Heart to Heart #3: Masterclass
Hello! This week is an exciting one because I received a 1-year subscription to Masterclass. Masterclass, for those who haven’t been targeted by their ads, is a learning portal with a very high bar for who qualifies to teach. Think bestselling authors like Neil Gaiman and Dan Brown, world-renown scientists like Neil deGrasse Tyson, or famous celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey!
I received the subscription as a holiday gift from the company I’m working at. We were given 3 options to choose from: subscription a fitness and health app, a book summary app, or Masterclass.
It was an easy choice for me…
I chose Masterclass, but I can’t help thinking that a monkey could do that. Pick one thing from three, and you get to keep it! Yay! The harder part is, of course, doing something meaningful with it.
While YouTube has democratised learning, most people I know who have the time and safety to learn are not actually learning. Instead they rewatch Friends one too many times. Been there. Guilty. Still am once in a while!
So I couldn’t resist writing a list of how I can screw it up and let my 1-year Masterclass subscription go to waste. In no particular order (because I’m equally likely to commit any of these mistakes):
- Watch the classes like a series on Netflix. That is, like entertainment or even edutainment instead of education.
- Not taking notes. I find that I cannot remember or understand much without taking notes.
- Choose to watch the classes only by people whom I know, instead of by subject (for me Writing is at the top of the list, but there are numerous writers with masterclasses that I haven’t heard before).
- Choose to watch the popular classes instead of by subject. You know, like YouTube recommendations gone wrong (or too right).
That’s the list that I’m going to check back on a few weeks later. I hope I don’t commit any of these. Masterclass is the gift of being educated by the world’s best and I hope that I will find a way to pay close attention and be educated.
On this note before you go on with your day, I have a small thing to giveaway. As part of a 1-year subscription, I can give away three free 7-day all-access ‘Guest passes’ to anyone. I’m reserving 1 for a friend, but if you are interested, let me know by replying to this email as I have 2 more to give. I’ll wait a day for all responses to come in and then pick 2 people to send the free passes to.
As usual, in the section below I share some noteworthy things I read/heard/saw this week. And if you have feedback, please reply directly to this email. I read every email.
Thank you for reading. Have a nice weekend!
Love, Nick
What I published on the blog last week —
Two simple adjustments to protect your eyes from eyestrain for computer workers. I’ve already received comments that this has helped. If you get eyestrain, try this. It’s helped me a lot.
What I was surprised by —
Homeless Man Lost Millions Now Lives in a Oakland Tent City (video). He went from earning millions from working at the department of defence in the US to being homeless overnight because greedy financiers caused his bank (among others) to go bankrupt together with his money. I’m surprised by how this could ever happen, and how if a person like him could end up homeless, it means it could happen to any of us. Knee-jerk reaction: I immediately withdrew some cash.