I wrote this article about the 12-minute habit for learning with a smart nudge from Doug Austin and the science from Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel.

The Problem: When Do We Actually Learn?

If you’ve ever told yourself you’d finally get ahead on legal tech right after the next trial, filing, or client fire—welcome to the club.

The problem? Legal life doesn’t slow down. Between filings, client demands, and case deadlines, professional development often falls to the bottom of the to-do list.

But here’s the paradox: the busier we are, the more essential learning becomes. Keeping pace with legal tech, privacy standards, and client expectations isn’t just helpful—it’s the difference between leading and lagging behind.

In today’s fast-moving legal landscape, the most successful professionals aren’t the ones who know it all—they’re the ones who keep learning. As Satya Nadella puts it:

“The learn-it-all does better than the know-it-all.”

That mindset shift—from proving expertise to pursuing growth—is where small, steady habits come in. Doug Austin’s deceptively simple “12 minutes a day” challenge provides a practical, low-burn approach to mastering new skills—without sacrificing your sanity.

And when you combine it with the science-backed strategies from Make It Stick, that tiny habit becomes a powerhouse for lasting progress.

Spend 12 minutes learning each day and one hour each week on a webinar.

That’s it. No certifications. No all-day workshops. Just short, intentional bursts of learning. When I combined that habit with insights from Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning—which shows that true learning happens through retrieval, reflection, and spaced repetition—the framework became unstoppable.

Here’s how to use those twelve minutes (and that one hour) to make learning truly stick.

Why 12 Minutes Works (Even on Chaos Days)

Twelve minutes is right-sized learning—a window small enough to fit daily, yet big enough to make progress. I like to do my review before leaving for the office, coffee (or sometimes an energy drink) in hand and eDiscovery Today queued up on my screen. It’s the perfect blend of practical and thought-provoking.

Why does such a short window create lasting impact?

Why 12 Minutes Is Enough

• Short enough to be doable.
  Find a natural pause in your day. Read a blog post while waiting for the bus. Listen to a podcast on your commute. Or have an article read aloud while you’re getting ready. If something sparks curiosity, use AI to dig deeper.
• Long enough to move the needle.
  Ask: What do I need to understand, perform, or master this month? Focus your 12 minutes there. Four weeks of micro-learning equals measurable growth.
• Easy to stack into routines.
  I used to be a Candy Crush addict. Now I scroll my LinkedIn feed in the elevator, catching posts from legal-tech leaders and problem-solving paralegals instead.
• Perfect for e-Mentorship.
  Following the right voices makes LinkedIn a classroom:
  • For privacy and emerging tech → Debbie Reynolds, The Data Diva
  • For small-firm strategy → Tom O’Connor
  • For eDiscovery and litigation innovation → Doug Austin, eDiscovery Today

Think of it like compounding interest for your career—tiny, steady deposits that grow into confidence, credibility, and better results for clients. And as a bonus, focusing on learning instead of the state of your desk can help you find your calm.

The One-Hour Webinar: Your Weekly or Monthly “Stretch”

Once your 12-minute habit is routine, add the stretch—a one-hour webinar.
That single hour does three powerful things:

1. Adds context. You see how tools fit into real workflows.
2. Reveals edge cases. You’ll spot privacy or privilege pitfalls before they bite.
3. Builds community. You hear what peers are struggling with—and how they solve it.

Tip: Choose webinars that include slides, checklists, or citations and stash them in your “Legal Tech Playbook” folder. The next time someone asks, “Do we have examples of a production log or a tracking log of collected data?” you’ll have it ready.

What to Learn in 12 Minutes

Keep a sticky note with three verbs to guide your daily learning:
Learn. Test. Teach.

Skim a page, try a feature, then explain it in one sentence—that’s retention in action.

As Mary Mack, CEO & Chief Legal Technologist of EDRM, observes:
“It’s harder, I believe, to train people on legal functional requirements … but paralegals are very deep in legal process … And so all they need to do is train them on the technical.”

In other words, paralegals already bring the discipline and structure—twelve focused minutes a day can build the technical fluency to match.

In short, learning doesn’t need to be complicated—just consistent. Twelve minutes a day can turn curiosity into confidence.

Editor’s Note: Kudos to Sheila for taking my 12-minute habit for learning and supercharging it with proven learning science from the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning! Her insights show how paralegals, legal assistants, and attorneys can turn small, consistent efforts into lasting skill—and keep their sanity while doing it. This is just the first part – check out part 2 on Wednesday!

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the authors and speakers themselves, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.