You’ve seen the trend online and your inner nerd loves the idea.
✨Creating a personal curriculum. ✨
When we were students, other people told us which books to read and which assignments to complete.
Now WE get to guide our own learning which means total creative freedom!
Why a Personal Curriculum Matters
We are living in a world where content is distributed by the algorithm.
I WANT TO TAKE CONTROL OF WHAT CONTENT I CONSUME.
👏🏼Creating a personal curriculum allows us to take back the power from Mark Z and the other tech billionaires who literally suck our free time and mental energy for free.
👏🏼Creating a personal curriculum means choosing curiosity and lifelong learning which keeps us interested and interesting.
So let’s jump on the bandwagon. Let’s create our very own personal curriculum!
BUT BEFORE WE BEGIN! If you are looking for a Pinterest-worthy personal curriculum with an immaculate syllabus consisting of 35 required resources and a final project...I may not the blogger for you!
My goal here is fun and achievable, not perfect. Ok? Let’s do this.
How to Create a Personal Curriculum in 6 Steps
Step 1: Identify Your Interests What have you always wanted to learn? This can be how tos or topic deep-dives
SOME “HOW-TO” IDEAS:
💡how to bullet journal
💡how to speak Spanish
💡how to play guitar
💡how to bake sourdough
SOME “DEEP-DIVE” IDEAS:
💡Ancient Egypt
💡Manifestation
💡Wealth-Building
💡Small Space Gardening
Create a list as long as you want on this step. We’ll narrow it down in a sec.
Step 2: Set Gentle Goals and a Timeline Time to narrow down your list.
Let your genuine curiosity and excitement guide you here.
1 Main Idea = Main Focus Area
1-2 Secondary Ideas = “Electives”
Then decide how long you’ll dive into your topics. 1 month? 3 months?
Step 3: Gather Resources Keep this simple and exciting!
The world of knowledge is at our fingertips: you can’t tackle all information on your topics. Choose a few pieces of content that you would like to consume and call that good enough.
SOME IDEAS FOR RESOUCES:
💭podcasts
💭books
💭Youtube channels
💭content creators (Substack, bloggers, course creators)
If you are truly stumped, plop your personal curriculum idea into a search engine with AI and let it spit out some resource recommendations for you.
And by the way: If you start reading a book or watching content from a creator and it feels misaligned, thank it and move on. Feel free to replace resources as you go. You are your own professor!
Step 4: Create a Simple Tracker This is where things get fun for planner girlies!
I will be tracking my Personal Curriculum in Notion, but you can use a physical planner or any other tool that you like!
You can go all out and even create an official syllabus for yourself! You can schedule out your resources in order or just keep a list of everything you’d like to get through while studying.
FUN IDEAS FOR YOUR TRACKER:
✔️lists that you can cross off
⏹️boxes that you can fill in
🪙checkpoints that earn small prizes
The more fun this is, the more likely you will finish it!
Step 5: Schedule Micro-Moments of Learning A little bit of learning is good enough.
Listen, as awesome as it’d be to light a candle and have 2 hours to yourself to journal, learn, take notes, and get totally immersed in your personal curriculum, life tends to be messier than that.
✨ENTER: MICROLEARNING! 10-15 minutes is all you need. ✨
📖plug your phone in an hour before bed (out of reach!) and grab your book instead
🎙️listen to the podcast episode while you fold laundry or wash dishes
🕯️wake up 15 minutes early and journal with coffee and a candle
📺let your kids watch some TV while you study
15 minutes twice a day is 3.5 hours per week! That’s plenty!
Step 6: Reflect and Adjust Schedule a “midterm” check-in and an end of term reflection.
MIDTERM CHECK IN QUESTIONS:
How much have you learned about your chosen topic so far?
Are you enjoying the resources you’ve chosen or should you include some different ones?
END OF TERM REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
How “fluent” do you feel in your chosen topic?
What elements of your personal curriculum organization worked for you?
Which elements should you change next term?
But What if You’re Too Busy? Here are 7 Tips to Simplify Things.
Tip #1: Keep Your Expectations Reasonable.
Tip #2: Choose only 1 Big Topic per Term
Tip #3: Keep a “Learn ASAP” list for the topics you don’t choose this round
Tip #4: Don’t read all the pages of your books. Skim over parts that aren’t relevant to you.
Tip #5: Take the pressure off. Extend your curriculum timeline if needed.
Tip #6: Involve your kids. You can still learn from kid-friendly resources on your topic.
Tip #7: Be proud of yourself for even trying to learn. Many people don’t bother.
I’m Cheering For You!
Your personal curriculum belongs to you.
☑️You are the teacher.
☑️You are the student.
☑️You are bettering your own life by choosing to learn something your heart is drawn to.
Even if you feel that no one in your life will ever care about the topics you choose – who cares! This is your learning journey and it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you.
I am genuinely so thrilled that this Personal Curriculum trend exists because it is proof that a lot of the world is still curious and still identifies as lifetime learners.
If you aren’t too shy, would you let me know what you are thinking to add to your Personal Curriculum? Comment below or shoot me an email! I’ll be posting about my current learning very soon.
Xx Bri