It happened on April 26, 2021 — the moment any coach dreams of. My student beat me to the finals conversation. Here's how 2.5 years of consistent, repeatable framework practice made that shift possible — and what it means for the students you're working with right now.

Working memory is one of the strongest predictors of academic success we have — often more so than IQ. And yet, most students are never taught how it works.

Here's the plot twist: you can't grow it. The "parking lot" is fixed.

But here's what is teachable: how to manage the traffic. One study found that students taught a single working memory strategy reached peak performance in just 2 sessions — while students who practiced harder took 40 sessions to get to the same place.

That changes everything about how — and when — we prepare students for finals.

The difference between academic coaching and executive function coaching isn't really about what happens in sessions. It's about two things: which skills are being named and intentionally developed, and the depth of scientific understanding behind those skills.

Consent in coaching isn’t about being polite or careful. It’s about capacity.

A student can be generally willing—and still not have the nervous system bandwidth for a specific strategy in a specific moment.

That’s why consent sometimes needs to be revisited, and sometimes doesn’t. The goal isn’t repetition. It’s alignment.

When consent is present, learning flows.
When it isn’t, even good ideas can land as pressure.

Let’s be honest—building a coaching biz can feed your soul…or your self-doubt…or both! The difference? How you meet yourself along the way—and how you allow our community to meet you, too. Recently, I hosted our monthly Rock Your Biz call—and it went deeper than any of us expected. We found ourselves exploring what it really takes to build a business that feels alive, not anxiety-driven. What emerged was a powerful reminder that edupreneurship isn’t just strategic—it’s soulful work, too. When we let it, this work invites us to confront old stories about money, livelihood, and enoughness; to trust our ability to ride curiosity and action instead of fear; and to lean (at least sometimes) on a power greater than ourselves.

One of my favorite discoveries in recent years is how deeply learning science and marketing science overlap. The same brain-based principles we use to help students manage their cognitive load also shape how potential clients make decisions. When coaches show too much information too early—long, detailed packages, multiple options, full price breakdowns—they unintentionally overwhelm families right at the moment when curiosity matters most. If a parent lands on your website and has to read, compare, and decide before ever meeting you, their brain is already working too hard. And overloaded brains don’t make confident decisions. This isn’t about being mysterious or withholding information; it’s about pacing. When you reveal the right amount at the right time, you keep families engaged, curious, and ready for conversation. That’s why the timing of your package reveal can make such a dramatic difference—especially for coaches in their first stage of business.

What if professional development for educators actually practiced what it preached? In this new post, Gretchen Wegner explores how the Anti-Boring Learning Lab naturally aligns with the four research-based principles for effective PDoutlined by education expert Peps McCrea.

From making learning easy (without dumbing it down) to creating a safe, social, and timely space for teacher growth, the Lab demonstrates how evidence-informed routines can transform both educator and student learning. Through practical micro-credentials, live “Practice Labs,” and a vibrant coaching community, teachers gain the confidence and curiosity to apply cognitive science in real time.

In this post I tackle a question I hear all the time from educators and coaches:

“Do mnemonics really count as teaching students to study?”

If you’ve ever wondered the same thing, you’ll want to see this one.

Here’s the short version:
Mnemonics do work — but only in certain contexts.
They’re great for remembering facts, lists, or vocabulary… when used alongside strategies like retrieval or elaboration.
But when they’re used for complex ideas? They can actually get in the way of deep learning.

I share when and why mnemonics work, when they don’t, and how to help students build their own—so they understand the why behind the memory trick.