Raj's Personal Blog

Learning How to Learn: The Course That Changed Everything

In early 2018, I stumbled upon a Coursera course that would quietly, yet profoundly, change the trajectory of my learning life. It was called Learning How to Learn: Powerful Mental Tools to Help You Master Tough Subjects, taught by Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski and hosted by UC San Diego.

At that time, I wasn’t new to education. I’d been through college. I was already serving in the United States Army as a Non-Commissioned Officer and had survived my fair share of tough schools — technical, tactical, and everything in between. But even with all that under my belt, I had a lingering feeling: I was working hard but not smart. I was absorbing information but not truly mastering it. I was succeeding, but often barely — and sometimes not at all.

It turns out the missing piece was this: I had never thought of learning itself as a skill.

The Turning Point

Before taking Learning How to Learn (#LHTL), I had always associated struggle in school with personal shortcomings — maybe I wasn’t a “math person” or just didn’t have a “good memory.” But this course shattered those beliefs. It introduced me to a science-backed framework for how our brains actually process and retain knowledge. Concepts like focused vs. diffuse thinking, chunking, spaced repetition, and even the importance of sleep were eye-openers for me. The course broke everything down into four digestible modules, rich with stories, metaphors, and interviews that made the ideas stick.

Suddenly, learning didn’t feel like guesswork anymore. It felt strategic.

And I started applying those strategies immediately — to memorize steps for technical tasks, prepare for promotion boards, internalize military creeds, and eventually dive into tough subjects like cybersecurity and programming. It was like flipping a switch in my brain. From that point forward, I wasn’t just learning — I was learning how to learn.

Why It Hit So Hard

In the Army, you’re often expected to learn fast and lead faster. There’s not much room for failure. You can easily find yourself in situations where it feels like you’re drinking from a fire hose — everything coming at you at once, with no pause button. I needed a system that could help me learn smarter, not just harder. I wanted to be the kind of leader who could not only deliver results but teach others how to do the same.

That’s what pushed me to rewrite my personal playbook on learning. Learning How to Learn helped me do that.

Beyond the Course: A Continued Journey

After completing #LHTL on February 10, 2018, I didn’t stop there. I picked up Barbara Oakley’s book A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra), which further cemented many of the core ideas from the course. I also enrolled in Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential, another brilliant course on Coursera, hosted by McMaster University.

Both reinforced a simple but powerful message: You can change how you learn, and that will change what you’re capable of.

Lessons That Stuck with Me

Here are a few ideas from Learning How to Learn that continue to guide how I study and grow:

• Focused vs. Diffuse Thinking: You need both modes to truly master a subject. You can’t brute-force understanding. Sometimes, a walk or sleep does more than an hour of grinding.
• Chunking: Breaking information into meaningful units (chunks) makes it easier to store and retrieve.
• Procrastination and the Pomodoro Technique: You can train yourself to just start — and that’s usually the hardest part.
• Memory Palace: Yes, it works. Especially for structured information like lists, procedures, or steps in a process.
• Illusions of Competence: Just because something feels familiar doesn’t mean you’ve learned it. You have to test yourself — not just re-read notes.
• Imposter Syndrome: Everyone deals with it. The interviews with Dr. Felder and Dr. Brent reminded me that doubt doesn’t mean you’re not capable. It often means you’re on the edge of growth.

Final Thoughts

If you’re a serious student of any kind — whether you’re preparing for exams, learning new skills for work, or just trying to level up in life — I highly recommend this course. It’s accessible, insightful, and actionable. I wish I had discovered it earlier in my academic and military career, but I’m glad I found it when I did.

It supercharged my learning and helped me develop a personal philosophy that I carry into everything I do today: Every challenge is learnable. You just have to learn how to learn it.

Happy Learning!