Theory 2 Action Podcast
Theory 2 Action Podcast
MM#448--Learning That Sticks
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If studying feels smooth, you might be doing it wrong. We dig into the science behind durable learning and show why the methods that feel effortful—retrieval, spacing, and interleaving—produce knowledge that holds up under pressure. Drawing on Make It Stick and real-world examples, we unpack how familiar strategies like rereading, highlighting, and cramming create a comforting illusion of mastery while leaving you empty-handed when it matters.
We start by reframing the core mistake: mistaking recognition for recall. That “I’ve seen this before” feeling floods your brain with confidence but doesn’t prepare you to explain a concept from scratch or pick the right approach without cues. From there, we walk through practical tools. Retrieval practice turns passive exposure into active memory by quizzing yourself, teaching a concept aloud, or using flashcards. Spacing replaces marathon sessions with shorter, scheduled reviews that capitalize on just-enough forgetting to strengthen recall. Interleaving blends problem types and concepts so your brain learns to identify patterns and decide which method to use—the same skill real work demands.
You’ll hear a concrete exam-prep story that shows how flashcards and spaced reviews transformed short-term familiarity into long-term command. Then we translate ideas into a three-part action plan you can start this week: swap one reread for retrieval, schedule three spaced sessions, and mix at least two problem types in your next practice block. Expect more struggle in the moment and more success when the test, meeting, or project arrives. That discomfort isn’t failure; it’s the signal that learning is sticking.
Our book of the day was "Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning" by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel
Key Points from the Episode:
• learning feels harder when it becomes durable
• the illusion of fluency from rereading and massed practice
• retrieval practice to expose gaps and deepen memory
• spacing sessions to leverage forgetting and reload knowledge
• interleaving to train recognition and method selection
• simple tests to confirm you can teach it from scratch
• three concrete actions to apply this week
Other resources:
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Welcome to the Theory to Action Podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.
SPEAKER_00:Hello, I am David, and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. As always, let's begin with our opening quote. Learning is deeper and more durable when it's effortful. Learning that's easy is like writing in sand here today and gone tomorrow. We are poor judges of when we are learning well and when we are not. When the going is harder and slower, it doesn't feel productive, and we're drawn to strategies that feel more fruitful, unaware that the gains from these strategies are often temporary. Rereading text and masked practice of a skill or new knowledge are by far the preferred study strategies of learners of all stripes, but they also are among the least productive. By massed practice we mean the single-minded rapid-fire repetition of something you're trying to burn into memory. The practice, practice, practice of conventional wisdom. Cramming for exams is an example. Rereading and mass practice gives rise to feelings of fluency that are taken to be signs of mastery, but for true mastery or durability, these strategies are largely a waste of time. And that nugget of wisdom comes to us from a great book called Make It Stick The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown, written in 2014. So learning is deeper and more durable when it's effortful. That single idea runs straight against how most of us were taught to study. We chase what feels easy, what feels smooth, what gives us that quick hit of confidence. But the research on learning says something completely different. Says something actually uncomfortable. The stuff that sticks is usually the stuff that felt harder while you were doing it. You think about that line from the quote, learning that is easy is like writing in the sand here today and gone tomorrow. You know that feeling. You read a chapter, maybe twice. I have too. By the end, every sentence looks familiar. You're nodding along and you think, okay, I'm good. I'm learning this. Then a day or two later, when you actually need to use the information on an exam or in a meeting or frankly just in a real conversation, it's gone. It's fleeting. The tide came in and wiped the sand clean. The authors of Make It Stick make it a blunt point. We are poor judges, indeed we are, of when we're learning well and when we are not. When the going is easy and fast, it feels productive. When it's slow and effortful, trudging along, it feels like we are doing something wrong. So naturally we gravitate to what feels good. Reread the notes, reread the chapters, underline, highlight, do the same kind of problem over and over in one long burst. And here's the problem. Those strategies mostly create an illusion of mastery. When you reread, you're recognizing the material, not truly recalling it. Recognition is like seeing an old acquaintance at the grocery store. You know the face, but you might not remember the name, where you met, or anything about them. Real learning is being able to bring it back on your own without the book or the slides in front of you. Mast practice, the practice, practice, practice in a single setting is the same story. You do 50 of the same type of problem in a row, and you feel like you're a genius by the end. But what you've really done is kept the exact procedure in your short-term memory for about an hour. Come back a week later, it's mostly gone. Cramming for exams works the same way. Short bump now, steep drop off on memory recall later. So if it's easy and it's familiar and it's smooth study, it's mostly writing in the sand. What does it look like to carve it in stone instead? It takes effortful learning, it takes struggling a bit. It looks like your brain having to reach, to retrieve, to connect, connect dots. And that feeling, what most of us interpret as I'm bad at this, is often exactly the sign that you're finally learning in a way that will last. One of the most powerful tools we have here is retrieval practice. Instead of rereading, you close the book and ask yourself, what do I remember? Then write it down or say it out loud. Quiz yourself with flashcards. Do a practice problem from memory. It will feel harder than rereading, sure, but you're going to expose your own gaps. You'll realize you forgot things you thought you knew. By the act of reaching for the answer, the little struggle, even if you miss, it strengthens your memory and your understanding. Another tool is called spacing. They talk about this in the book. Instead of one long heroic study session that we've all done, you spread the same total time of study over several days. You hit the topic, walk away, let forgetting start, and then come back. The moment you have to reload it where it doesn't come back instantly, that's the pure gold. That's the long-term retention you want. It'll feel far less efficient because you don't get that smooth, I've seen this 10 times in a row, feeling. But spacing builds memories that are still there weeks and months later. Personal example of this, when I was a personal trainer, I had to complete the NASM exam and I purposely used flashcards. Hadn't used flashcards all the way back since probably middle school, maybe even all the way back to grade school. You know, once you're in high school, you're just too good for that, remember? You're young and dumb and you know everything, but I use flashcards because that's what they that's what they taught us in preparing for the exam. They said the best study method is flashcards. So I remember handing my mom a deck of a hundred flashcards, and she would sit there and I would walk and pace the room, and I would have to recall and give definitions until I mastered the whole hundred deck of index cards. And the first time, I bet you I didn't get 20 right. But over time, and then I didn't know this was actually a study method, this tool called spacing, where you spread it out. I started doing that without even knowing this tool existed. But spacing really helped me. I would practice the deck, practice the deck, hand it to my mom, practice the deck, walk away for 8, 24, 48 hours, come back, see if I could recall the same hundred deck of flashcards. So it's very I have I have success with this tool. So highly recommend it. Finally, there is the inner leavening and variation tool. Rather than blocking your practice, 20 problems of type A, or then 20 problems of type B, you mix A, B, and C together, or you switch between concepts within a study session. That is it's deeply annoying in the moment, sure. Your accuracy is going to drop heavily, you will feel slower. But now your brain has to decide what kind of problem is this, which method, which concept, type A, type B, type C, which method would this fit to work and solve this problem? That's decision-making step is what prepares you to use the knowledge in the real world, where problems don't just show up neatly labeled, saying, hey, you can fix me by type A. So the quote also comes, calls out something very human about how we learn. And it says, When learning feels harder and slower, it doesn't feel productive. We're drawn back to the comfortable self. You're halfway through the tough practice test, and you start getting questions wrong, and the temptation is huge to just let me go back and reread. At least that'll feel like I'm doing something. But that feeling of fluency there, that's a trap. You have to know that's a trap. It's comforting, yes. But it's not the kind of comfort that helps you for your future self. You're just lying to yourself. So here's a simple way to reframe it. If you're in a study session, feels too easy, ask, am I just recognizing this? Or could I explain it from scratch with no notes? Break out a clean sheet of paper, teach it to yourself with no notes, just your recall. Teach it to somebody else, your friend, your neighbor, your spouse. If the answer is no, you can't teach it, you haven't learned it yet. And if your session feels a bit uncomfortable, if you have to think hard, if you're getting some retrieval attempts wrong, that's not failure. That's the mental equivalent of your muscles burning on the last few reps. It doesn't feel great. But now, now we're on the path. That's where real growth is going to happen. So let's turn this into something you can do this week. Let's turn theory into action. First, pick something to study or learning session or replace rereading with retrieval. Close the book, write down everything you can remember, then check out what you missed and fill in the gaps. If it feels worse than rereading, you will also teach yourself ten times more. It'll be slower, but it'll be deeper. And then, second, let's take one topic and space it. Instead of a single two-hour push, schedule three shorter sessions across several days. Put them on your calendar so they actually happen. Notice how by the third session you're recalling more on your own and relying less on the material in front of you. That's called sticking. And learning and sticking is two great things. And third, let's mix at least two of these things. If you're learning math, mix the problem types. If you're learning a language, mix the vocabulary or grammar and listening into one session. So you have to choose the concept or the method. If you're working on a skill like editing or design, rotate between different tools or techniques instead of camping on one. Accept that it will feel messier. And that mess is the training in your brain to recognize the patterns and pick the right tool in the moment. If you're a business owner, incorporate this type of learning into your training. Because when you do, you will watch your team grow. It's your job as the leader to create such situations. So in today's mojo minute, let's make learning stick. Let's not take the easy path, let's take the harder path. The harder path is going to be the flourishing path. And then return that to that image in the quote. Think about writing in the sand versus something more permanent. The easy path, rereading, cramming, mass drills gives you the false reassurance now. But it's going to abandon you later. We don't want that. We want the effortful path, the flourishing path. That involves retrieval, spacing, and interleaving, which is going to feel frustrating now, but it shows up for you when it counts. And if your learning feels a lot slower and harder than you'd like it to be, that just might be the sign that you're not broken, but that you're finally, finally doing it right. As always, let's keep fighting the good fight.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademy.com, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo.