Mike Taylor

Hey there! 👋 I'm Mike. I'm really into learning, design, and tech, especially where they overlap. I send out a free weekly newsletter for L&D professionals. When I'm not nerding out, I love to travel, trail run, and indulge in some delicious Belgian waffles. 🧇 Nice to meet you! 😊

"The longer your email, the less likely it is to be read by someone who can act on it. " From Shane Parrish’s weekly newsletter Brain Food. buff.ly/3XHASed

The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $8 trillion. The entire bottom 50% of American households is worth just $4.27 trillion. Read that back. When 400 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.

You saved the slide. But did your brain save any of it? Researchers recently ran seven experiments to see what happens when people screenshot information. The result: people remembered less about images they captured than images they simply viewed. Read “The Screenshot Trap” buff.ly/I7DMuTV

"The world rewards the people who are best at communicating ideas, not the people with the best ideas." David Perrell

E.O. Wilson, written in 1998: "We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely."

Errors Are Necessary for Learning

“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.” Dalai Lama

It's not a race. You are not ahead. You are not behind. You are here. Enjoy it and make the most of it.

Claude For Dummies. Have you tried Claude yet? If not, and you're curious to learn what all the buzz is about, this is a great place to start.

Esther Hicks on where to look: “If all you did was look for things to appreciate, you would live a joyously spectacular life.”

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Founder and investor Graham Weaver on being smart: "The truest form of intelligence is designing the life you want to live."

"The ultimate form of preparation is not planning for a specific scenario, but a mindset that can handle uncertainty."

AI is rewiring ADDIE in a good way The real win isn’t faster quizzes; it’s better decisions. Use AI in three modes: 1. Vibe for ideas 2. Automation for grunt work 3. Copilot for tough design calls. Use the wrong mode, and strategy breaks.

David Hopkins argues that our learning designs must demand more: Frame it: Give learners a specific question before they hit play Debate it: Use video to drive disagreement and critique, not just silence Go Deeper: Focus on judgment and nuance—the human skills AI can't replace yet

“The only thing you need to feel extremely smart is a lack of curiosity. The perpetually curious will always think they’re dumb.” — Stuart McMillan

"The amateur does not know what to do. The master knows what not to do."

The Secret History of the Manicule, the Little Hand that’s Everywhere Ever wonder why your cursor turns into a pointing hand? 👉 That's a manicule -a 1000-year-old symbol that started as medieval margin doodles and became the universal "click here" icon. From monks to mouse cursors!

“Well begun is half done.” -Horace

How Becoming a Marketer Made Me a Better Instructional Designer Is instructional design just marketing with a different job title? We need to stop treating ID and marketing as separate disciplines. “A shipped instructional design work is just a hypothesis.” buff.ly/abObIqF #TrainLikeAMarketer

"In an uncertain world, the learners will win." - Amy Edmondson

"When things don't go well it's easy to wonder, "Why me?" It's easy to point fingers. It's easy to wallow in frustration or defeat. But it is also easy to ask, "What is this teaching me?" You can't remove frustrations from life, but you can always try to come out a little wiser on the other side."

“Sometimes doing nothing makes way for everything.” Hiral Nagda

Hit the Curiosity Sweet Spot to Speed Up Learning Curiosity isn’t decoration in learning—it’s a design lever. Start with a gap, a question, or a surprise, and learners lean in instead of tuning out. buff.ly/7B00zGM #TrainLikeAMarketer #InstructionaDesign #Attention

This video breaks down what it takes to become AI-native: breadcrumb your chats, use swipe files, plan tasks with AI in mind, and keep a tight prompt library. This is worth a watch:

Beyond Infographics: How to Use Nano Banana to *Actually* Support Learning When you pair AI tools like Google's Nano Banana with proven learning science, the result isn't just prettier content with fewer errors — it's better learning.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2025 – Results of Jane Hart's 19th Annual Survey

For f*cks sake. This is a perfect example of the "Expertise Trap" with AI. ChatGPT relies on popularity, not accuracy. Hence, the 🤬learning styles If you don't know the subject matter well enough to spot the BS, AI is dangerous. It presents myths as features. Stop trusting the output blindly.

As Ira Glass explains in this brilliant visualization by Daniel Sax, that feeling of disappointment isn't a failure—it's actually proof you have the taste required to eventually be great. Most people quit here. Don't.

Why Readability Is a Quiet Superpower in Learning – Train Like A Marketer

“The longer your memos, the less likely they are to be read by men who have the power to act on them.” David Ogilvy

“Without an understanding of human cognitive architecture, instruction is blind.” John Sweller

“The ignorance of how to use new knowledge stockpiles exponentially.” —Marshall McLuhan

Billy Markus on human behavior: “People are not rational. They are rationalizing. Once you understand this simple fact, all the oddest human behavior will suddenly make way more sense.”

Temporary Chat FAQ | OpenAI Help Center

What L&D should (and shouldn't) be doing with AI - The Mind Tools L&D Podcast

AI Can Help Us Be More Human: The Director’s Job

10 Rules for Designing Effective Learning

FRAME™: A Practical Method for Integrating AI into L&D Workflows

“Creating content that nobody finds is an expensive mistake. If content is ‘king,’ distribution is the chariot.” — Jay Baer

Stop Overloading Your Learners’ Brains: A Practical Guide to Minimizing Extraneous Cognitive Load buff.ly/cOSHE0K

10 Rules for Designing Effective Learning

"Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone." – David Ogilvy

3 Ways To Make Your Audience Care About Your L&D Product

Today in Politics Chat, I talked about how power sloshes around when a president is checked out, and noted that right now unelected officials like Stephen Miller are trying to grab it. But instead, We the People can take it back and create a better nation.

“Honest feedback is a gift, even when it stings.” ​ — Brené Brown

The Birth of the H-Corp