Without Warren Buffett being a learning machine, the [Berkshire Hathaway investing] record would have been absolutely impossible. The same is true at lower walks of life. I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they’re learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than when they get up.

I don’t know what I think until I write it down.”
― Joan Didion

Research shows that when we teach what we learn, something magical happens in our minds. We suddenly notice mistakes in our thinking. We have more creative insights. Our ideas become sharper. We remember what we learned for longer. We see patterns more effectively. We get feedback that improves our idea. This magic is what I call the Explanation Effect mental model. And it even applies when we teach concepts to ourselves by journaling, mind mapping, or talking out loud.

Gotten new ideas from a student, reader, or conversation partner that helped take the idea to the next level.

Learning is NOT just about taking in information

Looking at text and expecting to learn is not far off from looking at food and expecting to get its nutrients. We need to digest our life experiences just like we digest our food

When you give knowledge away, not only do you also keep it, it actually grows stronger in your mind.

The Internet allows us to share our knowledge on a whole other scale. Rather than just sharing the knowledge in our head with one person through conversation, we can share it with millions of people instantly at no cost. There is NOTHING more scalable than teaching.

“No one learns as much about a subject as one who is forced to teach it.”

― Peter Drucker