Learn and Work Smarter

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The Two-Minute Rule is a popular productivity strategy that's been around since the early 2000s. It can be a terrific tool for feeling less overwhelmed, moving your to-do list forward, and generally feeling more in control of school, work, and your personal life. 

However, using the Two-Minute Rule in the wrong scenario can make things worse than when you started.

In this episode of the Learn and Work Smarter Podcast, I explain what this powerful productivity tool is, when to use it, and most importantly, when to avoid it. If you're constantly feeling overwhelmed by a million and one obnoxious little tasks that come at you throughout the day, this episode is for you.

What You Learn:

• What the 2-Minute Rule Is
• Professional examples of when to use the 2-Minute Rule
• Academic examples of when to use the 2-Minute Rule
• Life examples of when to use the 2-Minute Rule
• When not to use the 2-Minute Rule, and the consequences of not knowing the right application
• An alternative to the 2-Minute Rule that might work better

🔗 Resources + Episodes Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University (SchoolHabitsUniversity.com)
• ⭐Note-Taking Power System (NoteTakingSystem.com)
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System (AssignmentManagementSystem.com)
• ⭐FREE Parent Training: How to Help Your Teen Become a Motivated, Self-Directed Student

• Episode website
• Episode 3: Admin Blocks
• Episode 5: The Secret to a Good Task Management System
• Episode 15: Email Management Tips: 3 Best Practices for Handling Your Inbox
• Episode 31: How to Take Notes at Meetings
• Episode 68: The Time Management Trap No One Talks About
• Episode 94: Simplifying Task Management and Staying Productive Despite Disruptions (Q&A)
• Episode 137: How to Capture Ideas

• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (Free download)

❤️ Connect:

• Subscribe on YouTube
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• Facebook
• Pinterest

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.

Send me a message!🤓

Like it or not, there’s a “secret code” for how to act and what to say at school and work—and not knowing it can cost you opportunities and your reputation.

Saying the right thing at meetings, responding to emails the way others expect you to, understanding how to read the room ... all of these are part of the "secret code" nobody talks about.

In this episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I’m sharing the truth about the “secret code” that successful students and professionals know. The first step is knowing that this code exists (it does!); then from there, you can take the steps to crack it. 

What You Learn:

• What the “secret code” is that top students and professionals know
• What not knowing this secret code can cost you (that you can’t get back)
• My top 3 strategies for cracking the secret code, whether you’re a student or working professional

🔗 Resources + Episodes Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University
• ⭐The Note-Taking Power System 
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System
• ⭐Free Parent Training: The Secret Behind Teens Who Can Manage School on Their Own
• Episode website
• Episode 38: How to Be Resourceful
• Episode 39: How to Ask for Help When Being Resourceful Isn’t Enough
• Episode 46: How to Be Professional 
• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (Free download)

❤️ Connect:

• Subscribe on YouTube
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Facebook
• Pinterest

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.

Send me a message!🤓

Starting my own business out of absolutely nothing has been the single greatest professional accomplishment of my life. Every single day, I think about where I started and where I am now — and the journey continues to amaze me.

However, it hasn’t been easy. For every breakthrough, new successful idea, and client success story, there has been a lesson that tried to knock me down.

In this episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I share publicly — for the first time ever — the five hardest lessons of my entrepreneurship journey over the past ten years. My goal is to share the truth, so that anyone looking to start their own thing can be prepared.

What You Learn:

• The surprising truth about support from friends and family
• The one thing required for business success that everyone will judge you for having
• What to do when nobody “gets it” — because believe me, they won’t
• The reality about working hard and seeing no immediate results
• The hard facts about doing “impossible” things

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University (SchoolHabitsUniversity.com)
• ⭐Note-Taking Power System (NoteTakingSystem.com)
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System (AssignmentManagementSystem.com)
• ⭐FREE Parent Training: How to Help Your Teen Become a Motivated, Self-Directed Student

• Episode website
• Episode 80: How to Do a Work Sprint
• Episode 34: How to Stay Relevant at Work (Q&A)
• Episode 74: Should You Change Jobs or Change Companies?

• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (Free download)

❤️ Connect:

• Subscribe on YouTube
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Facebook
• Pinterest

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.

Send me a message!🤓

Studying for 12 hours a day? Being a serial job-quitter?

In this Q&A episode of the Learn and Work Smarter Podcast, I answer two questions submitted by listeners of the show.

Question 1: A busy graduate student (who's also working full time) asks me for strategies for planning epic, all-day study sessions.

Question 2: A working professional asks for advice about his job-hopping tendencies, after having had four jobs in five years.

What You Learn:

• My advice for managing a full-time job and graduate school
• How to plan and manage a full-day study session
• How to know why your job feels so hard and makes you want to quit it
• How to fall back in love with a job you used to enjoy

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University (SchoolHabitsUniversity.com)
• ⭐Note-Taking Power System (NoteTakingSystem.com)
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System (AssignmentManagementSystem.com)
• ⭐FREE Parent Training: How to Help Your Teen Become a Motivated, Self-Directed Student

• Episode website
• Episode 80: How to Do a Work Sprint
• Episode 34: How to Stay Relevant at Work (Q&A)
• Episode 74: Should You Change Jobs or Change Companies?

• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (Free download)

❤️ Connect:

• Subscribe on YouTube
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Facebook
• Pinterest

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.

Send me a message!🤓

Ideas are only good if we remember them, am I right? Right. So why do we keep telling ourselves that we’ll remember something “later” when we never do?

• The idea that occurred to us in the shower? Gone.
• The thought we had lying in bed? Gone.
• The task we want to do later? Gone.

In this micro strategy episode, I share a nifty little hack for how to capture these ideas when they occur to you (which is always when you don’t have a pen handy), and what to do with them so that you can actually come back to them at a later point.

What You Learn:

• Why “I’ll remember that” is total nonsense
• Two micro strategies I personally use to capture my ideas on the go
• How to make this whole process frictionless (in other words, easy to use)
• What to do with your ideas once you capture them, so that you can DO something with them

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University (SchoolHabitsUniversity.com)
• ⭐Note-Taking Power System (NoteTakingSystem.com)
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System (AssignmentManagementSystem.com)
• ⭐FREE Parent Training: How to Help Your Teen Become a Motivated, Self-Directed Student

• Episode website
• Episode 132: The DO Date Hack
• Episode 136: Your Productivity Tools are Useless
• Episode 03: What’s an Admin Block and Why You Need One

• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (Free download)

❤️ Connect:

• Subscribe on YouTube
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Facebook
• Pinterest

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.

Send me a message!🤓

Productivity tools come with big promises. Planners, apps, devices, software…they can all genuinely help you get things done – and they claim to do so.

BUT, the tool itself never gets you the outcome you want. I know, the irony.

In this week's episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I reveal why productivity tools are useless (yes, even the ones I love and recommend), and the mistake I see students and professionals make when they place all their hope in a shiny new tool.

Then I share the one thing that actually determines whether a tool works or becomes a hunk of plastic collecting dust on your desk (or a hunk of wasted pixels on your screen).

What You Learn:

• The biggest mistake students and professionals make when they get a new productivity tool
• Why even the most basic tools (yes, a sticky note) can change your entire workflow
• Why even the most impressive tools (reMarkable, Asana, Notion) can do absolutely nothing for you
• What actually gives a tool its power (hint: it's not the tool)
• How to audit your systems so you know exactly where to start

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University (SchoolHabitsUniversity.com)
• ⭐Note-Taking Power System (NoteTakingSystem.com)
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System (AssignmentManagementSystem.com)
• ⭐FREE Parent Training: How to Help Your Teen Handle School Like a Pro
• Episode website (https://www.learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/136)
• Episode 12: Are Your Productivity Systems Broken?
• Episode 113: The 6-System Ecosystem for School and Work
• Episode 117: How to Build a Personal Ecosystem
• Episode 119: My 10 Favorite Productivity Tools
• (Blog) 14 Uses for Blank Notebooks
• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (Free download)

❤️ Connect:

• Subscribe on YouTube
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Facebook
• Pinterest

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.

Send me a message!🤓

Don’t get me wrong – goals are awesome to have. They can inspire hope and dreams and cool visions we have for our futures.

But focusing on the outcome we want (aka our goal) never gets us the outcome we want. I know, the irony.

In this week’s episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I reveal why outcome-based goals are designed to make us fail, and the mistake I see students and professionals make when they set these kinds of goals.

Then I share the secret effort trick (bahaha, it’s not really a secret) that will get you closer to your goals than literally anything else.

What You Learn:

• The biggest mistake students and professionals make when setting goals
• How outcome-based goals set you up to fail
• What outcome-based goals do to your confidence
• The right way to set goals so that you actually have a chance of meeting them
• The effort trick that’s basically magic and gets you everything you want

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University (SchoolHabitsUniversity.com)
• ⭐Note-Taking Power System (NoteTakingSystem.com)
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System (AssignmentManagementSystem.com)
• ⭐FREE Parent Training: How to Help Your Teen Handle School Like a Pro
• Episode website (https://www.learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/135)
• Episode 15: How to Manage Email
• Episode 54: The Secret Ingredient Behind Every Accomplishment Ever
• Episode 106: The Anti-Goal Setting Strategy
• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (FREE DOWNLOAD)

❤️ Connect:

• Subscribe on YouTube
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Facebook
• Pinterest

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.

Send me a message!🤓

Come peek behind the curtain of SchoolHabits University! Every month inside my signature study skills program, I offer live coaching on Zoom so student never get stuck navigating the program, school, their courses, or anything else on their minds.

In this special episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I’m sharing a Q&A call from a few months back when the calls weren’t live. (Since then, they're all live!) Listen in as I answer a ton of questions that students submitted in advance.

Want me to answer your unlimited questions too? Join us on the inside!

What You Learn:

• How to deal with a disorganized and "bad" professor
• How to find time to study when planning out your week
• Finding time to use spaced repetition when you're super busy
• Putting things in our own words when the teacher/textbook says it better
• Remembering what you study when you have ADHD
• Managing and syncing multiple calendars (Outlook and Google)

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University (SchoolHabitsUniversity.com)
• ⭐Note-Taking Power System (NoteTakingSystem.com)
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System (AssignmentManagementSystem.com)
• ⭐FREE Parent Training: How to Help Your Teen Handle School Like a Pro
• Episode website (https://www.learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/134)
• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (FREE DOWNLOAD)

❤️ Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Subscribe on YouTube

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.

Send me a message!🤓

In this Q&A episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I answer two questions submitted by listeners of the show.

Question One: A student asks for study break ideas that will increase his focus when he returns to the work.

Question Two: A professional asks for strategies for completing projects that don’t have deadlines, but that are still important to finish.

What You Learn:

• Practical study break ideas for 5, 15 and 30-minute breaks
• The one kind of activity that is the WORST to do during your study break
• Why projects without urgent deadlines are hard to complete
• A deadline strategy that adds urgency to non-deadline tasks
• A practical approach for making sure you’re always making at least some progress on non-deadline projects

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University (SchoolHabitsUniversity.com)
• ⭐Note-Taking Power System (NoteTakingSystem.com)
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System (AssignmentManagementSystem.com)
• ⭐FREE Parent Training: How to Help Your Teen Handle School Like a Pro
• Episode website (https://www.learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/131)
• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (FREE DOWNLOAD)
• Episode 132: The DO Date Strategy
• Episode 63: My 3-Bucket Productivity System

❤️ Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Subscribe on YouTube

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.

Send me a message!🤓

Most people focus on due dates -- as in, this final deadline. But the due date of a project has nothing to do with you actually getting it done.

Enter the DO date.

In this episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I make the case that focusing on DO dates is far more effective than wasting our energy stressing about DUE dates. In fact, DO dates make DUE dates just ... happen.

What You Learn:

• Why focusing on deadlines is the wrong approach
• What exactly a DO date is
• How to implement the DO date strategy in your everyday life (work, school, or personal)

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• ⭐SchoolHabits University (SchoolHabitsUniversity.com)
• ⭐Note-Taking Power System (NoteTakingSystem.com)
• ⭐Assignment Management Power System (AssignmentManagementSystem.com)
• ⭐FREE Parent Training: How to Help Your Teen Handle School Like a Pro
• Episode website (https://www.learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/132)
• Submit a question to the show
• Free weekly planner (FREE DOWNLOAD)
• Episode 124: How to Reach Deadlines Without Losing Your Mind
• Episode 113: The 6-Part Ecosystem All Students Need
• Episode 95: Time Estimation Strategies
• Episode 54: The Secret Ingredient Behind Every Accomplishment Ever

❤️ Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Subscribe on YouTube

Got your own burning question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? AWESOME! You can submit your questions via the form on my homepage right here.

Please follow the show and leave a review if what you hear is helpful. Doing so helps me more than you'll ever know. Thank you!!

LET'S CONNECT

Sign up for my (pretty darn good) newsletter that I very craftily named ReportCard.

For hundreds of tutorials featuring tips on studying, productivity, organization, learning, time management and more, head to my blog: SchoolHabits.com.