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The Secret to get into Med School, the Power of Focus and Deep Work + Parent Money Managing tips for Kids with Jeannie Burlowski
277 Plays2 years ago
In this episode we are speaking with Jeannie Burlowski - a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them—and she is the author of the book LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward.
We discuss:
- Jeannie’s story as an academic strategist and how she became an expert in the field of debt-free college
- Fun, easy-to-implement strategy for turning kids into brilliant frugal money managers
- The most compelling thing people need to know if they or their kids want to apply to law, medical, business, or grad school
- How students can use focus and the superpower of "deep work" to achieve academically without stress or pressure
- ...and so much more!
Watch Jeannie’s free, fast-paced 10-minute video training (based on the age of your kid) is always in the big red box right at the top of JeannieBurlowski.com.
Jeannie's highest level academic strategy consulting is available at her medical and grad school consulting website: GetIntoMedSchool.com
View her article 12 Ways to Get Your Grad School Paid For:
https://jeannieburlowski.com/2019/03/18/12-ways-to-get-grad-school-paid-for/
Get free, ongoing help from Jeannie starting right now—by subscribing to her free weekly email newsletter here!
Jeannie’s book LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward is available on Amazon at: bit.ly/burlowski
Let us know if you enjoyed the episode by giving a review and rating the podcast 5 stars!
Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast and hit the notification so you'll always be in the know about how to succeed in your education.
For more study tips and tricks, check out our Instagram @allthingseducation21
Want to learn in-demand skills, start a business, or learn how to succeed in the 21st century? Check out fiverr.com to learn more!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guests
00:00:05
Speaker
Hey, it's Mary Coleman, your host for the All Things Education podcast. If you don't know, I'm a student too and I'm currently studying psychology. I'm so glad you're listening today because we learn about study and lifestyle tips, chat with professional guests about a range of topics. We learn about the ins and outs of school and uni life, how to form solid friendships, actualize career aspirations, chat about relationships, moving, traveling, and so much more. We have a range of content on this podcast and it's all to help you be that much more informed about the world we live in.
00:00:34
Speaker
So, let's get educated, shall we? Hello guys, good evening. It is 9.30 and I'm recording this. Oh my goodness. But yes, welcome back to the All Things Education Podcast. My name is Mary, if you didn't hear from the introduction already. I am super excited for this episode. I always say that. But oh my goodness, every single time these episodes just keep getting bigger and better. I'm speaking with the one and only Jeannie Berlowski today. She's an academic strategist and she also writes
00:01:00
Speaker
She has strategies about how to get out of college, jet free for the American listeners out there. I won't get into her bio just yet because I could honestly talk about her forever because she is just so wonderful. But I will share with a little bit and give a teaser of what we're going to talk about today. So we talk about Jeannie's journey as an academic strategist and her career journey and getting into the field and becoming an expert in that field.
00:01:20
Speaker
We also talk about fun and easy to implement strategies for kids turning ages 14 and up and how to make them become brilliant frugal money managers.
The Importance of Financial Education
00:01:28
Speaker
And we also talk about what the most compelling thing is that people need to know if they or their kids want to apply to law, medical, business, or grad school. And we talk about deep work and focus and how students can basically harness that power, the superpower of deep work
00:01:47
Speaker
to achieve academically without stress or pressure. And if you don't know what deep work is, well, you're going to find out. The other thing is I would really encourage you guys, if your students please pass this on to your parents. I think this episode, they will find really beneficial, especially if you have any siblings or you are around 14 years of age or around that age. I think this will be really, really great for them because your parents can help you with your money and your finances.
00:02:07
Speaker
and the tips that Jeannie gives I think are really beneficial. Not I think, I know they're very beneficial and they're something that I would love to implement and I wish happened to me. Don't fret though, if you are an adult and you're more of a mature age student or whatever it is, do not fret at all. It's all good. Jeannie and I speak about some great tips that you can also learn to manage your money better and just to sort of be able to, yeah, manage and budget and negotiate and figure out life stuff, I guess, as an adult. So if you are listening,
00:02:36
Speaker
and your more mature age student, totally fine. And if you are a child, please share it with your parents and vice versa. Alright, let's get into my weekly recap. Okay, so in terms of this week, it's been pretty busy actually. I've been working a lot, but that's okay. In terms of just study-wise and psychology updates, I had three assessments that were due on Wednesday and that was intense, but that's okay.
00:03:01
Speaker
That's pretty much, that was like the last chunk of my assessments before I have my exams. So I was pretty happy with that and summer school is nearly finished, which is very exciting. It's very exhilarating to sort of submit an assignment or submit three assignments. And I kind of did put the pressure on myself and let it to the last week to do all three assignments, but that's okay. Live and learn. I'm really just living. I'm not really learning, but no, I'm trying. But that was really great for psychology. Very happy that I was able to submit it
00:03:29
Speaker
And I do think that I submitted something that was of my best work like I know that I left it to the last minute but I still gave myself enough time that I wasn't depriving myself of a better grade because of the lack of time like I don't know I think I just I'm time managed enough but I could have time managed more if that makes sense put less stress on myself that's okay I'll let you know how I go
00:03:50
Speaker
Obviously not sharing grades, but I'll let you know if I do well or not. Yeah, that's that. In terms of favourite book of the week, I'm not going to do it this week only because I haven't been reading a book this week, so I can't really share a favourite book to you guys because I don't have one. I mean, I have heaps of favourite books, but nothing that I'm currently reading that I'm really loving. Something that has been really great is the Psychology Textbook. That's the only book that I've been reading this week, because of the assessments. But that's actually been really fun, just going through the Health Behaviour Book, which is the second year book.
00:04:21
Speaker
It's just been really great just you know second-year psych book. Sorry It's very interesting I was learning a lot about ADHD and I was learning a lot about Eating disorders as well, and I was very fascinated by all of it So I think I might start implementing a set a segment into this episode like just to the channel That shares a little psychology tip that I've learned you guys would you like that? I don't know let me know if you would like to hear Another little segment that's about psychology and a psychology tip that I've learned for the weekend
00:04:48
Speaker
If you are interested, send me DM at allthingseducation21 on the Instagram. There have actually been quite a nice number of messages lately that have been giving like a lot of positive feedback about the channel, which is really great. And that actually is a nice little segue to my next section I was going to talk to you about is that if you can and if you are able to and you like in the podcast episode so far and the channel, I'd really appreciate it if you rated the episode five stars, rated this show five stars.
Meet Jeannie Berlowski: Author and Academic Strategist
00:05:14
Speaker
And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts to leave a review, all you have to say is something like, great work, or love the episode, or hate the episode, whatever you wanna say. And I'd really appreciate that. It does mean a lot, and it gets this podcast more discoverable, like, just out there a little bit more, which is amazing. Okay, let's talk about the wonderful guest star today, Jeannie Belowski. So, Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host of her own channel, and speaker for students ages 12 to 26.
00:05:42
Speaker
their parents, and the professionals who serve them. And she's the author of the book, Launch, How to Get Your Kids Through College Jet Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward. And if you are an American listener, please definitely go check that book out. It is amazing. We'll link it in the comments in the description below. Jeannie helps parents set their kids up to graduate college jet free and ready to jump into the careers they excel at and love. And her work has been featured in so many different publications, such as the Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents' magazines, and US News and World Report,
00:06:13
Speaker
and on CBS News. Her work is extremely popular with financial advisors who use her debt-free college strategies to rapidly grow their financial advising businesses. Oh my goodness, I just cannot wait to share this episode with you. Just before we jump in, please just pause this quickly, grab a pen, paper, you're gonna be writing so many notes down, and please chuck it on your story and tag us at alllinkseducation21 because we wanna see how many notes you took down for this episode. I'm sure it's gonna be pages full. I can't wait to see all of those tags. And without further ado, let's get on to the episode.
00:06:43
Speaker
Okay, so welcome Jeannie to the All Things Education podcast. How are you today? Mary, it's great to be here. I'm happy to be on your podcast. Thank you so much. It's so awesome. I'm really, really excited for our conversation today. I think let's just jump right on into it. I am really interested to hear a bit more of your story as an academic strategist. And could you just talk to us a little bit about how you became an expert in the field of debt free college and just talk to us about your career pathway?
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny. People will sometimes say to me, what do you do? And then I'll say, I'm an academic strategist. And they'll say, that is so important. And then the next thing they say is, what is it that you do? So for 25 years, I've been helping students apply to law school, medical school, graduate school, and business school. I've had people from all over the world. And many people don't know that when you go to apply to one of these very high level programs,
00:07:43
Speaker
you have to put together an application that includes a very long essay like 5,300 characters or think of one page single spaced. And in that space, you need to explain why you and not 20 other people equally as well qualified as you should have that spot in law school or medical school or graduate school.
00:08:04
Speaker
And so I help my clients to craft the persuasive communication that they need to get their reader to say, oh my goodness, this makes absolutely perfect sense. I don't even have a question about this. It makes perfect sense for this person to be in medical school or this person to be in law school or whatever it is that their goal is. And I do this all the time from my website, getintomedschool.com.
00:08:32
Speaker
It's interesting, in the years I've been doing that, I always have to have a debt discussion with my clients because we have to look at how much debt do you have right now so we can figure out, will you be able to take on the extra necessary debt in order to get through medical school or law school or business school? In the years I've been doing that, I have had some heartbreaking conversations
00:08:59
Speaker
where I actually had to say to people, you can't go to medical school now because you'd never be able to pay all the debt back on a doctor's salary. On the other hand, I have had some amazing conversations with people where I have said, tell me about your debt that you have right now. And they would say, I have zero. And I would say, you have zero? How did you do that?
00:09:25
Speaker
And they would tell me the most brilliant ideas for getting their college paid for. And I wrote down all these ideas because this is what a consultant does, Mary. We take brilliant ideas from one client and then we charge the next person by the hour to hear that exact same information.
00:09:45
Speaker
Yeah, I love it. So I had all these ideas for keeping debt really low when it comes to education, and then I had to decide what to do with all those ideas. So I stuffed them into a book, and the book is titled, Launch, How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward.
00:10:06
Speaker
And I know one of the things you asked me about is could we put some focus today on talking about how can parents of kids ages 12 to 26, how can they enhance the possibility that their kids will get into jobs they love as adults? And that's a topic I'm really excited about.
00:10:29
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And it sounds like you're so passionate about it as well. I mean, it is your career and what you do for a living. That's just so great. I am really interested, and could we just touch a little bit more on fun and easy to implement strategies for those kids ages 14 and up, how to turn them into brilliant frugal money managers, especially for the parents listening?
00:10:53
Speaker
Oh yes, I love this. And I think you're touching on this because I'm just talking about debt and keeping debt low. And one way to keep debt low is to just not be a spend thrift. And you can keep debt low by being careful about your money. And some parents have just despaired, like my kids are not careful about money they spend. It goes through their hands like water.
00:11:17
Speaker
And parents worry it's going to happen in their 20s and 30s and 40s if they don't have any sense of being frugal with money or saving or investing. And so I, as spouse, I talk to people about
00:11:36
Speaker
a really brilliant idea for making a kid into a frugal money manager. And here's what it is. You know,
Part-time Work and Financial Skills for Students
00:11:43
Speaker
most parents who got kids between 14 and 26, they're giving those kids some amount of money. They're paying for the kids' shoes or the school lunches or the football fees or whatever it takes to make teenage life work.
00:11:45
Speaker
a
00:11:59
Speaker
And so my suggestion is that parents decide pretty much how much money they are giving that kid in a given year to pay for all their clothes and their shoes and their eyeglasses and everything else. And then take that number and divide it by about 26.
00:12:18
Speaker
And figure out what if we gave our kid a chunk of money every two weeks and then asked them to cover all their own expenses out of that money every two weeks. And parents who do this find that the first thing that happens is the kids say,
00:12:38
Speaker
Oh my goodness, you mean you're just going to put money in my bank account every two weeks by automatic bank transfer. Money's just going to land in there and then I can spend it on whatever I want. And the parents go, yes, you know, I'm your mom, I'm old and I'm tired and you're smart and money by yourself. So the first reaction from the kids is, I am rich.
00:13:01
Speaker
I am rich beyond my wildest dreams. Look at all this money just flowing in. But then what happens when they start to make the money stretch?
00:13:11
Speaker
to cover the shoes and the clothes and the football fees, they start to really realize how much things cost in the real world. And they start to juggle their money in a way that will stretch the money until it screams. They learn to be very, very frugal. And you'll have a kid come home and say, you know what? I found a place called the thrift store.
00:13:37
Speaker
And it is a place where they have the same exact kind of shirts I have hanging in my closet, except they cost so little. And they have Senior Citizens Day on Friday, so I'm going to bring Grandma in there with me. She's going to show her Senior Citizens card, and then I'm going to get all my
00:13:55
Speaker
thrift store clothes and shoes for 50% off and the kid is feeling like this is an exciting game like it's hilarious and the parents are so excited just like chortling with laughter that their child is becoming a brilliant frugal money manager.
00:14:12
Speaker
Some parents take this to great lengths. They'll say, I really want my kids to learn to be frugal, so I'm going to calculate how much teenage life really costs for this kid, and then I'm only going to give them about 70% of the money that they need in order to cover everything.
00:14:34
Speaker
In America, where I'm from, they say, let's recreate the Great Depression in our own home. This is where you have so little money and you have to really make it stretch. These are the kids that really learn the value of a dollar and they learn how to be frugal. When they go through their teens and their 20s,
00:14:52
Speaker
and they're 30s they're accustomed to weighing every dollar and thinking do I really need to spend this or could I do this a less expensive way they're the kind of people that will buy things used instead of brand new and then when these kids are out of college or job training
00:15:10
Speaker
and they are making more money than they have ever made in their lives, they will tend to maintain this frugal lifestyle and have more money to invest. And people who have more money to invest, starting at a younger age, those people are going to enjoy the miracle of compound interest. Albert Einstein said that compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world.
00:15:35
Speaker
that they'll be able to watch their money grow while they're sleeping. And some of them are going to have $1.5 million to take out to use for retirement when they get to be retirement age.
00:15:52
Speaker
So it's exciting. And Mary, what I like about it is it really takes the pressure off of the parents because the parents don't have to make big financial decisions for their kids anymore. When the kids come to them and say, I'd like to buy these $300 shoes. If I wear these shoes at school, people will respect me and love me.
00:16:14
Speaker
And then the parents could say, wow, sounds great. If you can afford it, I'm all for it. And that kind of enthusiastic support is all the parents have to worry about. And then the boundaries created by the lack of money are the natural teacher, not the parent having to continually say, no, I don't think so. That's too expensive. That's ridiculous for shoes.
00:16:40
Speaker
I love that so much, Jeannie. Honestly, that's so fascinating that this is the technique that's been used. I'm really, really interested and want to touch on a couple of points. You said I was scribbling them down. She was talking because there was just so much there. Do parents help with the budgeting of the money or do they just simply just give it to them and say, here you go, enjoy? Is there any sort of co-op, like they kind of work together
00:17:08
Speaker
and sit down with a kid and go, okay, well, this is actually how much money I spend on this. And maybe you can do this. And is that sort of a discussion around that or full responsibility? Great question. So you're asking me, do parents provide some guidance? And we usually suggest this allowance system for when kids are about 14 years old. At that point, their brains are developed enough they can think this through. And what we find is that at about age 14, kids are starting to want to pull away from their parents and not wanting to take a lot of advice.
00:17:38
Speaker
So, what some parents have told me is that if they try to help the kid with this, they're pushed away a little bit. No mom, I'll figure it out by myself. And the kids are probably going to make some mistakes, right? They're probably going to spend all their money in the first one week of their first month and then not have any money left to buy school lunches.
00:18:02
Speaker
And so what parents can say is just very empathetically, oh man, I so empathize with you. I have done that before when I was young. I spent all my money for the whole month, right in the first week of the month. And then I was so hungry. Hey honey, tell you what, we don't want you to be hungry at school.
00:18:19
Speaker
We have some sandwich material in the cupboard. You can make yourself a little sandwich every day before you go to school. Yeah, you won't be able to have those fun, hot, nice school lunches, but you can have a little cold paper bag of lunch that you make out of our computer.
00:18:39
Speaker
And the kids pretty quickly learn, oh, if I want to have money left at the end of the month, I better make a plan. And sometimes what we find is that when the kids make a mistake and then say, oh, now I have to plan, that's a better teacher than the parents saying, let me show you how I do it.
00:19:00
Speaker
Although certainly some parents say, you know, I have to manage money every day. If you'd ever like to have a conversation with me about how I plan it out, I have a thing called a budget. If you'd ever like to talk to me about that, I'm glad to talk to you about it. But a lot of kids will just say, no, I know everything. I want to figure it all out on my own. Yeah, yeah. And do you have any, just off the top of your head, any good budgeting tips for these kids, these students?
00:19:30
Speaker
Well, if I had students that were listening to me here today, the first thing I would talk to them about is your parents are giving you this money. What a good idea to create a pad. First thing is a pad. So this is a little chunk of money that you can have put away for yourself. So if you do get in trouble financially and you don't have enough money left at the end of the month,
00:19:53
Speaker
You can go into your pad your own little chunk of money and borrow money from yourself Yeah to get what you might need in the last two weeks of the month in the adult world We call this an emergency fund even people who are living paycheck to paycheck and barely getting by We're hoping that those families always have a little pad. They got some amount of money set aside so if the washing machine breaks and
00:20:18
Speaker
Or if the car needs inexpensive repair, they can borrow the money from themselves in order to pay that. And then as adults, we don't want to run into a situation where we can't afford to get the car fixed, so then we can't get to work. So then we have to lose our job, and that's a downward spiral. So the first thing I would suggest to the student is about the pad. And Mary, here's what I'm thinking. The student will probably ignore me when I say that.
00:20:48
Speaker
I'm just going to spend the money. It'll be fine. And then they hit the end of the month on some month to come and it's painful. Then they say, oh, remember what Mrs. Bervelowski said about the pad.
00:21:03
Speaker
I think I'm going to actually do that. And then the kid will go to their parents and say, I just had a brilliant idea, mom. I am going to have a pad. We call it an emergency fund so I can borrow money from myself. And the kid will appropriate that idea as their own idea, which is what we love. Take up these great ideas and use them for yourself.
00:21:26
Speaker
Yes, I love that. And giving the kids the power of money and giving them all that money and that huge influx teaches them so much maturity, I think, in that money, as you were saying.
00:21:38
Speaker
very be able to regulate that. Oh, wow. I love it. Another thing I wanted to... Did you have any other points? Well, I was going to just say that what sometimes happens with kids is they recognize, I don't really have enough money for everything I want. My parents have given me what they're going to give me, but I want some other stuff.
00:21:58
Speaker
And so what we see is a high number of students actually going out and getting part-time jobs, whether it's babysitting or mowing lawns or whether it's actually working at a fast food institution, they go out and get jobs because they realize, I need more money. More money would make my life better. And they're eligible for jobs. So they get jobs, they figure out the transportation, they figure out how to get there. And the magical thing is,
00:22:27
Speaker
That students who work when they're in high school and in college, students who work for money, they tend to get higher grades than students who don't work for money. I think it's because they have to keep a calendar and they have to plan their life out a little bit. And then another thing is those students gain tremendous professional confidence.
00:22:47
Speaker
So when it comes time to apply for internships or to try to get jobs out of college, those are the kids who are very confidently applying for jobs and going to interviews and getting multiple job offers and then picking the best one out of those multiple job offers.
00:23:05
Speaker
So I also love this, we call it the allowance strategy. We love this because it often inspires kids to want to get jobs, which is much better than moms saying, honey, why don't you go get a job? Wouldn't that be good? If a mom's just giving a kid money, they have no reason to get off the couch and go get a job. But when they're suffering scarcity and when they're suffering lack,
00:23:33
Speaker
That's when going to get a job actually feels kind of exciting. It teaches them so many rules of discipline and time management and everything of the above. Wowzers. Yeah. Junie, I'm really interested. Another point you mentioned, just kind of basing it off my own story. So I'm 19 years old.
00:23:53
Speaker
And I guess my parents, they did give me an allowance, but it was more something very, very miniscule, $10 a week. And it was really just, if I wanted pocket money, basically. What do you think is for like someone like me or any of the listeners who can relate to that sort of story where they didn't get an allowance as a kid and they are a little bit more mature now, what are some strategies do you think that they can start to focus to hone in that skill of managing their money?
00:24:23
Speaker
Okay. So I think you're asking me for somebody that's in their late teens or early twenties and their parents didn't give them this opportunity to learn by managing their own money. What can they do now to teach themselves those skills? I think that's what you're asking me. Yes. Good. I see you nodding your head. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
00:24:43
Speaker
So, I love it when students who are in their late teens or early 20s take matters into their own hands and say, I am going to become a brilliant frugal money manager. And what sometimes those students do just, and this is a good starting point. I'm not going to get into the intricacies of budgeting. Anyone who knows about, wants to know about that can Google about how to make a budget.
00:25:09
Speaker
But let's talk about just a really wise first step. A really wise first step is for a student to try to make as much money as they can by working somehow. Kids are working around school schedules and college class schedules, but calculate how many hours could you probably work in a week while you're going to school.
00:25:35
Speaker
And we're usually recommending that students do 16 hours a week. We're not expecting a full-time employment situation for a student. But when they see how much their paycheck actually is, the first thing we want students to do is pay themselves.
00:25:52
Speaker
And this means you take some money right off the top and you put it in a special fund that is called an emergency fund or it's called a pad. And this is so that if you get stuck in a situation you can borrow money from yourself.
00:26:07
Speaker
in order to pay for what you need. This is just a good lifelong habit. Second thing that is so brilliant is if students who are 17, 18, 19, 20, they're in their early 20s, if they will take even if it's a small amount of money, take an additional amount of money and put it into an investment account.
00:26:27
Speaker
And I'm talking even kids who are only working 16 hours a week and they're kind of living hand-to-mouth Even five or ten dollars going into an investment account is going to grow It's going to live out the miracle of compound interest students will be able to look back at that little investment account and watch how it grows and makes money while they're sleeping and
00:26:53
Speaker
And students can find a financial advisor and just say, tell me what's a good investment account. I'm going to be putting a little bit of money in every two weeks when I get a paycheck. And what I love about this is it builds habits. So then when that student gets out of college or job training,
00:27:11
Speaker
and they are making more money, they naturally say to themselves, well, I'm making more money. Why should I put $10 in now? Because now I can afford to put $100 in, or I can afford to put in even more. And the more the student engages with, wow, you invest money and it grows while you're sleeping,
00:27:36
Speaker
then a natural reaction tends to be, let me see if I can make a fun game out of cutting down my expenses.
00:27:45
Speaker
So these are the students who in their 20s, they decide to get an apartment that has four fun roommates. And they put bunk beds in the bedrooms and everyone is living frugally because they see this is really fun to be able to take a bunch of my income and watch my money grow while I'm sleeping. These students have in their minds,
00:28:13
Speaker
Well, I'm going to just try to keep my expenses low. So I do need some food. I could cook food at home instead of going to restaurants all the time. Look at how much less expensive that is. I could invite people over to my house and have them bring things. Instead of everybody going out to a bar or a restaurant, we still get to talk to each other. We can play loud music, but it's so much cheaper for everybody. And these are the young 20-somethings that say,
00:28:42
Speaker
I know where the thrift store is.
Crafting Compelling School Applications
00:28:46
Speaker
I may not be able to find the fancy dress that I need there, but I can sure go and get my ordinary pants and shirts that I wear every day. And just let's just try. Let's just see what they might have. So what I have prescribed here is pay yourself first by having an emergency fund that you can access. Number two, put aside money for investments, even if it's tiny. And then number three,
00:29:12
Speaker
make a game out of it. How could I live a frugal life? So as I grow, as I get older, I'm able to put more and more money into investments. And honestly, Mary, some students have done this so well that they have ended up to be in their 30s and their work optional.
00:29:34
Speaker
Which means they have enough money saved up in investments that if they get in some kind of bad job, some sort of terrible boss, it's intolerable. They can just quit. They can afford to quit and just take a month off because they have enough money to float them by. Some of these students are saying, I'm going to just take two years off and backpack around Europe.
00:29:59
Speaker
because I can afford it. Because I can pull the money out of my investment account. And I don't want them to pull all the money out of their investment account because I want them to save some for when they're old. But this is about growing money for huge fun later. I love that, Jeannie. And I noticed something as well. And no idea if you have any insight on this. I'm sure you do. You sound so knowledgeable about all of this.
00:30:29
Speaker
What do you think of the high paying jobs that are becoming easier and easier to get into without studying and qualification? For example, acting or podcasting. I know that a lot of high paying money can be made from both of them. What do you say to the idea that if people are getting into these careers,
00:30:51
Speaker
and they haven't already developed the skills of money managing, is that, should you still, basically what I'm trying to say is, should you still have to develop these money managing skills, even if you don't really need to manage your money so much because the job payments are so high? If that makes sense, yeah. I really hear you saying, do people who make a lot of money really need money management skills? Yeah. I mean, isn't the money just flowing?
00:31:20
Speaker
And you know, there are people who are very, very, very wealthy and they have such poor money management skills that they are out of money every month.
00:31:31
Speaker
And it happens, you hear about people who are quite wealthy and they have sons and daughters who are crashing cars and then they're buying another car for the kid. It is really possible for a wealthy person to just go through money like water. I think of professional athletes that I have heard speak who said, I had millions and millions of US dollars and I just blew right through it and I had nothing.
00:32:01
Speaker
And so even the people who have a tremendous amount of money
00:32:06
Speaker
We still want them to be brilliant money managers, but they don't have to live as close to the line. They don't have to buy the bruised fruit in the grocery store. But we still want them to honor these principles of making sure they always have a pad, making sure that they're taking a chunk of money out and putting it in investments. And then if they can follow that up with living a little more frugally,
00:32:32
Speaker
Because honestly, you don't really need a 17 bedroom house in order to be happy. It's a lot of clean. Yes. People can be happy with just a moderate amount of stuff. And if they do have a moderate amount of stuff, then
00:32:48
Speaker
There's money left over for giving, for making a difference in the world, for helping people who are less fortunate. I think even people who are in very high paying professions, it's still highly advisable that they use good money management principles in order to get the best benefit out of the money they're working so hard for.
00:33:16
Speaker
So true. Love that. Thanks so much for asking that question even though I couldn't quite put the words together. I love how you just drew that all in. This was a great question. Thank you, Jeannie. Yes, we'll move on I think to something I'm very excited to talk about and I'm sure you are as well. It's what's the most compelling thing that people need to know if they or their kids want to apply to those professions such as law or
00:33:42
Speaker
medicine, business, or grad school. But particularly, I would love to focus on medicine and the medical side of things. Yes. Well, I have 25 years of experience helping students from all over the world to apply to law school, medical school, graduate school, business school. And in every one of these applications, there's always an essay portion. It's never just about the grades and the test scores.
00:34:10
Speaker
always the student has to tell their story and if they can tell their story in a compelling way that makes the reader say oh my goodness this makes perfect sense I don't even have a question about this it's really clear to me that you should be in this program
00:34:27
Speaker
they're going to greatly enhance their chances of being accepted and then they will also enhance their chances of getting free money to help pay for that program. So for anyone that I have listening who you yourself might be applying to one of these
00:34:44
Speaker
elite programs, or you've got a child or grandchild who might be applying to one of these programs. When writing that essay, I strongly advise you think in terms of making a powerfully well-reasoned argument in your own behalf.
00:35:01
Speaker
And I use the word argument, but I would never want anyone to sound argumentative. The purpose of an argument is that when someone's done reading it, they say, I'm convinced. I'm sold. You got me. I am a huge yes coming from me. And when it comes to doing that, we want to create a balance in the writing that we're doing.
00:35:25
Speaker
where we are using some sentences, our conclusive sentences, where we come right out and tell them what we want them to believe. If we want them to believe that the student is highly academically capable, come right out and say that. If we want them to believe that the student already has clinical experience for medical school, they've been around doctors, patients, elderly people, handicapped people, sick people, anybody with a physical need, we want them to believe
00:35:54
Speaker
We want the reader to believe that this applicant's life has been rich with this kind of experience. We need to come right out and say it somewhere. I have a hundred hours of clinical experience or whatever it is. That's a conclusive statement. And then every single time you have a conclusive statement anywhere, you always have to prove it. You want to bring evidence to bear like a lawyer.
00:36:22
Speaker
arguing a case in court, you want to provide details and specifics that would lead someone to say, wow, I believe it. You really are academically capable. Oh, wow. Or, wow, you really do have a lot of specific clinical experience. I can see by the details you're providing here.
00:36:44
Speaker
So it's a balance between conclusive statements, where you make it really easy for them to understand what you're trying to say, and then evidence that supports those conclusive statements. And then a second piece that I would offer anyone who's applying is, in 25 years, I have never had anyone
00:37:06
Speaker
start without a story. So what we always prescribe is you start these essays with a story. And it could be a story from your own experience. It could be a story you've heard about or a story that happened to somebody else. But it's some story, you tell it in great detail so people can see a picture, smell a smell, hear a sound, and then connect that story to your goal.
00:37:32
Speaker
So if you want to be a cancer doctor and you have a story about somebody who you knew or loved that had a battle with cancer, they lost their battle, you tell the story and then connect it to that goal.
00:37:47
Speaker
If let's say that you want to be a doctor that helps premature babies, you could tell a story about someone that you knew that had a baby that needed the neonatal intensive care unit, and then you beautifully dovetail into, now, this is what I want to do. I want to be a doctor for babies who are born prematurely and need special help in the NICU unit at the hospital.
00:38:12
Speaker
And so this combination of starting with a story and then saying what a goal is, and then making room to give some reasons why this person would be a great neonatal intensive care
00:38:26
Speaker
doctor or a cancer doctor, why they're well qualified, every conclusive statement supported by evidence, this is so powerful. And so few people ever think to do this. I have my clients who come to me, I have a three and a half hour class that they take on the subject before we start working together. So
00:38:48
Speaker
There's more to it than what I've just described. But what I'm doing, Mary, is I'm saving your listeners from just writing a one-page essay about volleyball and then wondering why they didn't get into medical school, which I have seen so many times. Yes, Jeannie. Even if they don't have that wow factor about themselves, they can still utilize a story that has impacted them, that has stimulated and been the ground basis of why they want to enter into the
00:39:18
Speaker
career that they do. Yes. But one thing I have noticed is that I would say huge percentage of the people who come to me think they do not have any kind of a wow story. They think that they are just boring and nothing they've done is interesting. And why is that? It's because the minute you accomplish or experience something, you think it's not that great.
00:39:39
Speaker
And so it's my job to ask lots of questions and figure out the breadth of this person's experiences. And then I pick out, here's what would be the great things to write about. And I do this all the time at my website, GetIntoMedSchool.com. Anybody can ask me for a free
00:39:58
Speaker
50-minute phone consultation where I just help take them from where they are right now give them all the free advice that can pack into 50 minutes I Love to do those and get into med school calm people just click on get help now in order to set up those appointments with me
00:40:16
Speaker
Let me, since I know we have a little time here, let me just tell you a story about a guy who truly did not have a wow story. I came at him from every angle. I was looking for anything that would make this guy look outstanding. I asked him so many questions and he has had such a boring life. Nothing really interesting had ever happened to him. So I said, have you ever hurt yourself?
00:40:43
Speaker
Sometimes your own self-injury can be a great story for a medical school. I bash my head when I was skiing. The only bad thing that had happened to him for injury was he banged his elbow on his desk in second grade.
00:41:01
Speaker
and then he fainted onto the floor and when he woke up all his little classmates and his teacher were so worried and they looked like we could see a little circle of all these worried anxious faces looking down at him.
00:41:18
Speaker
And I said, that's your story. And so I had him open up his medical school essay with this story about when I was in second grade, I banged my elbow on the table. And then I felt fainted and I fell flat out onto the green tile floor. And when I woke up, I could see the face of my teacher, Mrs. Anderson, and all my little anxious classmates were looking down at me.
00:41:43
Speaker
And then I had him say, this story impacts me as a future medical doctor, because I want to remember that whenever people come to me that are sick or ill or injured, there exists around that person, a circle of concerned community, friends and family that love that person and are very, very concerned about them.
00:42:06
Speaker
And I want to treat every patient I see remembering their circle of community that's around them unseen, but still very much there. And this leads me to think I'm going to be a strong candidate for being a family practice medical doctor.
00:42:24
Speaker
No, doesn't that just make you want to cry? That does tear it off a little. I used to be that guy for 15 years, and I still think of that story so tenderly. And why the green tile floor and the anxious circle of faces, it was a metaphor for something really powerful. And that guy got into medical school so fast. Oh, wow. It was
00:42:47
Speaker
And that's, I bring that example up because it's an example of a low level kind of, it's not a very glamorous story, but we made something truly beautiful and memorable out of it. I have never, in 25 years, I have never found any applicant that didn't have a story. Everybody has one.
The Power of Deep Work for Academic Success
00:43:10
Speaker
They just need a little bit of support from a professional person pulling out the right story.
00:43:15
Speaker
And when I see people who've applied before and not gotten in, often it's because they wasted that first four inches of the essay by saying something really boring and bland and generic, like, I love the human body, I want to help people, or I was a star volleyball player. What does that have to do with it? When if I can change that first four inches,
00:43:38
Speaker
and then also transform the rest by using really compelling argument principles. Oh, it's just amazing where students are able to go when they have a professional pulling out the best story. And that's why you come in and you're so amazing at your job because you help people get into these amazing careers. And they're so capable, more than capable to get in and maybe they check all the boxes, but it's just that
00:44:03
Speaker
essay or just that argumentative statement. I'm not sorry, the argument, not the argumentative. And it helps them get in. Amazing.
00:44:14
Speaker
Right. These people for medical school especially, these are scientists. These are not writers. And so I turn them into writers as I equip them to be able to tell their story. And so that's one part of what I do. And then what's really grown for me probably since 2017 is
00:44:36
Speaker
coaching parents who've got kids who are younger so that those kids can be in tremendous, they can be beautifully positioned to apply to medical school or law school or get an outstanding well-paying job when college or job training's over with. That's what I have been especially adding to my plate since 2017. Yeah, wow.
00:45:06
Speaker
I might shift topics now, talk about something I'm, again, very, very keen to talk about. Jeannie, I'm wondering how students can focus and use focus and the superpower of deep work to achieve academically without stress or pressure. Could you talk to me a little bit about that?
00:45:27
Speaker
Yes. So when I said a second ago that I moved a lot into equipping parents of kids ages 12 to 26 to equip those kids to be able to succeed with academic confidence at whatever is set in front of them.
00:45:46
Speaker
I, um, I teach a class called the strategic college student, how to get higher grades while studying less than most other people. It is a four hour half day seminar class. And I have been teaching this for so many years. I have refined it and I brought in new material and I let go of some things. And it is, um, this is one of the most powerful classes that I teach. And in it, I talk about the super power of deep work.
00:46:18
Speaker
Say you got a listener here who's a dad and he's got a 16-year-old daughter. What the parents aren't realizing right now is the kids are being continually distracted by electronics. If they're working on the computer, the computers are beeping and notifications are coming in. If they're in a class,
00:46:39
Speaker
They should be really taking notes on paper. The research shows that students who take notes on paper, they're getting more out of what they're learning than people who type on a laptop. They should be taking notes, but they're actually surfing the internet or they're on social media.
00:47:00
Speaker
or they're responding to texts on their phone so they're not focused. And when we can take these same kids and teach them about the superpower of deep work, and this is where you fence out all distractions for a certain period of time, not forever, not all day, but you take a certain hour block and say, I will be intensely focused on what I'm doing right here, right now.
00:47:24
Speaker
And I will not allow myself to be distracted. And these students who do this are putting away their electronic devices under their desk. They're taking notes on paper. And then when they walk out of class, they're reviewing what they have written on the paper so they can really solidify it.
00:47:43
Speaker
Yeah. And I learned a lot about deep work from an American author named Cal Newport, N-E-W-P-O-R-T. He is the author of the book Deep Work. And for really, for I don't know how many years, he has been working to equip college students to be able to get the highest possible grades with the least amount of effort.
00:48:09
Speaker
And so he has developed all these different strategies, and then I incorporate many of his strategies into the class that I teach. And what students find when they do this is they're actually able to enter a stage of psychological positioning that's called absorption.
00:48:29
Speaker
Or sometimes it's called flow. And this is a psychological state where you are so into what you're working on. You're applying all your strength and your cognitive ability and your focus ability at something that is challenging. And you get so into it that suddenly time seems to fly.
00:48:52
Speaker
or time seems to stand still. And you stand up from your desk sometimes after four intense hours and say, I feel so energized right now. I feel like I could go climb three mountains because I was just so soaked into what I was doing. And I tell students, you might not think that you could achieve absorption and joy and exhilaration from your calculus homework.
00:49:21
Speaker
to tell you that you really can. And the first step is to block out all distractions and to enter this space of deep work. And in the years I've been teaching this, I have students coming back to me all the time to say, oh, I did this achievement and I did this and I did this and I'm so excited. And one thing I hear over and over again is I had that four hour seminar from you when I was in middle school.
00:49:48
Speaker
And I love it when students take it in middle school because they learn about deep work very early. And then they go all the way through high school, all the way through college, polishing and honing the superpower.
Resources for Academic and Career Success
00:50:02
Speaker
And they'll say, I just had this four hour class from you. I use these principles all the way through. And I had a kid say to me one time, I got in a car accident and I hit my head on the pavement.
00:50:14
Speaker
And I had to relearn how to walk and talk and everything. And I used these principles that you taught me in order to get myself back academically. I had a dad say, my son used these principles and he greatly increased his grade point average with no stress, no pressure, no anxiety.
00:50:35
Speaker
And for anyone who's thinking, oh, I'd like my kid to have that. I actually have a tribe membership. These are parents who are with me and get some special teaching from me once a month. And anyone can find out about that at my website, which is debtfreecollege.us. You're going to put that in the show notes.
00:50:56
Speaker
And at debtfreecollege.us, anyone can see there about what my tribe membership is. And then for people who are in my tribe, this class is included. It's free. It's included in the package and it comes out twice a year. And I know your focus Mary is really on education. So how does what I have said to you about focus and concentration and deep work and flow and absorption, how does that land on you?
00:51:26
Speaker
What do you think about that? I love it. I was honestly just so focused talking to you. Like I was just so drawn in with what you're saying. It's amazing. I really think that for me, focus is something I mean, I struggle with a lot because I'm ADHD. So it's very, I do struggle to get into deep focus or sorry, deep work and really hone on the skill of focus. But I find that once I am
00:51:55
Speaker
doing. Once I kind of get myself into the mindset for me, I have to go through the emotions. I have to get a cup of tea, I'll add my candle, I'll put on maybe some non lyrical music. And those little things basically just help me zone in and that just gets me into that psychological state of that deep work. And I do find that the time flies by. Like seriously, I could be studying for five, six hours. I did that in year 12. I graduated in 2021. And
00:52:23
Speaker
I found myself, I mean, I didn't discover your amazing discovery and everything that you've been talking about. But I think subconsciously, I was kind of using those practices of deep work. And I can definitely attest to it and say it is so helpful. And perhaps I wasn't using the exact same strategies.
00:52:42
Speaker
potentially elements and fragments of that. And yes, super, super helpful. Well, I'm so glad to have you speaking into this. And one thing that often doctors or people who do the diagnosing of ADHD are not sharing with students that there's actually a super power side to ADHD where you're able to achieve a hyper focus.
00:53:08
Speaker
Exactly. Even more than a person who has no neurodiversity whatsoever. And when you can tap into super hyper focus, which is like the flip side of the coin on ADHD, you are able to actually enter this place of deep work better than a lot of people. And there are some people listening here today that are hearing that you, a person who has ADHD studied for six hours straight and you're like,
00:53:35
Speaker
What? This is so important. Yes. But I will say this about someone who has ADHD. You are greatly helped by turning off your electronic devices and not having interruptions and closing the door and having a sign on the outside of the door that says study session in progress do not knock and making sure there's no beeping and you're not noticing when an email is coming in
00:54:03
Speaker
According to the author Cal Newport, when we get interrupted by a beep or a notification and we turn to it, obviously we do, we are so curious, it throws us off of whatever we were working on. And he says it causes a cognitive deficit that could last 25 minutes. So it could take 25 minutes for you to bring back your deep attention, your deep focus, your deep work.
00:54:30
Speaker
And by that time, people have their study sessions over sometimes. So you are greatly helped by the wisdom of recognizing this is your kryptonite to use a Superman reference. This is what could really hurt you if you had beeps and notifications and so making sure you don't have interruptions. That is huge for bringing joy to work instead of drudgery.
00:54:58
Speaker
Yes, yeah, and you become so much more productive and you're honing those time management skills as well by limiting the distractions and
00:55:08
Speaker
Yeah, turn the phone on, do not disturb. I literally, I hammer on about that every single episode because I just couldn't endorse it enough, you know? I love that iPhone's now kind of put in these different modes. So I have study mode on my phone, which only allows my mom and my dad to call me if they have to, and they have to ring twice to actually get through. And apart from that, everything else is silenced.
00:55:30
Speaker
I find it super effective. Yeah. The line I love is, you could study for nine hours at a level one. As far as level one of intensity and focus, go ahead, have at it. But wouldn't you rather study for one hour at a level nine of intensity and focus? It's a way to get everything done faster.
00:55:52
Speaker
And I have an article that I've written on how and why to stop multitasking. And anybody can find it by just googling my last name, which is Berlowski. It's B-U-R-L-O-W-S, like Sam, K-I. And the word multitasking, that's just all
00:56:11
Speaker
you get straight to this article that I wrote that people are saying, I got your multitasking article. I did what you said. I told my little school daughter to try this. And she was able to get through an assignment that would normally take three hours. She got through it in 45 minutes and then went outside and played basketball. Yeah, yeah. What's a superpower? So true. Jeannie, thank you so much for this discussion today. I might have to wrap up there, but I did just want to tell the listeners that
Global Applications of Debt-Free Strategies
00:56:41
Speaker
Everything that you've mentioned will all be in the show notes as well, but would you be able to quickly just say again how people can connect with you on your Instagram, Facebook, or saw your big social platforms and websites?
00:56:55
Speaker
Yes, the number one place, this is what I want everybody to write down, is my website, debtfreecollege.us. There, in 10 seconds, you can see everything that I do for people. And right at the top, in a big red box, there's free, fast-paced, 10-minute video training that gets people on the fast track towards getting their kids
00:57:19
Speaker
to be frugal money managers, low debt, and fantastic jobs that they love. And just the first step for any parent or professional school staff member, the first thing is to go to debtfreecollege.us, watch one 10-minute training right in the big red box, right at the top. And that'll take you everywhere you want to go. That is the first step. Love it. That's awesome, Dini. And
00:57:45
Speaker
Just a quick side note that all the debt free strategies on there are primarily catered towards the US, is that correct?
00:57:53
Speaker
Yes. So I am the author of the book launch, how to get your kids through college debt free and into jobs they love afterward. And a lot of my debt free college strategies are geared sort of toward the US, but there are people all over the world that follow me that get a copy of this book and they just do, they just ignore the things that are US specific and focus on things like how can we raise an extremely high quality kid?
00:58:19
Speaker
that is ready for college or job training, and then ready to jump right into a job they love afterward. Yes, and the best thing about this episode today is we've discussed so many things that are applicable worldwide, and I love that. So thank you so much, Jeannie, for joining me on the All Things Education podcast.
00:58:42
Speaker
Mary, it is so great to be here and thank you for being 19 years old and having the All Things Education podcast because when students and parents are hearing about education, they need to hear from someone that is 19 years old, that is right in the middle of it. So I'm so glad your
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:58:59
Speaker
voice is right here. I know, it's great. There's a lot of motivation. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate your time today. It's awesome. And hopefully we can maybe have a part two sometime later in the future.
00:59:11
Speaker
Oh, yes, just ask me. You know where I am. Love it. Yes, for sure. Thanks so much, Jeannie. Bye bye. Wow, wasn't that just the best episode? I got so much content out of that and I hope you guys did as well. Again, whatever thing you found the most helpful, put it on your story, tag me at allthingseducation21 and also tag Jeannie. Why not?
00:59:32
Speaker
Yeah, there's just some really great content I know I was taking notes when I was writing and I was constantly just scribbling down because there was just so much content I just found so valuable. Anyways, I have a really big announcement and I actually cannot wait to say this I'm officially allowed to say now, which is really exciting. I'm opening an online store. Woohoo! So you can get all things education merch and very exciting. You can get hoodies, tracksuit pants, teacups, laptop cases, notebooks, tote bags. Oh my goodness, the tote bags. So good.
01:00:00
Speaker
like they're really cute colors and the way that I've designed them are just so nice like embroidered fabric and embroidered like into the tote bag and then the actual fabric is just really nice and it's really big so you can carry heaps of things in there. We've also got backpacks as well if you're kind of more of a backpack person and not so much a tote bag person.
01:00:17
Speaker
but very exciting stuff. All the merch hasn't actually dropped just yet, but it will soon. And when it does, you guys will be the first to know. There will be discounts, there will be sales. There's gonna be so many things. I'm very keen for that. So before that happens, let's get a little bit of hype around that. And if you're excited as I am, please send me a message in the DMs at allthingseducation21 on Instagram. Very keen. I love chatting with you guys. I always say that, but I really do. It's very fun.
01:00:46
Speaker
And it's always great just to hear positive feedback. Or if you had negative feedback, if you have constructive criticism for me, please let me know. There actually is a forms under the link for Instagram. And you can submit a form and you can kind of give your feedback. Or submit it on Apple Podcast and you can give feedback there as well. Don't forget to give this podcast five star review as well if you did enjoy this episode. And be sure to share it on the socials. Have a great week, guys. I will see you next Sunday with another interview. Bye.
01:01:18
Speaker
Thanks so much for listening to the All Things Education Podcast. If you enjoyed the episode today, why not support the show? Head to the description of this episode and click on the support the show link to donate in increments of $5. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on your favourite platform. And remember, the advice given on this channel and on our social media is general information only. If you have any specific personal health, wellbeing and or educational issues,
01:01:39
Speaker
Reach out to professionals such as your GP, school counsellor and or a trusted person in your life before making any final decisions. Please do not take this episode as specific personal advice and hopefully you now have more information about the topic you listen to today. For more study and lifestyle content head to our Instagram at allthingseducation21 and the link in the bio will direct you to many helpful resources. Stay educated everyone and see you next time.