What’s your Learning Stack?
By Mattan Griffel and Álvaro Sanmartín
If you work in tech, you may have been asked: “Hey, what’s your Tech Stack?” meaning the different technologies and tools that your Company is using to create your website or your mobile app. We all have one.
However, as constant learners, we (Mattan and Álvaro) have developed an interest in what we have started to call the Learning Stack.
The Learning Stack are those tools, platforms, apps, channels, podcasts, videos…that you use regularly to learn new stuff. If you don’t have one, you should think about it. Your future depends on it.
Background
We are Mattan (CEO of One Month) and Alvaro (Growth Manager at Udacity), some kind of “learning geeks” that have been years obsessed with finding the secret recipe that leads to good, long-lasting learning. As if we were learning scientists, we test new things every month, with ourselves, with friends, with customers (online and in-person), and with anyone that asks the magic question: “Hey, how on earth did you manage to learn xyz?”
We have tried hundreds of platforms, tools and methods to learn. We have failed endless times, but we have had some successes. From meditating every day, to learn coding or salsa dancing. We have grown at many levels in the last few years, and we would like to help others to do it too.
The “Stack Tree”
Let me clarify that there is no “best learning Stack”. Each of us is a different kind of learner, and some things that work for us might not work for you. However, there are some principles that can help you build your learning Stack. Think of it as the different parts of a tree:
1. Root Level: Discipline.
Stop. Put time aside, and remind goals/tasks constantly.
If you want to learn something new, you need to sit down. Look at your existing commitments, and decide when are you going to dedicate time to this new activity. Seriously, think of it like if it was the most important meeting scheduled -with yourself- and use tools to help you track your daily goals and performance. In order to learn, you need to be disciplined, and keeping yourself accountable is non-negotiable. If it sounds tough…well, it is.
Alvaro — In my case, I use my personal Google Calendar to set daily tasks and a simple Sublime text list to manage my weekly goals that take 1 hour for me to complete every Monday morning. A whiteboard at home helps me track my progress visually every day. I don’t know what it is, but if feels good to cross the tasks done, or circle the days you do sports in your whiteboard. Try it!
Mattan — I use a task-management app called Things designed for implementing the Getting Things Done system. Each week I go through all my emails, notes, and goals for the week, and identify what my upcoming tasks will be for that week. I categorize them by context (computer, phone, office, home, errand), time (15 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours), difficulty (easy or hard), and priority (high, medium, low). That way if I only have 15 minutes between meetings and I’m feeling low-energy, I have a subset of tasks I can immediately pick from.
2. Ground Level
Find the environment that helps you learn & grow.
Think of plants. A strong plant needs roots, but it also needs the right environment to bloom. When you are learning something new, the environment is crucial for motivation — the blood of learning -, and we are talking about:
- People: You need to surround yourself with the right people (Mattan will talk about that later) to increase the learning outcomes in any activity. If you want to master a new skill, you will need to support from others. You should not do it alone.
- Places: Learning is hard, so don’t make it more difficult. Look for spaces that inspire you, and associate them with your new learning activity. Don’t travel 3 hours every day just for that purpose…make it easy to let the learning magic happen often.
- Interactions: Be mindful of the time you spend interacting with others, as much as the time you spend alone. If you are distracted too much, looking at your phone every 5 minutes, you are not going to learn effectively. However, good conversations are key for sustained learning, as they bring positive emotions to the learning mix.
Mattan: When I want to learn something new, it usually goes like this:
First I try to get connected to as many people as possible who are familiar with the thing I want to learn about. I meet with them for coffee or set up phone conversations, to explain my intentions and try to convey a sense of my enthusiasm.
I take notes during each conversation and I ask them if they are familiar with a set of resources that are good on the topic or if they know anyone else I should talk to. The first person I talk to might introduce me to three other people, who each introduce me to three other people, and in this way, you can meet a lot of people who have expertise in an area very quickly.
Tim Ferriss has a set of interview questions he likes to ask people when he’s learning about something knew that you can use for your meetings with experts if you don’t know what to ask:
- Who is good at X despite being poorly set up for it and who is good that shouldn’t be?
- Who are the most unorthodox X? Why and what do you think of them?
- What makes you different than most X and who trained you?
- Have you trained others and have you been able to replicate your results? I’d love if you could give us a couple examples.
- What’s the biggest mistakes and myths when it comes to X and what are the biggest wastes of time?
- What are your favorite instructional books or resource on X and if people had to teach themselves what would they use?
- If you were to train me for four weeks to X, and you had a million bucks on the line, what would the training look like? — what if I trained for eight weeks?
- What’s one action that someone should take this week to help move them forward towards their goal of X?
Initially, in these conversations, I explore my curiosity and try to put together mental models of how the world works.
For example, recently I’ve been learning about real estate. So I’ve made note of terms that I’m unfamiliar with, and started coming up with ideas for how I think the industry works. You have to get over the fear of asking stupid questions like, “You mentioned Cap Rate, what does that mean?”
3. The Sap:
Physical and emotional balance to keep you going.
We learn with our emotions as much as with our minds — If you don’t agree with this, try to go to class the day someone broke your heart, or a close friend betrayed you…-. We need to care about our body and mind while we learn new things so we can keep going no matter what happens in our life. We both use tools to help us breathe deep every day, practice sport regularly and make our learning practices our “comfort zone”.
Álvaro: Álvaro: One of the toughest things about learning is to achieve personal discipline. My mental and physical exercise help me learn faster in other areas of my life, because they keep my mind and body receptive to new skills and habits. Without daily mental exercise ( I use Headspace, thanks to Mattan), and without daily physical exercise (Combination of Yoga, Running, Swimming, Rowing, Cycling and other disciplines) I could not sustain the effort in other areas of my life. It’s like the speed that keeps me going no matter what. I don’t drink coffee or tea to keep me going, it is just the flow of habits what moves me forward.
Mattan: I use Headspace for mental training, Anki for spaced repetition, and I use Caffeine (I start my day with a cup of Yogi Tea Vital Energy — which has 75mg of caffeine, about the same as a cup of coffee) and Adderall (I’m prescribed but I take a small amount, 5mg). My physical exercise consists of regular stretching using an app called Start Stretching, and Crossfit, which I do about 2–3 times per week.
4. The Leaves:
The skills that we are learning.
Seems like it is too much preparation, too many layers until you reach real content that needs to be learned. What if I just want to learn how to play the piano? Well…definitely it will be easier to learn it if you put time aside for it, check in your objectives regularly, meet piano students that are learning it at the same time, in a nice and welcoming piano school where you feel loved by the teacher. Being able to control your breathing and focus can’t hurt either, right?
Alvaro: I am currently learning about how the brain works, and I am also coding, painting and cooking. Reading books is the main tool for the former (I have also started using an app called Blinkist), I am using Udacity, Codeacademy and One Month for coding, and youtube videos for painting and cooking (But looking for an app or platform for it). Generally, I spend one and a half hours of my day working on my body and one or two hours actively learning with my mind, always alternating disciplines. The early morning starts with Yoga and Meditation, and I do more active exercise in the evenings before I start with more intellectual-related topics like coding or writing.
Mattan: Like I mentioned above, I’m currently learning about real estate, and also learning SQL as I’m teaching a class at Columbia about it in a few weeks. I’m auditing a class about real estate portfolio management, reading books, checking out tools, and having lots of conversations. As for SQL, I’ve found a few good online resources (Learn SQL the Hard Way and PostgreSQL Exercises) and I’ve picked up a few books for examples I’ll be using in class.
5. The Air
Why are you doing this?
The mindset developed after years of learning needs to be sustained in something deeper than just becoming better professionals. It needs to be based on something stronger and deeper. We all have our internal motivations, and if you give yourself time to think about it, you will find your motivations too. Becoming a better version of yourself is a good one.
Alvaro: In my case, I do this as a belief in the power of the “apprentice lifestyle” that helps you live your life as someone that is always a beginner in all the disciplines of life. The apprentice always explores life, makes mistakes, and absorbs the learnings of those actions to improve himself for the future. Looking at life from that perspective has helped me overcome any challenge that has appeared on my way.
Mattan: I learn because I believe happiness comes from the feeling of progress. For me, I feel the most progress when I am faced with a new topic or challenge where I know I could be better and then I learn to master it. There are few things more exciting than mastering something new and while physical things come and go, new knowledge lasts forever.
Mattan & Álvaro
