Why We Must Recognise Learning As An Everyday Behaviour

📨 Subscribe | 🤖 AI Training | 🚀 Courses

 TODAY’S THOUGHTS ☠️

Hey there 👋,

The internet pushing tech companies’ endless proclamations of how to live and work provides no end of entertainment for me.

We saw a case in the last few weeks when the CEO of Google’s AI division proclaimed that the most needed skill in the age of AI is “Learning how to learn”.

Cool story, bro.

The reception from social media is as if a divine innovation has been unlocked, but we know different, don’t we?

This is nothing new.

I’ve always had a bone to pick with the term “Learning how to learn”. Mainly because we all know how to learn, it’s biologically programmed into each of us.

→ We can’t help but learn.

I like to think instead of focusing on “learning how to learn”, we would do better to spend time amplifying the ability to learn we each have and help others recognise that learning is an everyday behaviour.

The sad fact of the matter is a lot of us don’t recognise we’re learning every day because global education has given us a blurred view of what “learning” should look like, not what it actually is.

So, today, we’re exploring why we need to recognise learning as an everyday behaviour so we can scale our innate capability to learn.

Get your tea or beverage of choice ready, 🍵.

We've got lots to discuss!

P.S. Your app might clip this edition due to size, if so, read the full edition in all its glory in your browser.

P.P.S I’m running a short survey on what AI tools you actually use and why. Use 90 seconds to take part and get the full report in the next month.

 IN THIS DROP 📔

• Learning is an everyday behaviour

• Why the education system screwed workplace L&D

• How I’ve been using NotebookLM as my personal learning coach

🙋‍♀️ Want to reach over 5,000 L&D pros? Become a Newsletter sponsor in 2025

 THE BIG THOUGHT 👀

Why We Must Recognise Learning As An Everyday Behaviour

Workplace learning can be a fickle industry.

The goal is to improve and support the performance of workforces, yet we’re trapped in a perception prison built from the pillars of our global education systems.

The shocking revelation that many won’t say is that education is not learning.

A lot of us don’t recognise we’re learning every day because global education has given us a blurred view of what “learning” should look like, not what it actually is.

Training, learning and the education conundrum

If you’ve ever worked with me, you know I loathe the word ‘Training’.

When I hear the word training, I immediately think of when I took my German Shepard puppy to weekly classes in the hopes of getting him to sit down without being bribed with some sugary animal snack.

But due to many decades of corporate branding, most of the population connects the word training to learning something new.

Anyway, the point is that many people identify the times when they are learning to be when they are given ‘training’ or put on ‘training’.

This generally comes in the form of a classroom experience or again a lame e-learning module (I shudder just writing the word e-learning, are we still in 2001, seriously?).

What I’ve found is that the general population believe that learning is something you do at a defined point in time, normally when someone else has told you, “Today you are going to learn…..”.

You could call this a branding issue, and with that, I cannot disagree.

Yet with the behavioural change that technology has enabled with access to anything, at any time, anywhere, it still surprises me when people don’t recognise that we are learning all the time, practically every day.

Life is a learning journey

We only ever stop learning for one reason: when we die, and aside from that, it’s a constant learning experience.

I’ve worked with a lot of companies that get obsessed about helping people “Learn how to learn”. I’m not sold on that angle. I get the premise, yet I don’t feel it’s the right approach.

We’re all biologically programmed to learn.

It’s as natural as the breaths we take every millisecond. It’s happening, so you don’t need to activate it.

So, for me, it is not really in teaching people how to learn as so many companies are trying to pitch at the moment, but rather in supporting people to recognise how we all learn and that it is free-flowing, not defined and not controlled by someone telling you that at this time you will do this training.

The “I haven’t learned anything this year” conversation

Let me give you an example that illustrates my point based on real-life conversations I’ve had hundreds of times:

Me: So tell me, what have been some of the key things you’ve learnt this year that have really helped you?

Respondent: Learnt? Urm…… I don’t think I’ve been doing much learning this year.

Me: Really? I’m surprised you say that, as I heard you’ve been doing some great work with our new tool and you’ve been helping others in the team too.

Respondent: Oh yeah! I’m ok with that new tool. I mean, they put me on the training for it, taught me what to do etc. Actually, do you mean what training I’ve done this year? I’ve done a few bits of training this year.

Me: Sure, yes, tell me what training have you taken part in this year?

Respondent: Well, I’ve only done a few things, but I’ve been to this course and this course, this one too, and I went to this conference. So really, I would say I’ve not done too much training, I don’t think I’ve learnt that much either, as we don’t really have many opportunities to learn here.

Me: That’s interesting you say that, so do you feel that you’re only learning when you’re sent on a training programme?

Respondent: I suppose, yeah, I mean – how else would I be learning and improving if I’m not sent on training.

Me: Ok, well, let me ask you this, how did you find out how to use pivot tables to produce that dataset you shared with me a couple of weeks back?

Respondent: ah well, you know what? I never knew how to use pivot tables until Jenny in the finance team really helped me out and spent 20 mins showing me how easy it was to do.

Me: That’s great and how did you create that amazing presentation for last week’s company meet?

Respondent: Zack in our marketing team was a life saver! I went to one of those talks we have here sometimes, which is odd because I never usually go, as what’s the point ya know? But at this one, Zack was talking to the group about how to build engaging presentations to land your messages, and I took a lot away from that. It really helped me create the presentation for last week’s meet.

Me: Again, that is great to hear, so it really sounds like to me that you learnt a lot in both of those examples. It seems you’ve probably been learning a lot more this year than you think.

Respondent: Yeah, I suppose, but it’s not like I did any training, I didn’t attend anything ya know.

Me: No you didn’t, but who says you have to do training? Did you not learn how to do all these things from those around you and other tools we have here? This is all what I would call learning and to me it seems like you’ve been doing lots of it.

Respondent: I suppose so…………. I just feel like I’ve not learnt much this year, we don’t have enough training programmes here I think. Actually, what other training do you think I can do this year? My manager says that one of my objectives is to do some more training so I need to find some things to do.

I think you get my point…

What I hope the above highlights is that it’s not that people are not learning new things and improving their skills, behaviours and work performance.

It is that they don’t recognise many of these scenarios when they are exchanging knowledge with other people, using Google and AI to find answers to questions as learning experiences.

In some ways, I feel like a magician who pulls the rabbit out of the hat, with the hat resembling the traditional way many view “training” and the revealing of the rabbit (learning) being the eureka moment of ‘shit I can’t believe he just blew my mind on the concept of training and actually I’m learning all the time’.

An instrumental part of an L&D department is to help people recognise that learning is an everyday behaviour.

Don’t get confused, L&D teams do not make people learn!

It is not something we are given a defined slot to do, it is around us every day, and we are actively partaking in it whether we know it or not.

What do workplace L&D teams actually do?

We are an enabler, one that supports in many different life cycles, whether that be times of change or in the flow of life.

The aspiration should be to help people solve the problems that cause them to stagnate, build connections, nurture knowledge sharing and champion learning as an everyday behaviour.

If you really want to make learning a key component of your culture, then help people recognise the ways we’re constantly learning.

You must dispel the narrative that the educational system has built of learning being a one time designated event.

Final thoughts

Bottom line, if you want to make real change that provides benefits for both people and your business, help people recognise we are always learning and help them amplify that power to learn.

→ If you’ve found this helpful, please consider sharing it wherever you hang out online, tag me in and share your thoughts.

 👀 ICYMI (In case you missed it!)

1. Want to leverage the learning science power of Google's AI products for L&D? This is the guide you need. You can experiment with it all for free in Google AI Studio.

2. The hardest thing I've ever had to do in my L&D career is probably not what you expect. Find out what and how I navigated it here.

3. If we don’t change how we design workplace learning, can this replace us? A deep and philosophical question on what could happen if we don’t change with AI tools getting better every week.

 VIDEO THOUGHTS 💾

How I Use NotebookLM As My Personal Learning Coach

Long videos are packed with valuable ideas, but how much of them do you actually remember?

In this video, I share my personal workflow for using AI tools to extract key ideas, insights, and takeaways from long-form content like webinars, interviews, and lectures.

Whether the video is 30 minutes or 4 hours, I’ll show you how to break it down efficiently without losing depth or meaning.

You'll learn how I combine AI tools like NotebookLM, smart questioning, and human review to move from passive watching to active insight generation.

Till next time, you stay classy, learning friend!

PS… If you’re enjoying the newsletter, will you take 4 seconds to forward this edition to a friend? It goes a long way in helping me grow the newsletter (and cut through our industry BS with actionable insights).

And one more thing, I’d love your input on how to make the newsletter even more useful for you!

So please leave a comment with:

1. Ideas you’d like covered in future editions

2. Your biggest takeaway from this edition

I read & reply to every single one of them!

🙋‍♀️ Want to reach over 5,000 L&D pros? Become a Newsletter sponsor in 2025

P.S. Wanna build your L&D advantage?

Here’s a few ways I can help:

• Build your confidence and skills with the only AI course designed for L&D pros.

• Become a better L&D partner with the Art of Performance Consulting.

• Get a backstage pass to exclusive industry insights, events and a secret monthly newsletter with a premium membership.

• Book a 1:1 consulting session with me for support with your product or L&D tech challenges

• Hire me to talk at your company