The How To Learn Podcast

Have you noticed how bad habits, sloppy short cuts and toxic workplace cultures can get under your skin? - and even become part of who you are?

In this How To Learn mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan discuss The Dark Side of Learning. Ultimately, the most powerful mechanisms of learning such as repetition and imitation are entirely neutral. They don't care whether you're learning something good or bad,  they just embed it in your brain anyway.

So whether it's humming a jingle or getting into a habit that undermines you at work, he's how to start the difficult job of spotting where the Dark Side of Learning has been at work. Spoiler: it's as hard at finding the Traitors in a group of Faithful!

Chairing meetings is a learning superfood!

In this quickfire How To Learn mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan identify nine skills you can develop through the process of chairing meetings: from time management to tech, from body language to diplomacy.

So don't see it as a chore to avoid, see it as a way of building valuable skills.. and a way of helping your colleagues not to waste their time in the kind of meetings we all hate!

Ever picked up a random dog-eared, second-hand book on holiday.. and learned something? Ever picked up a surprising amount of knowledge without actually noticing how you did it?

From double-glazing sales techniques, to life tips for avoiding airport stress, to mastering the London Underground, and to Emotional Bank Accounts - Thembi and Jonathan share some stories of random learning and argue that they're all perfectly valid. Even if Thembi still calls it 'the silver line'.

Do you feel slightly guilty that you're not making full use of all the amazing self-management, personal organisation and efficiency hacks out there?

In this episode, Thembi and Jonathan look at the need to learn what actually works for you - and what doesn't!

Prompts and notifications, colour-coding, post-its, reminders, notebooks and auto-prompts all come under the sceptical microscope of How To Learn.

They're inside your head.. and they're using the most powerful techniques to make you remember and learn.

But do you want your most effective tutors to be the algorithms of your favourite social media?

In this mini-podcast Thembi and Jonathan look at the role of scrolling behaviour - and more generally, the role of habits - in creating learning. How can we be more intentional about our habits? How can we harness the power of daily scrolling behaviour for our own learning?

We believe there is an important life skill called 'the willingness to ask questions'. But what does skilful question-asking look like, and can we get better at it?

In this mini-podcast Thembi and Jonathan discuss:

- why we shouldn't stop asking 'stupid' questions: certainly not when we're still new, and actually not when we're more experienced, either

- the need to pick your person, pick your moment, and articulate your question

- a specific skill that Jonathan is not willing to get better at.

It might feel like a boring chore to take notes at an event, or to 'cascade' some learning back to colleagues. or even to explain something that you know - or think you know.

But in this 5-minute mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan talk about the known 'Protégé Effect' - basically how teaching or explaining something helps you to learn it better. It can also add to your visibility in an organisation. Or maybe your pupil or 'protégé' is simply the you of tomorrow, who would already have forgotten what you learned today.. had you not taken some well-organised notes.

So.. are you ready to pass this on? Let's begin :)

"Learning on the job" starts on Day 1. Here are three tips from Thembi and Jonathan:

- avoid the experts! (or rather: find somebody who can remember what is was like NOT to know what they were doing..)

- be curious: start volunteering for stuff beyond your role

- remember you need to induct THEM to YOU

It's also never too early to work out the skills you will need further down the line.