What You Will Learn

Despite evidence to the contrary, we all use our brains. BUT - most of us have never learned how to think effectively. We’re not talking about IQ or innate intelligence, we’re talking about thinking as a LEARNED SKILL. We’re talking about a productive method of thinking and reasoning. Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoons, author of How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big and Win Bigly, calls this ‘Loserthink’. Loserthink doesn’t mean ‘dumb’ or ‘uninformed’, it simply means unproductive or ineffective. It’s not a value judgement of a person as a whole, just on this specific method of evaluation. Plenty of ‘smart’ and ‘well-informed’ people are culprits of using Loserthink (and in some cases, they are MORE susceptible). You use Loserthink because you’ve never learned or practiced the SKILL of thinking effectively. What this book presents is a method for thinking. By borrowing some fundamental techniques from various different fields, we can develop our thinking skills and become much mor

In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick introduced the world to their new discovery: the double-helix DNA structure. This so-called "secret of life" was widely considered the most important scientific discovery of the 20th Century. Their presentation won them a Nobel Prize. The most striking part of the pitch? It was only 5 minutes long. That was the COMPLETE presentation - introducing the secret of life, presenting their scientific discovery, explaining all of the need-to-know-details, showing how it works. You need to pause and consider for a moment. If these two blokes can explain the greatest innovation of the 20th Century in under 5 minutes, why do you think you need to book in hour-long meetings to present your report or pitch your new business idea to investors??? There’s clearly something wrong with the way most people are pitching their ideas. If you need to sell something as part of your job (a product, a service, an idea), then it’s worth taking the time to learn how to do it properly. And when you

We started the podcast back in June 2016. In the last four-and-a-quarter years, we've read and reviewed 200 books on the podcast! We thought it was a great milestone to take a step back and have a look at what lessons we've learned from all of the books we've read and how they can tie in together.A couple of years ago when we hit our 100th book, we did our "Top 10 Lessons". You can listen to that podcast episode here: 100th BOOK – Our Top 10 Lessons. They all hold up pretty well! Feel free to go and check out that episode, on here is a reminder of just the lessons themselves:You're Gonna Die Someday  Be Proactive (realise that you have the power to take action) Get In The Arena, Don't Sit On The Sidelines  Delayed Gratification (long-term satisfaction far outweighs instant gratification)  The Power of Questions & The Importance of Curiosity Have A Bias for Action (thinking and planning and dreaming are nice, but action is vital)Place lots of Minimum Bets &

The identities of all of the most powerful people in the country are similar: they're white, male, middle and upper class, and able bodied. Acknowledging this may be dismissed as political correctness, but Robin Diangello notes it is still a fact. Those people in the seats of power are making decisions that affect those not sitting at the table. Identity politics gets a pretty bad wrap. But looking through history, this has proven results. For example, women's suffrage, the American disability act, Title 9, federal recognition of same sex marriage. Robin Diangelo’s hope is that you may gain insight into why people who identify as white are so difficult in conversations regarding race and/or gain insight into your own racial responses as you navigating the roiling racial waters of life. Sign up for our monthly email recap: www.whatyouwilllearn.com/email  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Benjamin Disraeli: "There are three types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics" There are some great statisticians and data manipulators out there, and that can manoeuvre things in a way to get exactly the result they want. Any time you see a statistic, you should consider that it might be a lie. You need to learn some of these tricks so that you can defend yourself. The author says that the crooks know exactly how to manipulate data and statistics, so the honest people must learn the tricks as a matter of self defense. (Or, if you’re that way inclined and a little sneaky, you can sue some of these tricks to manipulate data of your own and lie with statistics a little more).  In the podcast episode and in this blog post, we’re going to cover: Sampling Errors Biased Sampling The different types of “averages” How you can use and unrelated number to answer a different question And How you can fight back against these dodgy statisticians   To see our ratings and what we though of the book, sign up to our

You and everyone you know is going to one day die. This is an uncomfortable fact. So uncomfortable that we try to push it out of our minds. But this leaves  most people totally unprepared for their meeting with the ‘Grim Reaper’.  Doctors learn a lot in medical school, but mortality isn't on the curriculum. The textbooks have almost nothing on ageing, frailty or dying. How the process unfolds, how people experience the end of their lives and how it affects those around them seem useless to the Western World. Being Mortal explores how we might best embrace these final moments.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Selfish Gene is one of the most influential books on Evolutionary Biology in history. Written by Richard Dawkins, the book shows us that we are just big lumbering robots whose purpose is to pass on genes. The gene itself sometimes generates selfish behaviour of the animal it inhabits. But it can also use altruistic behaviour, even sacrifice itself on the behalf of family who may share the same genes. In this episode we look evolution, competition, human purpose and memes.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The word 'Machiavellian' gets bandied around all the time. Frank Underwood from House of Cards, Richard Hatch from Survivor, Lord Baelish in Game of Thrones or Scar from The Lion King, each were able to manipulate in different ways to ultimately get what they want. For them, effectiveness was more important than being perceived as "nice". The Prince was written in 1532 by Niccolo Machiavelli.  To Machiavelli, the greatest evil was stagnation and complacency. The agents of healthy change were what he called "new princes". It has become one of the most influential instruction manual for leaders throughout history. Decades after Machiavelli's death, it spread far and wide. Over the centuries, millions have used it for advice on power.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This book is written to suggest techniques and to give you examples which demonstrate that you do not need to be defeated by anything, that you can have peace of mind, improved health, and never-ceasing flow of energy. In short, that your life can be full of joy and satisfaction. THE PROBLEM: Too many people are defeated by the everyday problems of life. They go struggling, perhaps even whining, through their days with a sense of dull resentment at what they consider the 'bad breaks' life has given them. In a sense there may be such things as 'the breaks' in life, but there is also a spirit and method by which we can control and even determine those breaks. It is a pity that people should let themselves be defeated by the problems, cares, and difficulties of human existence, and it is also quite unnecessary  SOLUTION: By learning to cast the obstacles from your mind, by refusing to become mentally subservient to them, and by channelling spiritual power through your thoughts, you can rise above obstacles which

Steve Jobs is the authorized self-titled biography of Steve Jobs. The book was written at the request of Jobs by Walter Isaacson, a former executive at CNN and TIME who has written best-selling biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein.The saga of Steve Jobs in Silicon Valley is the creation myth at large. Launching a startup in the parents garage and building it into one of the world's most valuable companies. He didn't invent everything outright, but he was a master at putting together ideas, art and technologies in ways that invented the future. Some leaders push innovations by being good at big picture, others by mastering details. Jobs did both relentlessly. He launched a series of products over 3 decades that transformed whole industries: - Apple 2 which took Wozniak's board and turned it into the first personal computer - Macintosh popularized graphical user interfaces - Toy Story and other Pixar blockbusters, opened up the miracle of digital imagination - Apple stor

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up - by Marie Kondo This book has the potential to change your life. The act of tidying is a series of simple actions in which objects are moved from one place to another. It involves putting things where they belong, something so simple that even a six year old should be able to do it. Yet most people can’t. A short time after tidying their household descends into a disorganised mess. When you follow the advice of this book and finish putting your house in order, your whole world will brighten and never again will you need to revert to clutter. This is what Marie Kondo calls ‘the magic of tidying’.   Grab a copy of the book here: https://www.bookdepository.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Up-Marie-Kondo/9781607747307/?a_aid=adamsbooks Get a free 7 day trial with Blinkist: www.blinkist.com/whatyouwilllearn     See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thanks for listening to Season 4 of What You Will Learn!In this episode, we'll recap our favourite lessons from our favourite books of Season 4. We go through our 'honourable mentions', then each of our respective Top 10s. The was a seriously strong season: we re-did some of our favourites in Mindset and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, plus some new favourites in Range, Mastery and The Slight Edge.Listen in to hear how we ranked them (especially where we agreed and disagreed!). Check out the post here with the short written summary of each of our favourite nuggets: https://whatyouwilllearn.com/best-of-season-4/   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're awful at making decisions. A survey found that 44% of lawyers don't recommend that students become lawyers. 83% of mergers/acquisitions fail to add any real value to the company. Hundreds of thousands of tattoos are removed each year. Young people start relationships that are bad for them, middle-aged people let work interfere with their personal lives, elderly have regrets about not smelling the roses more when they were younger.We need a better process for making the big decisions. Our generic process is usually: encounter a choice, analyse our options, make a choice, then live with it.But at each stage of the process, there is a villain: narrow frame, confirmation bias, short-term emotion, overconfidence. In order to overcome these villains, we need to "WRAP" our decisions: Widen our options, Reality-test our assumptions, Attain distance before deciding, Prepare to be wrong.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jared was studying bird watching in New Guinea when he came across a local politician Yali; who asked the question he asked was "why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people have little cargo of our own?" It was a simple question and this book is the answer. Diamond shows us how “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves” This episode is sponsored by Blinkist. For your free 7 day trial head to: www.blinkist.com/whatyouwilllearn   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Adam Ashton interviewed Derek Sivers, the author of the book that was our FIRST EVER episode of the What You Will Learn podcast, 'Anything You Want'.  We spoke about answering questions then questioning the answers, using creative thinking strategies to find an answer that is the opposite but also true, then we spent a long time nerding out on books. What makes a 'good' book? Is there a difference between a book you like and a book you would recommend? How do you pick what book to read next? What are some of your favourite books? Derek has three new books coming out soon. Keep an eye out for 'How To Live'. Check out all of Derek's books notes and book ratings at: https://sivers.org/book If you want to contact Derek, you can find that on his website too.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A Whack on the Side of the Head - by Roger van Oech"How You Can Be More Creative" Creative thinking is absolute vital to success. The author even says that creative thinking is just like sex for the mind (not sure what his sex life is like, but each to his own...). But we all have a bunch of 'mental locks' that trap us in our current ways of thinking. As much as we try, we can't break free from these mental locks. Some times we just need a 'whack' to snap us out of it. Mental Lock = "I need to find the right answer"Whack = There's always a SECOND 'right answer', push yourself beyond the first thing that comes to mind and think of another answer Mental Lock = "Play is frivolous, we need to be practical"Whack = Use your imagination! Some times you need to think practically, but sometimes you need to give yourself permission but play and use imagination to come up with new, creative ideas Mental Lock = "That's not my area, coming up with new ideas is for those creative types"Whack = EVERYONE

Malcolm Turnbull was the 29th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 2015 to 2018. His career also spanned through Journalism, Law and Investment Banking.In this episode we spoke to Malcolm about books, the Murdoch Media influence and the world post-corona. Watch the video version here: https://youtu.be/kwiqyMizH0E   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Malcolm Turnbull was the 29th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 2015 to 2018. His brand new autobiography takes us on a journey through his early career, then his beginning in politics, then through his achievements (and struggles) whilst Prime Minister.In this episode, we look at how Turnbull was able to achieve everything he achieved. From his early success in journalism, to jumping across to becoming a barrister, fighting in (and winning) some of Australia's biggest legal cases, to investment banking, doing billion-dollar deals and amassing a fortune for his client (and himself), then finally rising the ranks in politics. We look to other books we've read like Range, The Third Door and The 48 Laws of Power. Listen to us being interviewed on Owen Fitzpatrick's "Changing Minds" podcast: https://changingmindspodcast.com/season-2-interview-11-adam-adam/ OR https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/season-2-interview-11-interview-adam-ashton-adam-jones/id1441538919?i=1000473874458   

This is the third and final instalment of Ryan Holiday's modern stoicism trilogy. We've previously review The Obstacle Is The Way and Ego Is The Enemy, now it's time for Stillness Is The Key. With all of the chaos going on in the world around us, it's hard for us to find the time and mental focus we need to get things done. We're always reachable, the news constantly has something new we need to read, there's always another podcast to listen to, our to-do list keeps getting longer and longer. In order to do more and achieve me, we must cultivate Stillness. Grab a copy of the book here: https://www.bookdepository.com/Stillness-is-Key-Ryan-Holiday/9781788162050/?a_aid=adamsbooks  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mastering the Market Cycle, by Howard Marks will help you understand when is the optimal time to invest given a market's conditions.Between 2010 - 2020 there has been an unprecedented growth in the world's stock market. But in March 2020 it dropped suddenly and significantly. The question is: when is the time to be defensive or aggressive, when buying shares in the market, start your new business or borrow money to buy property? When things are going well and everyone is optimistic, or when things are poor and everyone is pessimistic?Warren Buffet said "the less prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we should conduct our own affairs" and "be fearful when everyone is greedy, and greedy when everyone is fearful."In this episode we look at:The economics of the cycleGovernments and central banksCredit and debt in the world economyReal EstateInvestor Psychology   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.