Why You Should Learn Out Loud in 2025
Madison Kanna talks about "learning out loud" and its importance in the current landscape, particularly with the rise of AI. She mentiones that while AI can automate numerous processes, it cannot replicate an individual's unique human authenticity, which is the foundation of a personal brand.
Madison isn't talking about becoming a content machine. Instead, she's suggesting we simply share our authentic learning journeys.
She actually shared a personal story about getting job offers after being laid off, all because people already knew her work online. Beyond employment opportunities, she points out that an established presence gives you a solid foundation for launching projects and connecting with like-minded people.
So how do you start? Madison recommends "starting where you're at"—don't wait until you're an expert. People actually love watching others grow and improve.
She also talks about creating what she calls a "positive feedback loop," where sharing what you're learning brings encouragement, which motivates you to keep learning and sharing. It's a simple but effective cycle that builds momentum over time.
Share this talk
Transcript
So I had a different song to play when I walked up but yesterday I found out that someone else had the same song as me so I switched my song at the last minute and they were like What new song do you want? And I was like Gangsta's Paradise?
Yes Okay so we're going to start off by doing 80 squats Just kidding Just kidding but really I'm I'm so excited to be here today I'm really happy to be here I was here last year Was anyone else here last year?
Yeah That was amazing Really really excited to be here again Oh do you have my technical difficulties?
My computer locks every thirty seconds for security reasons which I just realized maybe wasn't the best
Present with presenter view. Is this right? Those are my slides. Can someone come help me? Sorry, guys. That's all I'm gonna say. This is not right. There's my talk. I'm done.
The
speaker note is like be cool.
Okay. If you have a talk in 2025 and you don't mention AI did you even have a talk? Truly. Can we get the first slide up?
Okay. Well I guess I can go slide less.
Okay. Should I just go? Yeah? Okay.
So It's funny whenever I give a talk I always think about the first talk I ever gave It was at a local coding meet up And I didn't want to deal with the crazy downtown parking So I took an Uber And I was in the Uber I was talking to my Uber driver about strategies for pumping yourself up before a speech and just getting yourself feeling really confident And I told my Uber driver that before I give a speech I tell myself You are the most awesome person ever And my Uber driver, he said, Oh, so you use the strategy of denial?
I gave him a one star review.
So today we're talking about learning out loud. And I know that everyone has heard this concept before, right? Like learning in public and things like that. But I believe in the age of AI, learning out loud has a new found importance. I truly believe it's the most important thing that you can do.
So let's stop and talk about AI for a second. So with A. I. There's a lot of debate right now about like how much will A. I. Debate programming and everything else. But if there's one thing like regardless of that debate if there's one thing that A. I. Can never automate it's being you.
It's being authentically you, being uniquely human. So A. I. Can never automate this. And being you at scale is building a personal brand. It's something that A. I. Cannot take away from you.
And you can be known as you in your local neighborhood But due to the amazing web You can be known as you at scale online My next slide was going to have a little personal brand thing But it's okay Just pretend it's there okay So building a personal brand I know that you're probably thinking when I say that like, Oh God Does this mean I have to start posting on LinkedIn all the time?
Or I have to be a big content creator That's so much work Or do I have to start using hashtags all the time? But the great thing about learning out loud is that when you're learning out loud, it's all about just authentically sharing where you're at and your journey.
You don't have to do anything inauthentic, or what you don't want to do. Okay. So let's talk about a couple more of the reasons why you should learn out loud. First of all, Aaron was saying similar to this, but career opportunities. So I was laid off a couple of years ago.
And I knew that colds applying on LinkedIn wasn't really gonna work. So I tweeted that I had lost my job. And I got hundreds of, people messaging me and saying, Hey, I've seen you around or I've been in your book club. Come interview at my company. And that was really extraordinary, but I know I'm not special.
I've seen several people who've been learning out loud and building their personal brands and very similar has happened to them.
Other benefits are, you know, if you have a product or a business you want to launch, if you already have an audience, then of course, it's going to be much easier to launch that thing that you want to launch. And then another benefit is finding your people.
I am really only here because I've been learning out loud and I'm so glad to be here with everyone today. Okay. So a couple of things for how can you get learn how can you start learning out loud. Today, immediately, we'll just go over, two things to do. So first of all, start where you're at.
A lot of people message me and they say, I don't think I could start learning out loud or building a brand or posting because I'm not an expert. But that's actually great just to start where you are. Who is familiar with David Goggins? Yeah. I can tell a few of you got that strength, following him.
So I love David Goggins and he always posts about his transformation. He has pictures of himself way back when he was super out of shape and now he's this super jacked Navy Seal. And people love that transformation. Right? This is America. We love a rags to riches story.
People love seeing him going from that guy who was very out of shape and couldn't get up the stairs to being this super jacked Navy Seal. And so if you're starting out and you're worried or embarrassed about posting or not being an expert, people actually want to see that transformation. People want to see that journey.
I don't think David Goggins would be as popular if he was just a super muscular guy who got to be a little bit more muscular. That's not that interesting of a story to follow. So wherever you are now, just start there, get started.
And then the second tip for how to start learning out loud is create a positive feedback loop. So the more that you learn and then post about what you're learning, you're going to get all of this positive feedback. It might not be much at first, but that's okay. I've been posting for a long time.
If you stay consistent, it will come. So if you create a positive feedback loop, the more that you're learning and then the more you're sharing about what you learned, the more you get this positive support and feedback from other people, which makes you want to learn more. And then the more opportunities that you get.
So create this positive feedback for yourself. And then lastly, I want to leave you with a challenge. There should be a little screen that says challenge. Share something you've learned recently. Tag me. I would love to see it. Thank you.
