Decision Making

The Question is The Answer Part 1: The Questions That Matter Most

It is absolutely impossible to imagine human society, intelligence and language without our ability to ask questions. In this series I explore the importance of questions and the frameworks for asking good ones. This first part covers a critical moment in my life when I asked myself a big question -

Communication

How To Master The Art of Listening

Many people assume that good listeners have an intrinsic talent and that it’s something that can't be learned. But while it may come easier to some people, the reality is that listening skills can be developed with deliberate effort and practice. This post will give you three tips to improve your li

Communication

Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking: 3 Strategies from the Ancient Greeks on The Art of Rhetoric

Many assume that good speakers possess an intrinsic talent and that their own skills can’t be developed. This just isn’t true. In fact, the formal study of public speaking began around 2,500 years ago in Ancient Greece to train citizens to participate in society. This post will take you back to the

Technology

Questioning The Singularity: What's The Future of Learning?

While the prospect of uploading skills to our brain sounds incredible, the idea of 'The Singularity' raises some very serious questions about the future of humanity from a scientific, religious and philosophical perspective. In this post I explore its potential implications for learning and life.

Technology

Gamification in Learning: Godsend or Gimick?

In our smartphone society, gamification is becoming a staple feature in education technology in an attempt to make the learning process more fun. In this post I examine the past, present and future of gamification in learning to find out whether all the hype is really justified.

Technology

How To Use Technology Better in Your Learning

We all need to think more critically about how we interact with technology, because the secret to getting the best out of it isn't related to which devices we use, but to how we use them. Here’s my take on 3 areas we should all spend more time thinking about when considering the impact of technology

Education

Exploring the Fierce Debate on the School Curriculum

The debate about the school curriculum has been raging for hundreds of years – and it’s still not clear what we should be teaching our children. In this post I discuss the various perspectives on the debate with the help of some saber tooth tigers.

Learning

How To Redefine Learning for the 21st Century

Most of the articles and podcasts here on MetaLearn fall under the theme of learning so it’s a word I use regularly. The aim of this post is to to explore how others have defined it over the years and to present a new definition that's fit for the 21st Century.

Education

What's The Point of Education Again?

"What's the point of education?" is a question that’s been asked for thousands of years but we still don’t seem to have an answer that most people would agree with. In this post, I dive into the debate on what the aims of education should be and examine whether they're being implemented in our curre

Education

Why You Need a Philosophy of Education

I’ve been working on forming my own philosophy of education and feel that this is something more of us need to be thinking about. In this post I discuss the importance of reflecting deeply on the big questions in learning and education, along with an examination of the dominant views of our time.

Communication

How To Access the Untapped Wisdom of Teams

Two of the core skills of learning in teams are dialogue and discussion. Consciously moving between these two is crucial but most of us are more familiar with the latter than the former. In this post I explore the difference between the two and outline the conditions needed to apply them, drawing on

Understanding Yourself

How Productivity Harms Your Creativity and What to Do About It

One of the most important disadvantages of learning, working and living on the advice of productivity gurus is that too much structure can stifle creativity. In this post I examine the evidence from history, science and my own personal experience on the subject and discuss what can be done to combat

Languages

3 Qualities of Exceptional Language Learners

Although there is no single language learning method that works for everyone, what is universal is the mindset that you approach the process with and the qualities that you seek to cultivate in yourself. In this post I explore the fundamental principles needed to build the methods that work best for

Languages

5 Common Language Learning Myths Dispelled

A big part of the battle in language learning is in the mind and a great place to start is by dispelling the limiting beliefs that prevent so most people from making progress. In this post I explore the 5 most common language learning myths and offer strategies for combating them.

Business

Learning To Lead: 5 Things I Learned from the Hive Global Leaders Program

The way we define leadership is central to the way our world works so it makes sense to spend some time learning about it. And that's exactly what I did when I attended the Hive Global Leaders Program in San Francisco, a gathering of 150 global leaders from 40+ countries.

Understanding Yourself

Perfectionism: The Learning Mindset You Need To Avoid At All Costs

We all want to be perfect at anything we learn but these expectations of excellence are often unhelpful and more often than not they leave us in a state of paralysis. In this post I discuss the pitfalls of the perfectionist mindset and provide strategies for combating it.

Understanding Yourself

Why Competing With Yourself Is the Best Way To Learn Anything

The society we live in generates a lot of envy but condemns anyone who admits to experiencing it. In this post I look at how we can deal with envy in learning and present some strategies for managing the process of competing with ourselves and others.

Business

The Highs and Lows of Being a Jack of All Trades

Those of us with many interests aren’t always accepted by modern society. In this post I discuss how I've handled the challenges I've faced in my education and career as someone with multiple interests and give my thoughts on how you can do the same.

Understanding Yourself

3 Things The Matrix Taught Me About Learning

If you’ve seen The Matrix, you’ll remember that Neo and his friends are pretty good at learning. So good that they can upload skills to their brains in a matter of seconds and start using them right away. In this post I discuss what the film can teach us about the learning process and how to apply t

Creativity

5 Unexpected Things I Learned about Creativity from Starting a Podcast

Starting a podcast has been a great learning experience, for reasons I could never have predicted. But most of the things I've learned have nothing to do with podcasting itself. In this post I dive into the 5 things I've learned about creativity from the process.

Understanding Yourself

Zapping the Zeigarnik Effect: One Giant Leap for Your Productivity

Have you ever had that nagging feeling that you should be doing something else? It turns out the negative impact of these feelings on our ability to focus is much greater than we'd expect. In this post I discuss my own experiences and offer solutions to dealing with the problem of incomplete tasks.

Understanding Yourself

How The Growth Mindset Can Harm Your Learning and What To Do About It

It’s hard to think of an idea that’s received more attention in recent years than the growth mindset. In this post I explore how the growth mindset, when misinterpreted, can have a negative impact on learning and discuss strategies you can use to avoid this pitfall.

Learning

Emotional Encoding: How Your Mood Affects Learning and What To Do About It

Emotional encoding is the idea that material that's relevant to our emotional state receives special attention during memorisation, which will make it easier to remember later. In this post I discuss what drives this effect and offer advice on how to take advantage of it.

Learning

Environmental Encoding: How Your Surroundings Affect Learning and What to Do About It

If we can revisit or recreate the same external environment in which we initially learned something, will our learning and recall be stronger? In this post I explore the impact of environment on learning and memory and offer suggestions for using it to your advantage.

Learning

How To Become a Memory Master with Mnemonics

Mnemonic devices are powerful tools for improving your memory because they capitalise on the brain’s enhanced ability to encode, store and retrieve certain types of information. Mnemonic devices help you remember names, dates and related facts and in this post I show you how to use them.