Kelly Smith, an entrepreneur and founder of one of the hottest microschool networks, Prenda Learning, joins me to talk about his new book, “A Fire to Be Kindled: How a Generation of Empowered Learners Can Lead Meaningful Lives and Move Humanity Forward.” In our conversation, Kelly shares everything from an update on how Prenda is doing to some of the big themes around his book, which is designed for individuals—to help them become lifelong learners and maximize their potential.

The book follows the philosophy behind Prenda Learning and takes readers through what it means to be an empowered learner—followed by the key components in a learning process: to dare greatly, figure it out, learning over comfort, start with heart, and a foundation of trust. I push Kelly on how to overcome the barriers in our DNA that cause us to try to save energy and avoid doing hard things like learning. We then end on a question of the importance of making this real so people can put it into action and connect it to their everyday lives.