52 things I learned in 2024

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Inspired by Tom Whitwell’s annual collection of things learned, here are my ’52 things I learned in 2023′.

The list is usually presented under the comment that ‘no explanation or context of what it is about the article I learned, just a title and link of something important to me personally or professionally in [year]’, but this year, like others before, has been quite the challenge.

As with previous years, I can’t help myself with some sort of narrative about my year and the events that shaped it. Whereas previous lists have been shaped by articles and news/views I found through Twitter, this year is a complete Twitter-free enterprise. While I stopped using Twitter in 2023, and my last post was on July 12th, 2023, by the end of 2023 I’d deleted the app from my phone. That way I wasn’t tempted to dip in and see what was going on. In July 2024 I deleted all my tweets and deleted the account.

Keeping up with news, views, research, network and collaborations away from Twitter is difficult, but with the right effort (and others joining the Twitter exodus) it is getting easier over time.

  1. ‘How Twitter broke the news’ [Nilay Patel]
  2. ‘A Family That Walks Together’ [Tyghe Trimble]
  3. ‘I Have ADHD. Here Are 9 Productivity Tips That Really Help Me’ [Isobelle O’Carroll]
  4. ‘Content curation with Flipboard’ [David Hopkins]
  5. ‘4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Changing Careers’ [Dorie Clark]
  6. ‘3 ways to defend your mind against social media distortions’ [Luke Burgis]
  7. ‘These Companies Have a Plan to Kill Apps’ [Julian Chokkatu]
  8. ‘Overwhelmed? Just Say No.’ [Arthur C Brooks]
  9. ‘What an IBS Diagnosis Taught Me About the Importance of Stress Management and Self-Care’ [Caroline Thomason]
  10. ‘The Real Reason Finland Is The Happiest Country In The World’ [August Nillson]
  11. ‘How to Stop Your Data From Being Used to Train AI’ [Matt Burgess and Reece Rogers]
  12. ‘Yes, But Can You Really Explain the Difference Between Morals and Ethics?’ [Eli Burnstein]
  13. ‘What is the ‘shadow self’ and why is everyone talking about their hidden desires?’ [Deborah Netburn]
  14. ‘Is Boredom An Emotion? Not Exactly, But It’s More Important Than You Think’ [Tina Kendall]
  15. ‘A love for thinking brings benefits way beyond school and work’ [Josephine Zerna]
  16. ‘How to train your brain to embrace change’ [Stephanie Vozza]
  17. ‘Why People Really Quit Their Jobs—and How Employers Can Stop It’ [Polly Kang, David Daniels, and Maurice Schweitzer]
  18. ‘How to Do a Four-Day Workweek That Actually Works’ [Matthew Boyle]
  19. ‘Feeling exhausted? Here’s how to fight the weariness’ [Anna Schaffner]
  20. ‘Noise cancelling can help save your ears’ [Caroline Houck]
  21. ‘For Gen Z, music is its own social media’ [Henry Chandonnet]
  22. ‘4 ways to recover from a toxic workplace, according to career experts’ [Susanne Norris]
  23. ‘It’s time to fix your calendar so you can get more done and be happier’ [Tim Paradis]
  24. ‘How redefining happiness can transform your life’ [Stephanie Harrison]
  25. ‘Workers to get right to ignore bosses’ emails and calls after hours under new Labour plan’ [Albert Toth]
  26. ‘What Don’t We Know?’ [Joshua Rothman]
  27. ‘Listen to hear vs Listen to reply’ [David Hopkins]
  28. ‘Toxic leaders – why do we allow them?’ [AAB]
  29. ‘Losing your mind looking at memes? The dictionary has a word for that’ [Yasmin Rufo]
  30. ‘How the “two-day rule” can make your daily work-life much easier’ [Big Think]
  31. ‘Your opinion matters’ [David Hopkins]
  32. ‘Are UK Universities going bust?’ [Tanisha Zaman]
  33. ‘Arizona State University personalizes learning and advances research with ChatGPT’ [OpenAI]
  34. ‘”I’ve lost the ability to play”‘ [BBC One]
  35. ‘Why do we all work such long hours?’ [David Kernhan]
  36. ‘Preventing staff burnout makes financial as well as compassionate sense’ [Kelli Wolfe]
  37. ‘Employees are working while vacationing, a trend that can lead to vacationing while working’ [Mickaela Cohen]
  38. ‘Beyond the screen’ [David Hopkins]
  39. ‘The perfect escape from our online world’ [Zoë Bernard]
  40. ‘What we need is more jargon’ [Andrew Jacobs]
  41. ‘Unexpected Lessons From 4 Years of Remote Work’ [Tony Jamous]
  42. ‘Five Ways to be Calm – And Why It Matters’ [Lindsay Baker]
  43. ‘Artificial intelligence – is it bad? Yes. But on the other hand it is also terrible’ [First Dog On The Moon]
  44. ‘Is it true that … the blue light from night-time scrolling can stop you sleeping?’ [Kate Lloyd]
  45. ‘ChatGPT and the Educational AI Chatter’ [Eamon Costello]
  46. ‘UK HE shrinking [Live Updates]’ [UCU]
  47. ‘Elon Musk’s AI turns on him, labels him ‘one of the most significant spreaders of misinformation on X’’ [Chris Morris]
  48. ‘5 reasons to switch from Photoshop to an open-source alternative’ [Parth Shah]
  49. ‘Redefining Learning: Celebrating 10 Years of Harvard Business School Online’ [Romanshika Singh]
  50. ‘Surviving Toxic Bosses: 5 Tips To Deal With Difficult Leadership’ [Manzar Bahir]
  51. ‘How to reach the end of the year without burning out’ [Dr Radha]
  52. ‘Are You Overreacting?’ [Joshua Rothman]
  53. BONUS: ‘I’m burnt out from work. How can I take a break without damaging my finances?’ [Emily Braeger]

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash