Goals

Throughout this blog, I intend to use my own self-learning attempts as examples. I am not always successful in everything that I try, so I have discovered some of the pitfalls myself.

Goals are an important part of education. Without proper and realistic goals, it is easy to push yourself beyond your limits, become frustrated, and quit. Goals help us with motivation and organizing our learning efforts. I break goals down into three main groups: short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. All three kinds are important to have.

Long-term goals are big. They may be very complex and sometimes take a long time to accomplish. Usually, long-term goals are less detailed plans and more of our hopes and dreams. Learning another language, mastering a branch of math, landing a starring role in a big theatre production, or getting into shape for a triathlon are a few examples of long-term goals. For most of us, these goals will take months or perhaps even years.

Medium-term goals are a little closer to home. When we sit down and look at our long-term goals, the details can be dizzying. Breaking those down into more manageable parts produces shorter long-term goals and medium-term goals. These are the goals that we give ourselves a few weeks or a month to achieve. If I were learning a second language, for example, one medium-term goal might be to master nouns, verbs, and phrases associated with the kitchen and cooking. These goals do not always stick to our schedule. However, they help us further break down what we want to do.

Short-term goals are much more here and now. They are very important for organizing our learning. For example, if a medium-term goal is to learn long division, we have several other things that we have to learn first. At the very least, we must be familiar with the basic addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Learning or reviewing each of these can be a short-term goal. If you need to work on one of these, break that task down into more short-term goals. Short-term goals rarely last more than a day. They should be fairly short and focused, something that can be accomplished in a sitting or two.

Once you learn how to break a task down into a series of goals, it is easier to see what needs to be done and what resources you will need to make your goals work.

Where to Begin

In my family, learning has always been highly encouraged. School has always been important, as evidenced by the number of teachers I have been related to. Formal education, however, was not the start. We were encouraged to learn about anything that interested us as children. Adult encouragement involved far more than just answering questions. Early on, we established our own methods for learning about the things that interested us.

As I understand it, successful self-education requires several things.

1.) Goals. Know what you are after, and make sure that it is reasonably attainable.

2.) Learning preferences. What is the best way for you to learn? Do you read well? Do you remember sounds, lectures, or rhythms? Do you remember when you do something, or take notes?

3.) Resources. What people and materials are available to help you in learning your subject or skill? How do they match up with your learning preferences?

4.) Time. How much time are you willing to invest in this endeavour?

5.) Positive attitude. You can do this! If you believe that you can master something, you're probably right. If you believe you can't, you're probably right.

Next, we will begin to explore this process by using an example.