Learn Constantly, Be Future-Proof

No.69

Inversion • Forgetting • Learning is hard • Micro or macro • Journaling

Thinking up the worst outcome to gain insights into the best one. Have we forgotten how to read books? Does our reading aptitude evolve with the written media forms? The pain or hardship of learning. What does the research tell us about micro and macro learning? The power of journaling for learning.

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Inversion: The Crucial Thinking Skill Nobody Ever Taught You

James Clear • 8 min read

Extremely interesting take on using the Stoics’ idea of inversion (considering the opposite of your desired result) and applying that thinking skill to art, innovation, project management, productivity, etc.

You can learn just as much from identifying what doesn't work as you can from spotting what does. What are the mistakes, errors, and flubs that you want to avoid? Inversion is not about finding good advice, but rather about finding anti-advice. It teaches you what to avoid.

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I have forgotten how to read

The Globe and Mail • 7 min

Bit of a weird journey in that article but the first part rings true; today we read books less, and probably differently. The second part is worth pondering; was the book format a temporary ‘thing’? To be replaced by something else?

Books have always been time machines, in a sense. Today, their time-machine powers are even more obvious – and even more inspiring. They can transport us to a pre-internet frame of mind. Those solitary journeys are all the more rich for their sudden strangeness.

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Enjoying the Pain of Learning Will Make You Smarter

Gustavo Razzetti • 9 min read

The article might have resonated more with us if the idea of “learning is painful” had been replaced with the probably more realistic “learning is hard.” Read as such, it becomes a helpful piece and offers some good paths for pushing through those painful / hard moments of a learning curve and for exercising your brain.

Literally and metaphorically. Don’t stick with the first answer you’ve found. Listen to different arguments. Read more than one article or book on the same topic. Train your brain to learn, not to stick to the effortless answer. Challenge your brain not to default to the easiest way out.

Towards a General Understanding of Culture

We Seek • 7 min read

“Understanding the phenomena of our everyday lives — how they function, how they can help or harm us — is important if we want to make better decisions and take better action. Cultures, as we will define them, are phenomena woven into every aspect and dimension of our lives. Beyond observing or enjoying their artefacts and manifestations , we can know how they function and affect us.”

UnSchooling The Pioneers of Change

We Seek • 14 min read

“Dr. Leyla Acaroglu is focused on sustainability, on having an impact, on solving complex problems, and doing so by sharing knowledge and concentrating on teaching others the tools to change themselves and the world. She’s also 2016 UNEP Champion of the Earth. We discussed her career path, her Unschool project and many other topics.”

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Microlearning, Macrolearning. What Does Research Tell Us?

eLearning • 13 min read

Very good point by point look at research vs the supposed benefits of micro learning and how many of them are unproven or wrong. However, the author has also gained appreciation for the ‘method’ and lists some good aspects of both micro and macro learning.

Deep learning requires that people be able to accurately organize what they are learning with what they already know.

Well-designed macrolearning typically builds on what people know, helps people remember what needs to be remembered to perform, includes practice over time to gain skill, and provides feedback to focus next steps.

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Journaling for Learning

Michelle Ockers • 3 min read

There are many, many, many articles on the benefits of journaling for life, work, productivity, and creativity. This one puts a notable spin on the idea, talking instead about using a learning journal. One structure; “What?” “So What?” and “Now What?”

More specifically, if your intent is to learn, keeping a journal is a form of sense-making; it helps you to make sense of and experience or even, see patterns and connections over time, and improve how you learn.

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Explorations

• The workplaces of the future will be more human, not less • Wired UK
• Media Literacy Is About Where To Spend Your Trust. But You Have To Spend It Somewhere • Mike Caulfield
• How AI Supports Collaborative Learning • FilamentGames
• The Art of Laser Focus • Venkatesh Rao