Have you heard of “The Rule of 3?” It is all about starting small and leveraging a SIMPLE technique that works WITH the way our mind has always been programmed to work, making the technique more memorable. 

The idea behind the technique is to focus on what is important and determine the 3 outcomes you’d like to reach by the end of the day. Focusing on only 3 outcomes makes the technique more achievable and less overwhelming that a massive to do list. If you find yourself on a roll after reaching the 3 intended outcomes you set out to do that morning, then everything else is a bonus. 

There are a lot of techniques that require changing habits, which are hard to do. As humans, we are averse to anything difficult, boring or challenging. The Rule of 3 is easy. Most of us have to–do lists anyway, so prioritizing them by picking the top 3 for the day and making them outcome driven rather than task driven can give us a sense of pride that we finished, completed or finalized at least 3 things we were hoping to do.  

Using the as an gym example, if you are trying to get back in the habit of working out – starting out by saying you’ll working out 5 days/week right off the bat, will probably result in you quitting shortly after. 

Instead, you can achieve the same result by making it a goal to go to the gym 1-2 days a week for a few weeks and then anything after that is a bonus, even if you can eventually work up to 5 days a week after a month or two. 

Starting small gives you immediate wins more often by starting and staying small.  

Think about a project with no milestones for months. Its hard to feel a sense of progress of accomplishment. 

Start by taking your study plan, looking to see what is up next for the day and the week and breaking it down to look something like this: 

Day:

Week:

“Don’t let the information control you.”  

It’s a hard pill to swallow. 

Yet it was one of my biggest takeaways from the Andy Crowe book I mentioned earlier in this article. 

Like many of you, who continually find yourself overwhelmed by the wealth of information in the profession, and the level of information we receive and process daily as a project manager. 

The same can be said, when it comes to studying for the PMP exam. Even though we all magically hope  reading the material will suddenly make it all “click.” 

After a number of conversations with others pursing the PMP, there was more of an underlying reason so many others were struggling with the amount of information there is to consume too. 

How do you learn to study? How can we feel less exhausted by consuming material?  

Despite a large number of PMP aspirants having very impressive academic backgrounds and holding several degrees, many are still trying to figure out how to study. 

For starters, it helps if you understand your study style, if you don’t know yours click here. After answering 20 simple questions, you will get a summary and some tips on what will work best for you. 

The second is to know and take advantage your Biological Prime Time (BPT) a concept that author Chris Bailey discusses in his book, The Productivity Project. Find out when you have the most energy and tackle your highest impact tasks at that time. Bailey suggests that time management isn’t simply just about time, but its even more so about monitoring your energy and attention as well. 

Once we know how best to study and when our optimal study time is, it is time to study. Although each study style will have recommendations on how best to study for you, there is also a ton of merit to a few others I think are worth mentioning; you’ll see why shortly. 

In the last section, we talked about using the Pomodoro technique to retain information. When used in combination with some of my favorite easy to use methods during your pomodoro sprints, it can help to further extend the minds ability to remember new material. 

I suggested this one to my business partner who is currently studying for the exam. I am pretty sure he thinks I am nuts. Think about it though. When you read aloud, the minds are processing information multiple ways, as both a visual and audio learner. Many studies suggest this strongly improves memory and it is a simple technique that can be incorporated to your study regimen.  

This quote has a lot of truth behind it. If you know material well, its usually easy to summarize it simply. However, if you were distracted and only half focused – – I am sure you can imagine how much of a challenge it would be to teach someone. For anyone who has taken any type of academic course over the years, you’ve probably had an instructor ask you to read though some material and teach the class or your partner. I had this happen in grad school and in a PMP boot camp course I took. In those settings, I kind of hated it. The overall ideology behind it made sense. 

My favorite way to use it is to teach my business partner some of the techniques I learn from all the time management and productivity readying I do. Further, I continue to read up on the PMP and content to be a better teacher, and there is no better of a student than my business partner who is smack dap in the middle of his journey to a PMP. 

After each section, summarize it in your own words and refer to it as reference when you need to. If you are comprehending what you are reading, which is the goal with studying and reading in general this should be easy. It will help to consolidate ideas and focus on the main points and takeaways from each passage.   

Phew….we got through it all. 

So in summary, studying is all about quality over quantity and overall effectiveness. Trying to cram in hours of study, wont necessarily be more effective than someone else who has better “study form” and retains information easier. 

To retain information, try the pomodoro technique and work in sprints, taking a short break between each one. If you get overwhelmed, set yourself up with 3 outcomes you’d like to achieve by the end of the day, or end of the study session and solely focus your time and energy into those. 

Speaking of energy, its important to study during hours where you’re at your peak.  Take advantage over your study style and exploit it. When all else fails, reading aloud, teaching what you learned to others, and simply summarizing each key section can trigger multiple parts of the brain that are not only effective, but increase the memory and retention of the information you’re consuming.  

Remember, we all have the same 24 hours in a day/168 in a week, and by implementing no-brainer tactics like these, you can begin to immediate results and high returns of your time by your next study session.