelated Asian languages back-to-back in six months? Learning Chinese was a blast, but it was also an incredible amount of work. My stated goal from the beginning was to learn as much Chinese […]
Things Worth Knowing Well, Things Worth Knowing Poorly
Last week I asked you which skills were worth knowing, even poorly. I got a lot of responses, from martial arts to programming, and sketching to survival skills. Although the poll didn’t bring up any clear consensus responses, I find it hard to argue against almost any individual suggestion. The truth is, most things are […]
How to Learn Boring Subjects
Last week I did a post on mistakes learners make. One of the biggest? Believing a subject is intrinsically boring. When you’ve decided something you have to learn is boring, that makes every attempt to learn it harder. You’ll want to study boring subjects less. Worse, when you do study, you’ll remember less. Our brains […]
Is Free University the Future?
Too busy to watch the whole thing? Read the transcript here (PDF). Above is an interview I recorded with Jonathan Haber. Jonathan independently came up with his own goal to learn a degree in one year (he only found out about the MIT Challenge after he started blogging about his quest). The two main differences […]
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.