ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka

EP. 376: Rethinking How We Learn (Because It’s Not Working) with Deena Kara Shaffer

Mar 18, 2026

Dr. Deena Kara Shaffer, learning strategist and founder of Awakened Learning, helps students and educators build holistic systems. She discusses why sleep and energy rhythms matter for learning. She explains chunking and making tasks startable. She debunks learning styles and highlights AI tools like NotebookLM and ChatGPT study mode to support real-world learning.

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INSIGHT

Holistic Learning Strategies Beat Narrow Study Skills

Learning strategies are broader than study skills and must include attention, memory, time, wellbeing, and emotional capacity.
Deena Kara Shaffer calls this holistic learning strategies and argues sleep and wellbeing are integral to retaining and applying knowledge.

ADVICE

Design Work To Be Startable Doable Finishable

Make work startable, doable, finishable, and sustainable by addressing initiation, conditions, finish criteria, and pacing.
For busy professionals with children, prioritize micro-interventions that ease starting and protect sleep.

ADVICE

Chunk And Contain Tasks To Stop Overwhelm

Reduce overwhelm by chunking tasks into the smallest startable parts and containing them in time or space.
Example: replace "write essay" with "write 100 words" or "outline five bullets" so you know exactly when you're finished.

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What if the problem was never that you were bad at learning, but that no one ever taught you how to learn in a way that fits your brain?

Dr. Deena Kara Shaffer is the founder of Awakened Learning, bestselling author of Feel Good Learning and Raising Well Learners, and a learning strategist who helps students, families, educators, and leaders build systems that work in real life.

Her work began with bright students who were struggling, not because they lacked ability, but because they lacked the right support. Over time, she realized that study skills alone were too narrow. What people really need are learning strategies that take attention, memory, time, well-being, and emotional capacity into account.

In this episode, Tracy and Deena talk about why sleep matters for learning, how chunking tasks can reduce overwhelm, why learning styles are a myth, and how tools like NotebookLM, Magic To Do, and ChatGPT’s study mode can support ADHD brains.

If learning has ever felt harder than it should, this conversation is a reminder that struggling does not mean you are not smart. It may simply mean you have not been taught in a way that fits your brain.

Resources:

Website: https://www.awakenedlearning.ca/deena
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/deenakarashaffer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awakenedlearning
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@awakenedlearning

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