Mark: The idea that you have a "math brain" or an "art brain" is a complete myth. In fact, the professor who co-created one of the world's largest online learning courses... failed high school math. Repeatedly. Michelle: Hold on, what? A top learning expert, someone teaching millions, actually failed math? How is that even possible? That sounds like the plot of a feel-good movie, not real life. Mark: It’s very real, and it’s the perfect entry point into the book we’re discussing today: Learn Like a Pro, by Barbara Oakley and Olav Schewe. That story is about Dr. Barbara Oakley herself. Today she’s a Distinguished Professor of Engineering, but her journey started from a place many of us know all too well: feeling like you’re just not built for a certain subject. Michelle: Wow. Okay, that changes things. I think we all have that one subject we’ve written off as impossible for ourselves. For me, it was physics. My brain just... short-circuited. Mark: Exactly. And what makes this book so powerful is that both authors come from that same place. They both struggled academically, believed they were average at best, and then completely transformed their abilities by discovering a new way to learn. The book is essentially the toolkit they built along the way. Michelle: I love that. It’s not advice from on high by some natural genius. It’s from people who were in the trenches and figured out how to climb out. Okay, so if it's not a 'math gene' that she was missing, what was it? What did she actually do?

Mark: Well, her story is fascinating. After high school, convinced she was a hopeless case in STEM, Barb Oakley joined the army to learn a language. She ended up at the U.S. Army's Defense Language Institute and became fluent in Russian. She had to learn a completely new way to absorb and connect information. Michelle: Okay, so she found out she had a 'language brain' instead. That still fits the old model. Mark: That's what you'd think. But years later, in her late twenties, she decided she wanted more career options and had to face her old nemesis: math and science. She decided to tackle it again, but this time, she applied the same techniques she'd used to master Russian. She started with remedial high school algebra and worked her way up. Michelle: You’re telling me she used language-learning techniques to learn engineering? How does that even work? Mark: She realized that learning anything, whether it's a foreign language or calculus, involves similar underlying processes. It’s about creating strong neural connections through practice, recall, and spacing things out. She treated math formulas like vocabulary words and grammatical rules. She essentially upgraded her mental software. Her big realization, and a key quote from the book is, "Even when you believe you’re genetically incapable of succeeding at a subject, that doesn’t need to be true at all." Michelle: That gives me chills. I can’t count how many times I’ve told myself, "I'm just not a numbers person." It feels so final. But she’s saying that’s just a story we tell ourselves. What about the other author, Olav? Did he have a similar breakthrough? Mark: He did. Olav Schewe was a classic struggling student. He put in the hours, he wanted good grades, but he just wasn't getting them. He felt inadequate and was on the verge of giving up on his dreams. Then he had an epiphany. The key wasn't his innate ability, or even the number of hours he studied. The key was how he studied. Michelle: The method itself. Mark: Precisely. He started experimenting with different techniques, focusing on efficiency and how his brain actually worked. The result? He became the top student in his high school, went on to get a master's degree with distinction from Oxford, and wrote an international bestseller on studying. Michelle: That’s incredible. So both of them are living proof of the book's core message. It’s not about the hardware you’re born with; it’s about the software you choose to install. Mark: That's the perfect way to put it. The book is an operating system upgrade for your brain. And once you accept that you can upgrade, the next question is, what's the first program to run? Michelle: Okay, I'm sold on the 'it's a skill' idea. So what's the first piece of software we need to install? Where do we start?

Mark: We start by understanding that our brain has two fundamentally different "gears" or modes of thinking. The book calls them the Focused Mode and the Diffuse Mode. Michelle: Focused and Diffuse. That sounds a little abstract. What’s the difference? Mark: Think of a pinball machine. The Focused Mode is when the rubber bumpers are packed tightly together. The ball—your thought—moves in a narrow, predictable path. It’s great for executing a task you already know how to do, like solving a simple math problem or following a recipe. It’s direct, concentrated, and analytical. Michelle: Right, that’s what I think of as "studying." Head down, no distractions, just grinding. Mark: Exactly. But what happens when you face a problem you’ve never seen before? A truly novel challenge? In the focused pinball machine, the ball just keeps hitting the same bumpers, getting stuck in the same thought patterns. You can't find a new path. Michelle: I know that feeling. It's like hitting your head against a wall. The harder you concentrate, the more stuck you get. Mark: And that’s where the second gear comes in. The Diffuse Mode is like a pinball machine where the bumpers are spread far apart. When you launch the ball, it can travel all over the place, making broad, unexpected connections. It’s a relaxed, big-picture state of mind. You're not actively trying to solve the problem, but your brain is working on it in the background, connecting disparate ideas. Michelle: So 'sleeping on it' or having a breakthrough idea in the shower is actually a real, scientific strategy? It’s just switching to the diffuse mode? Mark: That's precisely it. The book has a fantastic story about this. Olav, the author, was flying his new drone and crashed it at the very top of a tall, thin tree. It was completely stuck. Michelle: Oh no. I can feel the panic. Mark: He went into focused mode. He threw rocks. He threw sticks. He thought about climbing the tree, but it was too flimsy. He spent an hour getting more and more frustrated, completely stuck in one way of thinking: force. Nothing worked. Michelle: Been there. The drone is a metaphor for my tax returns. Mark: (laughing) So what did he do? He gave up. He stopped focusing on it and went to do something else. He let his mind wander. And later that day, the diffuse mode delivered. An idea just popped into his head, a connection his focused mind could never have made. He attached a fishing line to an arrow, shot the arrow over the branch the drone was on, and then just gently shook the branch by pulling the line until the drone fell out. Michelle: That is brilliant. It’s a completely different kind of solution. It’s elegant, not forceful. So the key to learning and problem-solving is being able to switch between these two gears? Mark: Yes. You need the focused mode to learn the initial details and do the work. But you need the diffuse mode to consolidate that learning, make creative connections, and solve hard problems. The trouble is, most of us live in a state of constant, low-grade focus and distraction, never truly engaging either mode properly. Michelle: So what’s a practical tool for that? How do we intentionally switch gears? Mark: The book’s primary tool for this is the Pomodoro Technique. And it’s more than just a timer. You turn off all distractions—phone away, notifications off—and you work with intense focus for 25 minutes. Then, you take a five-minute break where you must do something relaxing and unfocused. Walk around, listen to music, just stare out the window. Michelle: And the break is the secret sauce. It's the forced shift into diffuse mode. Mark: It is. And here's a crucial detail from the research they cite: using your phone during that break is one of the worst things you can do. It’s so cognitively taxing that it prevents your brain from actually recharging and making those diffuse connections. Your brain doesn't get a real break. Michelle: That is a personal attack on my entire lifestyle. But it makes so much sense. You’re not really resting, you’re just shifting your focus to a different, highly stimulating task. Mark: It’s a false break. The real art of the Pomodoro is honoring the rest as much as the work. It’s a training regimen for your attention. Of course, some people have taken this idea of eliminating distractions to an extreme. Michelle: Oh? How extreme are we talking? Mark: The book mentions the novelist Victor Hugo. When he was facing a deadline for The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and was hopelessly distracted by social events, he took a drastic step. He had his servant take all his clothes away, leaving him with only a large shawl. He was effectively locked in his study, naked and cold, with nothing to do but write. Michelle: Okay, that's a bit much! I think I'll stick to the tomato timer and just putting my phone in another room. That feels like a good first step.

Michelle: This is all so fascinating. It feels like the big takeaway isn't just a list of study tips. It's a fundamental shift in perspective. We're not just 'good' or 'bad' at things; we're either using our brain's two gears effectively, or we're not. Mark: Exactly. The real power of Learn Like a Pro is that it demystifies genius and high achievement. It reframes them away from being some kind of magical gift. Instead, it presents pro-level learning as a disciplined process that anyone can adopt. Michelle: A process that starts with the belief that you can actually improve. That seems to be the non-negotiable first step. Mark: It is. You have to believe you can upgrade your software. And from there, the book shows that so much of success comes down to intentionally managing your attention—knowing when to go into that tight, focused pinball mode, and just as importantly, knowing when to step back and let the pinball bounce around in the wide-open space of the diffuse mode. Michelle: It’s a skill, and like any skill, it can be practiced. It’s not about being a genius; it’s about training your focus. Mark: That’s the whole philosophy. It’s incredibly empowering. Michelle: So for anyone listening, maybe the first step is just to try one 25-minute Pomodoro today. Just one. Turn off the phone, close the tabs, and focus. And on the break, really take a break. No phone. Just to feel what that switch between the gears actually feels like. Mark: I love that challenge. It’s a small experiment that could change everything. And we'd love to hear how it goes. Let us know what you discover when you give your brain that space. Find us on our socials and share your experience. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.