Simple Changes That Supercharge Learning

I made a video with everything I know about desirable difficulties

Tactics that make learning feel harder in the short term can massively increase both what you remember and what you can actually apply later on.

That is the fundamental truth behind what cognitive psychologists call “desirable difficulties.”

I recently wrote about desirable difficulties in the context of an MIT study that found that students didn’t retain information when they used ChatGPT to help write essays before doing their own thinking. Conversely, the students who had to use their own brains to write first, and only then engaged AI, produced more unique essays and remembered what they had learned. Brain first, tool second — desirable difficulty in action. That was one of the most popular posts I’ve ever done on this newsletter.

So, as one does, I decided to try to cram much of what I know about desirable difficulties into the 15-minute video below.

I hope you find something of value. And since I’m new to making video content, I’m eager for feedback. Please feel free to share thoughts here or in the comments below the video.

Thank you for reading, and for watching if you do that as well.

If you appreciate this newsletter, please share it.

And if a friend sent this to you, please consider subscribing.

Until next time…

David