Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to create a syllabus to direct your
Speaker 1: own learning. Some of you are likely doing this for
Speaker 1: your kids right now with widespread homeschooling during the coronavirus pandemic,
Speaker 1: but you can do it as an adult too, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of upsides to doing so. As you
Speaker 1: can probably imagine. As a student, I always looked forward
Speaker 1: to course selection time. Anything that combines scheduling with the
Speaker 1: possibility of learning new things is a big winner with me.
Speaker 1: I especially loved looking at the lists of what students
Speaker 1: would read and study. Yep, I'm one of those people
Speaker 1: who really got into the syllabus, that is, the outline
Speaker 1: of the subjects in a course of study. Times are
Speaker 1: different now, and it's been a long time since I've
Speaker 1: been in school, But even if you're not an official
Speaker 1: student anymore, there's a lot to be said for taking
Speaker 1: a systematic approach to anything you want to learn, just
Speaker 1: as teachers do when they create a syllabus, Craft an
Speaker 1: intentional plan, think about what resources make the most sense
Speaker 1: to help you, and you'll be a lot more likely
Speaker 1: to succeed. This is true for just about any subject.
Speaker 1: Take the example of baking bread. Lots of people think
Speaker 1: this would be fun to learn about, particularly as people
Speaker 1: have more time at home these days, but for most
Speaker 1: people that's about as far as it goes. Maybe you
Speaker 1: try it out once when the stars aligned, but there's
Speaker 1: nothing systematic about it. If you are wise, though, you
Speaker 1: could craft a syllabus for your own course in baking bread.
Speaker 1: You look through listings of bread books on Amazon and
Speaker 1: order a few. You look through the books for thirty
Speaker 1: minutes each night before bed in order to select a
Speaker 1: recipe to try and learn all you can about it.
Speaker 1: On your lunch break on Thursday. Each week, you decide
Speaker 1: to watch YouTube videos about baking the particular bread you've chosen.
Speaker 1: On Friday, you get the ingredients, and Saturday afternoon is
Speaker 1: your weekly baking slot unless something comes up, in which
Speaker 1: case Sunday afternoon is your designated backup slot. You evaluate
Speaker 1: after each loaf comes out of the oven and enlist
Speaker 1: your family to give you feedback. Lucky them, which do
Speaker 1: you think is more likely to help you become familiar
Speaker 1: with yeast and crusts and such, or Let's say you
Speaker 1: are interested in someday writing a memoir about your own
Speaker 1: crazy childhood. You can vastly increase your chances of writing
Speaker 1: something worth reading by creating a syllabus on the art
Speaker 1: of memoir writing. Choose ten books from a list of
Speaker 1: the best memoirs, including recent works such as Angela's Ashes,
Speaker 1: The Liars Club, The Year of Magical Thinking, and classic
Speaker 1: works such as Ernest Hemingway's A Movable Feast. Choose one
Speaker 1: every week or two, making a point to find commentary
Speaker 1: online on each of them, which you could again read
Speaker 1: during your lunch break on Thursday. You could also read
Speaker 1: some books on craft, such as Mary Carr The Art
Speaker 1: of Memoir. Then you can give yourself a list of assignments,
Speaker 1: such as interviewing a relative by phone, writing a short
Speaker 1: essay about one of your most vivid memories, and so forth.
Speaker 1: Of course, these days there are a lot of ready
Speaker 1: made syllabi out there, sometimes lurking in interesting places. If
Speaker 1: you're thinking of traveling once the world gets back to
Speaker 1: normal at some point, your Lonely Planet guide book might
Speaker 1: have a list of books and movies that give you
Speaker 1: a window into the history and culture of the place.
Speaker 1: You're going, why not start on these a few months
Speaker 1: before departure, so you're ready and already in an adventurous mindset.
Speaker 1: Whatever your subject, you'll be more motivated if you make
Speaker 1: your syllabus attractive and easy to follow. Go ahead and
Speaker 1: type it up and post it somewhere prominently. If you
Speaker 1: like bullet journally, you can make a decorative page there.
Speaker 1: Give yourself a physical space where you can keep all
Speaker 1: your materials, a designated shelf or basket for instance, that
Speaker 1: holds all your books, and of course, feel free to
Speaker 1: enlist friends virtually at least. While the upside of learning
Speaker 1: as an adult is that you can be self directed,
Speaker 1: doing stuff at your own time and pace, many people
Speaker 1: find that challenging too. If you and a friend devise
Speaker 1: a syllabus to gather, you can hold yourselves accountable for
Speaker 1: sticking with it, and you'll have someone to discuss that
Speaker 1: crazy memoir with. How fun is that? Classmates are good
Speaker 1: even if you're not in school anymore. Pursuing a project
Speaker 1: to gather can nurture your relationship and help you gain momentum.
Speaker 1: If you create a syllabus to direct your own learning,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear about it. You can reach me
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's b E
Speaker 1: the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
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