"No pain, no gain." In this mini-podcast Thembi and Jonathan explore the decisions we're all having to make about our learning muscles: which ones are allowed to get a bit flabby? Do we embrace 'desirable difficulties' and take the tougher - but more effective - route to learning via repeated and varied practice, thinking hard, and testing ourselves? Or should we relax, offload the cognitive effort, and just enjoy the world of SatNav and Gen AI?

Strong book recommendation: Desirable Difficulties in Action, by Pearce and Moore (based on the work of Bjork and Bjork).

Are you a self-confessed perfectionist.. or maybe a chronic procrastinator.. or not ready to admit it quite yet?

Well, we all have the tendencies. Here are some tips to help.

In their latest How to Learn mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan look at the cost of perfectionism - 'it's not a quirky character trait, it's a barrier to learning' - and share four tips on how to share something that isn't quite there yet.

Making lists, observing rituals and transitions, putting on different clothes.. these are not just things that happen across Christmas and the New Year, but excellent techniques for switching off in general.

Thembi and Jonathan finish the How To Learn podcast for 2025 with advice which is probably way too late: don't wait for holiday periods to switch off, you need to practise it all the time!

Thank you for listening and have a wonderful break :)

What are you holding onto.. that's actually holding you back?

In this mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan look around the workplace at where people need to 'let go'. You might need to delegate a favourite project.. give up your comfort way of doing things.. or leave behind the luxury of the 'junior mindset' where you know somebody else will sort it out.

As Thembi says, 'it's not a personality flaw, it's a skills gap'. So here's a discussion of some helpful techniques: from project managing yourself, to getting help from coaches and mentors, to simply asking colleagues what you need to let go. They already know!

In this mini-podcast Thembi and Jonathan take 5 minutes to talk about a complex skill: 'reading the room'. Which can also mean 'reading the workplace' or even 'reading the interview panel'. Can we really trust ourselves to pick up social cues and group dynamics, in the moment, with accuracy? Maybe give yourself a better chance by i) understanding and mistrusting your own bias, and then ii) concentrating on preparation and relationships. Our room-reading skills are not as good as we think they are!

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?