One critique I got of the MIT Challenge was that I should have taken the classes over the normal four years, instead of twelve months. The naïve version of this critique was to argue that I should do the classes the way MIT students do—full time over a period of four years. But this criticism […]
Bold Moves are Often Easier than Small Ones
How often do you floss your teeth? Flossing is a habit generally recommended by dentists that takes an incredibly small amount of time and effort each day. Then why do so many people not do it? Is it because these people have made a careful cost-benefit analysis and decided the two minutes wasn’t worth their […]
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 […]
The 7 Most Common Learner Mistakes
I write a lot about how to learn things better. In doing so, I get a lot of emails from readers attempting to learn anything from biology to basketball. I also see a lot of common mistakes people make which make it harder to learn. In this article I wanted to share some of the […]
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.