10 Learning Theories That Shape My Day

I have spent years designing learning experiences for adults, helping people master skills, adopt tools, and feel confident in what they do. Somewhere along the way, I realized the same learning theories I use at work sneak into my personal life every single day. Basically, I live my own instructional design lab. It’a all very meta.

So join me, as I share a bit of my way of the world with you. If you’d rather not, I totally understand, that’s cool. But if you do want to read on, the water is fine…come on in…

1. Andragogy (Malcolm Knowles): Adults need to know why.

Malcolm Knowles taught us that adults need to understand the reason behind what they are learning. I cannot get myself to do anything without a solid “why.” “Because I should” does not work on me. “Because it will make life easier later” does. This applies equally to getting up early, tennis drills, budgeting, and cleaning out the fridge before it becomes a science project.

2. Constructivism (Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky): We learn by doing.

Piaget and Vygotsky believed knowledge is built through experience and interaction. I once tried to learn woodworking from YouTube. Let’s just say my first shelf had the structural integrity of a noodle. But I learned. Doing beats watching, even when doing ends with extra screws and a bruised ego.

3. Experiential Learning (David Kolb): Reflection matters.

Kolb said learning is a continuous cycle of experience, reflection, and experimentation. When I crash into a tough week, I grab my journal and ask myself: What worked? What didn’t? What should I never do again, even for content? Reflection keeps me from repeating the same mistakes. Most of the time.

4. Cognitive Load Theory (John Sweller): Keep it simple.

Sweller’s research reminds us that our brains can only juggle so much at once. Multitasking used to be my love language. Now it is my red flag.
If I have fifteen tabs open in my brain, I shut them all down, light a candle, and focus on one thing. Usually coffee first, thinking second.

5. Spacing Effect (Hermann Ebbinghaus): Repetition works.

Ebbinghaus proved that we remember things better when they are repeated and spaced over time. Every new habit I have ever built started as a messy loop of forgetting, retrying, and forgetting again. Practice makes progress is the adult version of wash, rinse, repeat.

6. Social Learning Theory (Albert Bandura): We mirror what we see.

Bandura found that people learn by observing and modeling others. I have noticed my friends’ habits sneak into my life, from morning walks to random skincare routines. Apparently, peer pressure still works, thankfully this time it is for face moisterizers (bye bye wrinkles) and productivity instead of bad decisions.

7. Behaviorism (B.F. Skinner): Reinforce the good stuff.

Skinner believed behavior is shaped by reinforcement. I reward myself for finishing tasks like a well-trained Labrador.

Finish a big project? Fancy coffee.

Clean the kitchen? An episode of Outlander.

Answer all the emails? A peanut butter cookie.

It works.

8. Self-Determination Theory (Edward Deci and Richard Ryan): Choice is power.

Deci and Ryan’s research showed that autonomy, competence, and connection drive motivation. Nothing kills my momentum faster than feeling trapped by my own to-do list.

If I can frame tasks as choices, I get to instead of I have to, everything feels lighter.

9. Situated Learning (Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger): Context changes everything.

Lave and Wenger showed that learning happens best in context and within communities of practice. I learn faster when I make the environment do half the work. If I want to read more, I leave a book by the bed. If I want to stretch, I leave the mat in plain sight. Out of sight really does mean out of mind.

10. Transformative Learning (Jack Mezirow): Growth happens in the messy parts.

Mezirow taught that true learning happens when we shift our perspectives through reflection and challenge. Some of the best lessons of my life showed up disguised as bad days. It is never comfortable, but it is always clarifying. Growth rarely looks graceful, but it is usually progress in disguise.

Adult learning theory is not just for classrooms. It is for everyday life.

It is how I motivate myself, forgive my own mistakes, and keep moving forward with a little humor and a lot of coffee.

Progress does not have to be perfect. It just has to keep being progress.