Experts can help you plan your practice, focus on the right sub skills and accelerate your learning through feedback. In this short episode I cover:
- The different types of expert and how to choose the right one for you
- How to get objective feedback so that you can improve
- How to balance your needs for self direction and guidance to accelerate your learning
So whether you’re looking for an expert online or in person, this episode will help you separate the wheat from the chaff.

Julian Baggini is a philosopher and author who has written almost twenty philosophical books for a general audience. In this conversation we discuss:
- How to become more aware of your own thinking in the different areas of life
- Julian’s discussion of the question “What’s the point of school?”
- How to develop reasoning and critical thinking skills to make better decisions
So whether you’re looking to make better decisions or understand your own thinking this episode will give you all that and more.

We’ve all probably had glimpses of great teamwork in our own lives, where every one’s strengths complement each other and compensate for individual weaknesses, but these are often fleeting and temporary.

But examples of these learning experiences are few and far between in most schools and universities and in the organisations that many work in after finishing their education.

Collaborative learning skills must be continuously refined and practiced, not just things that people write about on their CVs and talk about in job interviews – because they can have a massive impact.

In this short episode, I'm joined by Will Reynolds - writer, videographer and all around MetaLearner. We discuss a range of topics including:

- The benefits of collaboration in learning and how to use it effectively
- The difference between dialogue and discussion and how to use both
- How to find a balance between competition and effective teamwork within groups

So whether you're looking to use collaborative learning to pick up a new skill or just want to work better in teams, this episode will give you everything you need and more.

Ulrich Boser is a bestselling author and senior fellow at the Centre for American Progress. In this conversation we discuss: 
- The key MetaLearning principles Ulrich discovered in his research
- How Ulrich has applied learning science to basketball
- The importance of trust in education and how to develop it 
So whether you’re looking to upgrade your learning skills or understand how to leverage trust in your learning, this episode will give you all that and more.

Our natural instinct to compete with others can be a powerful motivator for learning. In this short episode, we discuss:
- The benefits of competition in learning and how to use it constructively
- How competition can harm learning if it’s not kept in check
- How to compete with yourself over an extended period of time
So whether you're looking to use competition to start learning a new skill or just want to try competing with yourself for a while, this episode will give you all you need and more.

Mads Holmen is the CEO of Bibblio, an API platform helping knowledge publishers and learning platforms deliver smarter content recommendation. In this episode we discuss:
- How to live and learn in the attention economy
- The structural problems that drive fake news
- The fundamentals of AI and Machine Learning
So whether you’re looking to understand the structure of the attention economy or get a deeper understanding of AI and Machine Learning, this episode will give you all that and more.

We all want to be perfect at anything we learn but these expectations are unhelpful and can leave us in a state of paralysis. In this short episode, we discuss:
- Why perfectionism hurts learning, and the rare cases it helps
- The difference between high general expectations and low specific expectations
- Simple strategies to overcome perfectionism
So whether you're looking to overcome perfectionism or find your balance between ambition and slacking, this episode will give you all you need and more.

Kevin Kelly is the co-founder and executive editor at Wired magazine, and one of the world’s leading technologists. In this episode we discuss:
- How to build the learning superpowers needed to thrive in the 21st century
- The technological forces shaping the future of learning and education, including AR, VR and AI
- Kevin’s insights on skill acquisition
So if you’re looking to broaden your understanding of the technological forces that will transform our society, this episode has you covered.

Many of us in the West have accepted the belief that productivity and efficiency are the foundations for success and happiness but that's not always true. In this episode, we discuss:
- The problems with worshipping at the altar of productivity
- The importance of constraints for the creative process
- How to balance productivity and creativity
So whether you're curious about productivity, want to cultivate more creativity or want to balance these forces in your life, this episode has you covered.

Nelson Dellis is a 4x US Memory Champion and one of the leading memory experts in the world. In this episode we discuss:
- The techniques Nelson and competitive memory athletes use to memorise everything from names and faces, to decks of cards
- The importance of regular mental training for mental health
- The life lessons Nelson has learned from mountain climbing
So whether you’re a beginner looking to boost your memory or want to memorise huge quantities of information, this episode has you covered.

"What's the point of school?" is a question that’s been asked for hundreds of years but we still don’t seem to have a clear answer. In this episode, we discuss:
- The difference between learning and education and why it matters
- The harmful mindsets that education instils in us and how to combat them
- How the method of teaching has evolved in schools across history
So if you want to learn more about the philosophy behind education, this episode will give you all that and much more.

Will Reynolds is a videographer and writer who has become a regular fixture on the podcast. In this episode we discuss:
- How to go from novice to getting paid for new skills like videography
- The importance of cultivating transferable MetaSkills
- The lessons we can learn from autodidacts like Eminem and Frank Zappa 
So whether you’re looking to pick up hard skills and get paid for them or navigate the challenges of being an autodidact, this episode will give you all that and more.

Technology is changing the way we learn but it's not a magic pill that will solve all our educational problems. In this short we discuss:
- The best ways to filter information online to get to the good stuff quicker
- The importance of working diversity into your content consumption
- How to protect your precious attention in the digital economy
So whether you're looking to filter content more efficiently or stay focused in a world full of distractions, this episode will give you all that and more.

Uri Bram is the bestselling author of Thinking Statistically and speaks about using data and statistical thinking effectively in the real world. In this episode we discuss:
- The key statistical principals that everyone should be aware of
- How understanding music theory makes you a better musician
- How to learn complex skills from experts
So whether you’re math-phobic or already consider yourself a stats maverick this conversation will give you a whole range of useful insights that.

Anyone can learn another language but the thing that holds most people back is a series of limiting beliefs. In this episode we discuss:
- Whether there is a "language learning gene" that most great polyglots have
- Whether immersion is important for the language learning process
- Whether children are actually better language learners than adults
So if you're looking to learn a new language this episode will eliminate any doubts you have and give you the tools needed to make real progress.

Gabriele Oettingen is a Professor of Psychology at New York University and the University of Hamburg and a bestselling author. Her research focuses on human motivation and goal setting, exploring the impact of the way we look at the future on our emotions and behaviour.

We’re living in an age where positive thinking is all the rage – from pop music to political speeches thee message is the same: think positive, focus on your dreams and they’ll come true before you know it. The problem with following this advice is not only that it’s empty and hard to action – but that it can actually reduce your chances of achieving your goals.

Gabriele Oettingen has spent twenty years researching the science of human motivation and discovered time and again that conventional positive thinking falls short. By changing the way we think about the future her research has proven that we can become healthier, improve our personal relationships and perform better at work.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- How people normally set goals and what they’re doing wrong
- The pitfalls of positive thinking and how to avoid them
- The practical tools you can apply to get better results in your life

So whether you’re looking to make some major changes in your life or just level up that extra one per cent, you’ll learn the practical strategies needed to change your mindset and habits in order to achieve your goals.

If you’re someone with multiple interests, you’ve probably been branded a “Jack of all Trades, Master of None” more times than you can remember. And those of us with many interests sometimes struggle because we can’t be put into a box and labelled as an expert in a specific field.

But during the Renaissance, a polymath was seen as a perfected individual, someone who had mastered intellectual, artistic and physical pursuits. Hence the term “Renaissance Man” that’s still often used to describe people with multiple interests to this day.

In this short episode, I'm joined by my friend Will Reynolds, who is a perfect example of a polymath and MetaLearner because he’s taught himself a whole range of skills including writing, playing the guitar and videography – and importantly he’s been able to make a living from these skills.

We discuss a range of topics including:

- The lessons we can learn from great polymaths like Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin and Johann Goethe
- Where society's obsession with specialisation comes from and how to deal with it
- How to balance exploring different fields with focusing on getting things done

So whether you're looking to balance your multiple interests, make progress on your learning projects or learn from the great polymaths of history, this episode will give you all that and much more.

Ellen Langer is a Harvard psychologist widely known as the “mother of mindfulness” and is the author of eleven books and more than two hundred research articles on mindfulness over the last 35 years.

Mindfulness is becoming more and more of a buzzword these days but very few people actually understand it and even fewer know how to apply it in their everyday lives. But there are few things that can have a bigger impact on your learning and life than improving your awareness of yourself and the world around you.

Ellen is the perfect guide to the field of mindfulness because she takes a clear, no nonsense approach, devoid of the mysticism that often surrounds it. This makes her ideas easy to digest and more importantly, easy to apply in practice.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- What mindfulness actually is and how it differs from mindlessness
- Some of the most common learning myths and how to combat them
- How to keep learning fun and avoid it becoming a chore

So whether you're looking to finally understand mindfulness, uncover some of the learning myths that we're vulnerable to at school or improve your awareness of your own learning, this episode will give you all that and more.

Simon Peyton Jones is a computer scientist who currently works as a researcher for Microsoft and has built his own programming language, Haskell. He is also chair of Computing at School, which was central to the 2014 reform of the English curriculum that made computer science a foundational subject.

As our lives become increasingly influenced by computers, it's surprising how few of us know anything about how these devices work. We don't all need to become programmers, but understanding the core principles that are behind our favourite websites and apps is important when we spend so much time on them.

Simon is uniquely positioned to offer insight into the field, given his many years of research and application and his experience teaching computer science as a Professor at University level.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- The core computer science principles that everyone should understand
- The importance of focusing on ideas, not devices, in computer science education
- Simon’s view on whether there’s a tradeoff between technology and humanity

‍So whether you want to become a programmer, understand the basic principles behind computers or hear an industry insider's views on to how to manage the use of technology in schools, this episode will give you all that and much more.

Jeff Cobb is a thought leader in the field of lifelong learning and the author of the bestselling book, Leading The Learning Revolution. He also runs a popular blog and podcast, and is the founder of Tagoras, a learning consultancy.

As we move from a knowledge economy to a learning economy where we need to acquire new skills everyday just to stand still, the importance of lifelong learning is rapidly increasing and opportunities in the space are huge.

Jeff is someone who is uniquely placed to view the lifelong learning industry from a big picture perspective given his many years of experience and the range of different clients he has been involved with.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- The main trends driving the increased demand for lifelong learning
- What makes good educational content and what should be avoided
- How the shift towards mobile is likely to affect the future of learning

So whether you're looking to start a business in the lifelong learning market or are just curious about the latest trends in the space, this episode will give you in depth insights from an industry insider.

Ed Fidoe is one of the founders of School 21, an innovative new school in Stratford, East London that's reinventing education by preparing its students, aged 4-18, for the 21st Century.

For so many people, school was characterised by drudgery, rote learning and the stress of exams. But school doesn't have to be that way and there are plenty of people trying to reinvent education for the 21st century.

Ed is one of these people, and along with cofounders Peter Hyman and Oli de Botton, he built a school from scratch that aimed to rebalance head (academic success), heart (character and well-being) and hand (generating ideas, problem solving and making a difference).

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- The core skills needed for the 21st century and how to develop them
- The process of reinventing education and the challenges ahead
- The effective and balanced use of technology in classrooms

So whether you're a parent thinking about how to manage your children's eduction or are just curious about innovation in education, this episode will give you a series of fascinating insights from an insider's perspective.

Barry Schwartz is an acclaimed Professor of Psychology who recently retired after 45 years of teaching at Swarthmore College. Barry has also written three bestselling books on the Paradox of Choice, the Meaning of Work and Practical Wisdom and has done a series of popular TED talks on those subjects.

Practical wisdom is something we could all do with more of. It’s close to what the Ancient Greeks called phronesis - a general understanding of how to live a good life and the decisions we should make.

Barry has spent years studying the subject and even had the opportunity to teach a class on it at Swarthmore, which makes him perfectly placed to offer insights into the topic of wisdom.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- How to become wiser using tools to learn from our everyday experience
- How practical wisdom could be applied to improve the educational system
- How to make better choices in a world of infinite possibilities

So whether you're looking to make better decisions in your life, learn from your everyday experience or just get a little bit wiser across the board, this episode has you covered with actionable principles and strategies you can apply now.

Barry Pousman is the founder of Variable Labs, a Virtual Reality company that creates immersive experiences to help people develop soft skills.

Virtual Reality is likely to be a game changing technology for a number of industries but its impact on education in schools and businesses will be huge.

As someone who's running a company at the cutting edge of the industry, as well as filming his own VR experiences, Barry is perfectly placed to offer insights into the potential of the technology.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- How learning in VR accelerates the development of soft skills like negotiation
- The potential for VR to revolutionise education in schools and universities
- How VR differs to other storytelling mediums like film, audio and books

So whether you're curious about how VR can help you learn new skills or want to know more about it's impact on the educational system, this episode will give you insights from the cutting edge of this revolutionary new industry.

Kalid Azad is the founder of Better Explained, one of the world's most popular maths websites that makes hard concepts easy to understand. After studying Computer Science at Princeton, Kalid spent a few years at Microsoft as a program manager, founded a Y Combinator startup, and currently works as a developer.

For many people, maths is the subject they used to hate most in school and they carry this fear of numbers into later life. But it doesn't have to be that way - and understanding basic mathematical principles can be both fun and useful.

Kalid uses an intuition first approach to explain difficult ideas in a way that anyone can understand and this makes him a great person to talk to about any subject or skill including his current profession of computer programming.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- How to get better at maths and why some people find it so hard
- The secrets behind great explanations of tricky concepts
- How Kalid has learned skills from coding to snowboarding and weight training

So whether you're looking to get better with numbers, learn to code or pick up physical skills, this episode will give you the actionable principles and techniques needed to succeed.

Niklas Jansen is the co-founder of Blinkist, an app that distills the core insights from non-fiction books into 15-minute summaries that you can access from your smartphone or tablet in written or audio form.

If you're someone who wonders about how to apply what you read in everyday life, then the app is worth checking out, because the short summaries or "blinks" cut away the excess and drive you to take action.

Niklas founded Blinkist with three friends in 2012 and the business has since gone on to raise Series A funding and acquire over a million users.

In this conversation we discuss a range of interesting topics including:

- How Niklas started the business and learned the skills of entrepreneurship
- How to apply what you read and use Blinkist to learn more in less time
- How Niklas and his co-founders create a learning environment at the business

So whether you're looking to build your own business, remember more of what you read or learn better from your coworkers, this episode will give you actionable strategies that you can apply today.