Trevor Ragan on Learning to Learn

Trevor Ragan is the founder of The Learner Lab - an educational website designed to unpack and share the science of learning and development. He spends his time with thought leaders and researchers from the worlds of psychology and developmental science, consumes their research, connects the dots, and shares it with anyone that will listen. He's worked with professional, college, and Olympic sports teams, Fortune 50 companies, prisons, and in hundreds of schools across the country. These workshops are designed to help people understand and apply important principles of development, in order to become better, more resilient learners. Trevor had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “Learning is underrated” (6:20). “Learning is a skill. You can’t argue with that. It is something that you can get better at” (6:30). “If I’m good at learning, that’s going to benefit me in any scenario” (6:50). “You don’t have to love a loss. You don’t have to love getting rejected. You don’t have to love getting cut. But we can appreciate that within those setbacks, there are opportunities” (18:10). “I look at learning as a treasure hunt. If I get to learn a new a topic, I get really excited” (22:35). “We live in the best time ever for learning right now” (23:15). “Curiosity is super underrated” (26:10). “Listening is a skill. Can you get better at listening? Yes” (31:15). “The machinery in our brains that controls learning is plastic. Every time we choose to be intentional about a new skill and practice it, try to build it, yes we’re going to get better at that skill, but we’re also becoming a better learner in the process” (32:55). “At its core, growth mindset is the belief that I can change and grow and get better at stuff… That idea should be taught to anybody anywhere” (36:25). “The mindset of the leader is more important than we realized” (38:00). “A growth mindset is a belief in our capacity to change, it has nothing to do with how we feel” (39:05). “We can all change. We can all get better at stuff. That’s the magic of being human. That’s the magic of our brain” (43:10). “There are differences on the surface we see between people. We think it’s generational, but more times than not it’s something else” (49:40). “I’m going to [create content in the way] I would like to consume it, and I’m going to talk about the topics that are interesting to me. And if I do it in a way that I would like it and I would be interested, I think that’s good enough” (58:50). “Play with the right scoreboard. What’s the game you’re trying to win here?” (1:04:15) “Make stuff that you think is cool” (1:04:25). “[I’m most curious about] storytelling [right now]” (1:08:30). “[Cold calling] is going to work more times than you think” (1:14:45). “You’re never going to completely turn [fear] off” (1:17:15). “When you care about something that involves uncertainty, you’re probably going to feel something” (1:18:10). “People can perform well and not feel great. You can perform well and feel nervous. You can feel well and perform crappy” (1:19:00). Additionally, you can follow Trevor on Twitter and Instagram, and you can also find the website for The Learner Lab here. Thank you so much to Trevor for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.