You Did Not Make a Silly Mistake
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Teasers
Short distillations of longer writing. Each teaser links to the full blog posts (and books) it came from.
2026
You Can Do Spaced Repetition in Math
2026 Oct, ~150 words
Why Some Students Seem Naturally Gifted at Math
2026 Oct, ~150 words
Why Placement Exams Matter
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Why Knowledge Graphs Are So Powerful
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Why Hierarchical Subjects Feel Harder
2026 Oct, ~50 words
The Game Eventually Becomes About What You’ve Actually Done
2026 Oct, ~50 words
The Cost of College Is So Out of Whack
2026 Oct, ~100 words
The Bar for the Technical Workforce Is Skyrocketing
2026 Oct, ~150 words
The Active Learning Loop
2026 Oct, ~0 words
The 8 Laws of Learning
2026 Oct, ~0 words
Teachers Shouldn’t Remind Students What They Learned Previously
2026 Oct, ~250 words
Taking Detailed Notes Does Not Cause Learning
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Students Shouldn’t Meet Real Standards for the First Time at 18
2026 Oct, ~150 words
Start Where You Are
2026 Oct, ~0 words
Sometimes the Push Is What Opens the Door
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Some Alternative Methods Avoid the Actual Skill
2026 Oct, ~100 words
So Much Mainstream Edtech Is Soft
2026 Oct, ~100 words
People Confuse Difficulty with Rigor
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Memory Is the Substrate of Learning
2026 Oct, ~100 words
How to Maximize Your Progress in a Talent Domain
2026 Oct, ~150 words
High School Teachers Don’t Grade Homework Anymore
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Fundamentals Put a Ceiling on What You Can Create
2026 Oct, ~200 words
Familiarity vs. Understanding
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Effective Learning Requires Deliberate Practice
2026 Oct, ~0 words
Division of Labor in a Group Project Is Division of Learning
2026 Oct, ~150 words
A Lot of Advanced Math Is Taught Backwards
2026 Oct, ~100 words
A Core Math Course Should Not Tour the Professor’s Interests
2026 Oct, ~50 words
You Have to Build the Concrete Understanding First
2026 Oct, ~100 words
They Hate the Cognitive Friction of Missing Prerequisites
2026 Oct, ~0 words
They Had Termites in Their Foundation
2026 Oct, ~200 words
Then Comes the Train Wreck
2026 Oct, ~50 words
The Optimal Training Schedule
2026 Oct, ~100 words
The Grade Inflation Trap
2026 Oct, ~50 words
The Goal of Education
2026 Oct, ~0 words
The Applied Math Path After Calculus
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Students Need to Recall Information
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Stop Grading Proxies for Learning
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Start Training
2026 Oct, ~0 words
Math On Its Own Is Underpowered
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Math Acceleration Is Not Bad for Kids
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Many Students Are Sold a Lie That Learning Should Feel Pleasurable
2026 Oct, ~150 words
Learning Is Like Driving
2026 Oct, ~150 words
Learn the Material Before You Take the Course
2026 Oct, ~50 words
How You Can Use Math to Level Up Your Career
2026 Oct, ~100 words
How to Break the Cycle of Brainrot
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Get So Technically Skilled That You Can Apply It to Your Domain of Choice
2026 Oct, ~0 words
Education Is Like Giving Everyone of the Same Age the Same Weight to Lift
2026 Oct, ~0 words
Education Is a Race Against Premature Convergence
2026 Oct, ~0 words
Each Level of Math Is the Foundation for the Next Level of Abstraction
2026 Oct, ~150 words
Calculus Is Not Even Halfway
2026 Oct, ~150 words
Calculators Can Become an Intellectual Drug
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Be a Cognitive Weightlifter
2026 Oct, ~50 words
A Serious Math Arc
2026 Oct, ~0 words
You Can’t Escape Math
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Weak Math Ruins Your Day
2026 Oct, ~150 words
The Worst Part of K-12 Math
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Unserious Edtech is Rotting Your Brain
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Students Should Not Meet Real Standards for the First Time at 18
2026 Oct, ~250 words
Repetition Is Not the Enemy of Creativity
2026 Oct, ~150 words
Projects Should Demonstrate Skills You Already Know
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Mathematical Rot Starts Early
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Math Is Everywhere
2026 Oct, ~300 words
Many Beloved Study Techniques Are Fake
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Learning Advanced Math and Coding Opens Career Doors
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Just Tell Them the Tool
2026 Oct, ~150 words
How Do You Teach Higher-Order Thinking in Math?
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Every Puzzle Piece Becomes a Heavy Weight
2026 Oct, ~100 words
Creativity Does Not Float Above Skill
2026 Oct, ~50 words
College Math Class Is a Giant Copying Exercise
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Calculus Is the Gateway to a Bigger World of Math
2026 Oct, ~50 words
Biology Is Math
2026 Oct, ~100 words
A Lot of Homework Isn’t Even Graded for Accuracy
2026 Oct, ~250 words
Direct Instruction > Discovery Learning
2026 Oct, ~100 words
You Gotta Build Mental Strength
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Why Placement Matters
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Why Math Hits People Differently
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Why Automaticity Matters
2026 Sep, ~150 words
When Homework Isn’t a Good Signal
2026 Sep, ~100 words
When a Workaround Becomes a Trap
2026 Sep, ~100 words
What Can You Learn After Calculus?
2026 Sep, ~100 words
What Can You Learn After Calculus If You Like Proofs?
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Want to Improve Your Creativity?
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Unserious Edtech is Rotting Your Brain
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Universities Are Having to Teach Middle School Math
2026 Sep, ~50 words
This Will Haunt You in Math
2026 Sep, ~200 words
This Sets Students Up to Fail in Math
2026 Sep, ~100 words
This One Idea Would Fix a Lot in Math Education
2026 Sep, ~100 words
There Are Countably Infinite Courses After Calculus
2026 Sep, ~50 words
The Wrong Way to Study
2026 Sep, ~200 words
The Technical Bar is Skyrocketing
2026 Sep, ~150 words
The Status Quo Isn’t Good Enough
2026 Sep, ~100 words
The Potholes of Learning
2026 Sep, ~150 words
The Most Hard-Hitting Two Sentences in All of Talent Development Research
2026 Sep, ~50 words
The Limits of Classroom Teaching
2026 Sep, ~150 words
The Ghost of Learning Gaps Past
2026 Sep, ~150 words
The Anti-Memorization Movement
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Taking Notes Isn’t Learning
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Stop Making Kids Reinvent Math
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Stop Grading Attendance
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Still Counting on Your Fingers?
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Standardized Tests Are a Better Signal of Knowledge Than Grades
2026 Sep, ~200 words
Sometimes a Push is What Opens the Door
2026 Sep, ~250 words
So You Wanna Be an ML Engineer
2026 Sep, ~200 words
Projects Can Help or Harm
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Project-Based Learning Can Be Taken Way Too Far
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Nothing Succeeds Like Success
2026 Sep, ~100 words
No, You Did Not Make a Silly Mistake
2026 Sep, ~50 words
Much Practice, Little Progress
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Most Math Major Math is Taught Backwards
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Learning Debt Compounds
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Learn Math Much Faster
2026 Sep, ~200 words
It’s Not Talent, It’s Better Preparation
2026 Sep, ~150 words
How to Turn Math into a Superpower
2026 Sep, ~100 words
How to Think About Learning Efficiency
2026 Sep, ~150 words
How to See the Big Picture in Math
2026 Sep, ~200 words
How Math Can Level Up Your Career
2026 Sep, ~200 words
Educational Malpractice
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Don’t Hold Students Hostage to the Calendar
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Division of Labor is Division of Learning
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Difficulty vs. Rigor
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Cognitive Ankle Weights
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Calculus Students Who Can’t Subtract Negative Numbers
2026 Sep, ~200 words
All Learning Comes Down to Memory
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Abstract Math Needs Concrete Roots
2026 Sep, ~50 words
You’re Probably Taking Too Many Notes
2026 Sep, ~200 words
You Need to Measure Learning
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Why You Need to Interleave Practice
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Why Understanding Multiplication Isn’t Enough
2026 Sep, ~200 words
Why College Proofs Seem Impossible
2026 Sep, ~100 words
What Makes an Expert
2026 Sep, ~100 words
What Happens When Students Don’t Know Their Math Facts
2026 Sep, ~150 words
The Secret to Building Confidence
2026 Sep, ~50 words
The Rot Starts With Multiplication Tables
2026 Sep, ~150 words
The Math Habit That Actually Works
2026 Sep, ~100 words
The Case for Mastery Learning
2026 Sep, ~200 words
The Best Way to Take Notes
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Stop Holding Back Kids Who Are Ready
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Spaced Repetition = Wait-lifting
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Silly Mistakes Mean You Need More Practice
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Remedial Math at Harvard
2026 Sep, ~50 words
Radical Math Acceleration Isn’t the Problem
2026 Sep, ~200 words
Practice More Often, Not Longer
2026 Sep, ~200 words
Middle School Math is the Biggest Waste
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Mental Traffic Lights
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Learning is Bridge Building
2026 Sep, ~100 words
How to Build Problem-Solving Skills
2026 Sep, ~150 words
How Concrete Math Becomes Abstract
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Differential Equations is One of the Worst Taught Math Courses
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Concrete Skills Build Abstract Understanding
2026 Sep, ~200 words
College Math Classes Are Often a Waste of Time
2026 Sep, ~150 words
Calculus is Not the Finish Line
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Calculator Addiction
2026 Sep, ~100 words
A Math Concept Doesn’t Need Different Explanations
2026 Sep, ~150 words
A Good Grade is Not Equal to Mastery
2026 Sep, ~100 words
Unconscious Skills
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Training Wheels Syndrome
2026 Aug, ~100 words
The Drag of Weak Foundations
2026 Aug, ~100 words
The Comfort Ceiling
2026 Aug, ~50 words
The Classroom Conveyor Belt
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Take the Hints Away
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Skill Inflation
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Phantom Mastery
2026 Aug, ~150 words
Mental Tollbooths
2026 Aug, ~150 words
Mental Outsourcing
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Learning Debt
2026 Aug, ~150 words
Foundation Termites
2026 Aug, ~150 words
Fake Practice Hours
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Competence Mirage
2026 Aug, ~50 words
Cognitive Crutches
2026 Aug, ~50 words
Civilization Mode
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Bubble Wrapped Students
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Brain Calluses
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Borrowed Time
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Borrowed Brains
2026 Aug, ~100 words
Academic Life Raft
2026 Aug, ~100 words
The goal isn’t to think faster. It’s to need less thinking.
2026 Jul, ~100 words
Spaced repetition is progressive overload for your brain.
2026 Jul, ~50 words
GPS Brain
2026 Jul, ~50 words
Global identity labels are often where improvement goes to die.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Your attention is severely limited and highly leveraged. Be careful how you spend it.
2026 Jun, ~50 words
If your practice does not expose weaknesses specific enough to correct, you are just practicing staying the same.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Working to realize your potential is hard, but not as hard as coping with the fact that you had potential and did not capitalize on it.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Win the first hour of the day, and it becomes easier to win the rest.
2026 Jun, ~150 words
So much of your future is shaped by what you do when nobody is making you do anything.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Use tools to extend your competence, not replace it – otherwise it becomes your ceiling instead of your floor.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
The easiest way to stay mediocre is to keep your goals abstract and your days unexamined.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Spaced repetition is like weight training for memory. You might even call it wait training.
2026 Jun, ~150 words
Smart people often fail by trying to generalize before they have earned the examples.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Most students who think they’re “bad at math” are just carrying invisible gaps.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Mediocrity does not need a villain. It only needs sustained inattention.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Many people do not fail from lack of potential, but from lack of runway.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
How you compress learning time without fake shortcuts:
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Go deep on one thing long enough, and it becomes a doorway to everything else.
2026 Jun, ~50 words
Do not ask whether it felt like learning. Ask whether it changed what your brain can do.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
You do not always need today to be a breakthrough. More often, you just need it to be another rep in the same boring loop that eventually bends reality.
2026 Jun, ~50 words
You cannot cram mastery any more than you can cram a physique.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
You cannot be creative at a high level unless you are robotic at a low level.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Writing is leverage for everything you know.
2026 Jun, ~150 words
What looks like instinct is usually accumulated reps.
2026 Jun, ~150 words
The fastest learner is the person with the shortest cycle time between attempt, feedback, and correction.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Structure isn’t a cage. It’s a cache for your best decisions, so you can spend your energy living freely instead of renegotiating your life from zero every morning.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
We have thousands of years of accumulated genius; trying to “re-discover” it is like trying to reinvent the microchip with a rock.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Potential is not a trophy; it is a countdown timer. Use it before it expires.
2026 Jun, ~50 words
Poorly designed group work becomes a grade subsidy: stronger students prop up weaker students’ grades while weaker students miss the learning that would make them stronger.
2026 Jun, ~150 words
Passion usually follows action, not the other way around.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Most people don’t hate hard subjects. They hate when the basics they skipped come back to embarrass them.
2026 Jun, ~50 words
Most people don’t fail from doing too little at once, but from doing nothing too often.
2026 Jun, ~150 words
Math becomes overpowered when you stop treating it as a standalone trophy and start attaching it to real domains.
2026 Jun, ~150 words
Learning is not “I recognize this when I see it.” Learning is “I can reproduce this when I need it.”
2026 Jun, ~150 words
Learning doesn’t happen when information goes into your brain; it happens when you force it back out.
2026 Jun, ~100 words
Learning advanced math and coding is a time machine: every year you learn ahead lets you start compounding opportunities before most people can even see them.
2026 Jun, ~50 words
Hardcore skill development is the most reliable path to opportunity.
2026 Jun, ~150 words
Growth begins where comfort ends.
2026 Jun, ~150 words
You have to understand the difference between doing the work and circling the work without landing on it.
2026 Jun, ~50 words