[ 8ish of 100 Days of Productivity ] Tuesday // 1 August 

September Monthly Spread ft. Cookies and Tea tactfully covering personal stuff

[ 10 of 100 Days of Productivity ] Thursday // 3 August

Whether you’re a student looking to bolster your background knowledge for an upcoming class, looking to learn another language not offered by your school/library, or not currently a formal student, it’s pretty common amongst curious minds to find yourself in the situation of having so much to learn and not knowing precisely how to go about it. The body of knowledge to sift through is massive, and I hope I can offer some advice on how to narrow it down and learn (pretty much) anything you want.

Step One: Decide What You Want to Learn

This step sounds easy but it’s actually a monumental question that must be answered before you can really proceed if you don’t want your head to explode or to be up reading for 12 hours a day. Before you can put together your potential curriculum, you need to narrow your subject field down significantly. It’s just like deciding any other research topic-- the more specific you make your queries, the better you’ll be able to find pertinent information. Let’s say you want to learn about Marine Biology. How is your foundation in Biology in general? Do you want to create a sort of introductory course to Marine Biology, or are you interested specifically in sea mammals or sharks?

If you’re not sure about what to focus on, ask yourself these questions:

How knowledgeable am I about the foundations of the subject? -- If you have little knowledge about the broader field around the subject you want to study, consider focusing on a general introduction rather than something highly specific. If you feel that you’re prepared to delve in, keep going.

Where would books about my question/topic be in the library? -- Consider what the category in the Dewey Decimal System your subject would fall under. That could give you guidance on what exactly you want to study. If you’re still not sure, look through some books in that category to give you more guidance.

Step Two: Find Resources

Once you know what you want to study, gather as many resources as possible. The best place to start would be going to online learning hubs to see if there are any free or cheaply available courses on your desired field. Khan Academy, Coursera, iTunes U, and Open2Study are great sites to help you find any applicable courses. You’re extremely likely to find something you like. If it’s a college course, try finding the syllabus online. That will point you to the textbook, recommended readings, and other helpful materials.

If you don’t find a course that appeals to you, look online or in your local library for introductory books on your subject. Practical readers, Dummies/Idiots’ guides, beginner’s courses-- these are all good places to start to get a grasp of your subject. Look in the bibliography for other landmark or introductory texts and sites that could help you. Don’t worry about finding every single thing you might want to read or use all at once-- when you start studying you can add more sources as you go.

Step Three: Make Your Syllabus/Timeline

So you know what you want to study. Maybe you’ve found an online course or some books to help get you there. Now you need to decide how you want to go about studying. If you have a specific time frame to work with, portion it out into reasonable chunks like weeks or months. Pick a lecture series or text that will be your main guide during this time frame. Find supporting materials (primary documents, worksheets, vocabulary sets, etc) to work on in each time frame based on the subjects in your main resource. Decide how much material you can reasonably get through in that amount of time-- how many chapters, books, lessons, vocabulary words, etc you can digest in that time frame. It’s great to aim high in your study plan, but make sure you don’t try and do too much. It’s easy to burn yourself out, and if you’re studying on your own, it’s very difficult to stay motivated through the burnout.

Construct your syllabus with balance and your preferred study strategies in mind. A sample curriculum might look something like this:

Week One: Chapter 1

Chapter One Reading Notes

Coursera Lecture Week One

Write Topic Notecards

Make Timeline

Week Two: Chapter 2

Chapter Two Reading Notes

Coursera Lecture Week Two

Read Chapters 1-5 of Book Title

Write Topic Note Cards

Week Three: Revision Week

Rewrite Notes

Review Topic Notecards

Answer Study Questions

Go to “Topic: Lecture” at (Local Library)

Step Four: STUDY

You did it! Now you’re ready to learn whatever you want (kinda). Take your notes, listen to lectures, read books, and work your way through. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if it’ll help you learn. Even if you’re not in school, study groups and interest meetings at local libraries, advertised on Meetup.com, and (if they’re open to the public) community colleges are a great resource.