How to Create a Learning Plan (i.e., How to Learn Anything)
School, assignments, projects, grades, and homework have distorted our concept (and motivation) for learning.
For most people, learning is something to do when you have to. It’s on a similar footing to chores or “professional development.”
Despite this, the truth is that learning is one of the most critical skills for pursuing what you want.
Anything you want to do, get, or experience becomes possible through an organized learning process. Luckily, with the plethora of high-quality, freely accessible online information, the opportunities for meaningful learning are limitless.
With a well-organized learning plan and a few best practices, you can learn (and do) almost anything.
This post will teach you how to:
Choose a learning goal
Deconstruct your learning goal
Generate Subgoals
Assemble your learning plan
Follow your learning plan
1. Choose a Learning Goal
"What is the one goal, if completed, that could change everything?" - Tim Ferriss
There are two approaches you can use to pick a learning goal:
Focusing on what you already need
Picking something that excites you
Approach #1: Get Knowledge and Skills You Already Need
Whether you realize it or not, your life is full of learning goals that need your attention.
There might be knowledge and skills you need for a work-related challenge. You might have gaps in your knowledge and skills for a skill you’re learning. Or maybe people in your professional circles have suggested you improve in a particular area.
If you dig a little deeper, you might find there are other, more personal learning goals you already need. You might need to create a plan to get out of debt. Or you might want to start a business to make more money. You might want to become a better listener, a better partner, or better at conversation.
Each of these is an example of knowledge or skills that someone might already need. And each can also become an excellent learning goal.
Approach #2: Choose Something That Excites You
Without overthinking, answer the following three questions:
What is something you want to be?
What is something you want to do?
What is something you want to have?
Whatever your responses, they represent some of your deepest values. Learning goals related to your values are most likely to excite you, and a good learning goal should excite you.
But there's also another benefit to choosing a goal that excites you: your motivation.
You'll have lots of motivation to start learning when you start. But over time, that motivation will fluctuate. Working towards a goal that excites you can help keep you going in low motivation periods.
Chasing after audacious, value-based goals is a unique way to pursue what’s most important to you. Follow your natural inclinations, and pick a specific learning goal that would make others irrelevant.
Always Make Your Learning Goal Action Based
Think of yourself in the future, having already finished your learning process. What would your future self be able to do that your current self can't yet do?
Whatever that action or behavior is should be your learning goal.
A well-written learning goal should be a short, specific phrase that defines what you'll be able to do after you're done learning.
Choosing an action-based learning goal gives you a specific benchmark to measure against. In the future, you'll either be able to "do" what your learning goal states or you won’t.
How to Turn Knowledge Into An Action-Based Learning Goal
The concept of “learning” can apply to many things. At a broad level, there is the learning related to something you do and the kind of learning related to what you know.
When picking your learning goal, you might notice that your goal isn't exactly a specific behavior. For example, if you want to learn about a particular historical period, how would you know if you have learned it?
Again, think about something your future self would be able to do after you've finished learning. You might be able to create a video series, write a blog, start a podcast, or share that knowledge with others.
The point is that any learning goal can become an action-based learning goal.
Bloom's Taxonomy is one framework to reference when making your learning goal actionable:
You can think of Bloom’s Taxonomy as a “levels of understanding” model. The type of understanding and abilities at the bottom of the pyramid represent lower-level understanding compared to the higher-level ones at the top.
Creating represents the highest level of understanding at the very top of the pyramid. Creating, by its very definition, is something you do. This means that any learning goal can become action-based through creation.
Here are some questions to help you turn the knowledge you want into a learning goal:
Can you teach this material to someone else?
Can you do something that you weren't able to do before?
Can you write or record something to show what you've learned?
Can you make something to show that you've learned the material?
Can you perform something for another person or a small audience?
Can you reach a specific metric such as a dollar amount, score, rating, or a metric-based target?
2. Deconstruct Your Learning Goal
Think of knowledge and skills as Legos and your learning goal as a completed Lego creation.
While there is a seemingly endless number of Lego shapes, colors, and types that exist, to make a Lego creation, you only need certain ones to construct it. Similarly, while there is infinite knowledge and skills related to your learning goal, you don’t need them all; you only need the ones required to reach your learning goal.
In the same way that you can deconstruct a Lego creation to figure out which specific Legos are required to construct it, you can also deconstruct any learning goal to figure out the specific knowledge and skills needed to achieve it.
In this next step, you’ll deconstruct your learning goal into the specific knowledge and skills you need to achieve it using the QRL Method:
Questions - Capture current questions
Resources - Scan existing, believable resources
Large Language Model - Interview a large language model
Deconstruction Strategy #1: Capture Current Questions
Since your learning goal is outside your current ability, you probably already have questions about how to achieve it.
These questions are like cues that tell you precisely what you need to focus on learning. These are called Current Questions. All you have to do is grab a sheet of paper and capture a list of all the questions and points of confusion you already have.
Here are some probing questions to help you discover and capture current questions:
What potential roadblocks or challenges might I encounter as I learn about this topic?
What would you ask an expert or someone teaching you your learning goal?
What seems the most confusing or complex about your learning goal?
What knowledge or skills do you already know you don't know?
What parts of your learning goal seem most intimidating?
Deconstructing Strategy #2: Scan Existing, Believable Resources
No matter your learning goal, odds are, someone credible and believable online has already created or shared an existing resource that can help you.
Existing resources include books, websites, blogs, courses, syllabi, videos, articles, research papers, and more. Each of these can help you see your learning goal from different aspects and help you figure out the knowledge and skills you need to achieve it.
Return to your initial list of questions (see the previous session), and then do the following for each question:
Open Google
Run a search for your first question
Click on any resources on the first few results on the first page
If the first few results don’t seem at all relevant, try re-wording your search to get better results
If the first few results seem relevant, skim the 1-3 pages of the search results until you find something that seems like it can help you with your learning goal
When you click on a search result, quickly scan the table of contents or skim through the material
Ask yourself, "Will this help me reach my learning goal?”
If yes → Save the page and write down the knowledge topics or skills you can gain through the resource
If no → Go back to your search results and look for another resource
Repeat this process for all your initial current questions — if you think of additional questions, first add them to your list of current questions and then enter them as a search query
Here are a few resource types to focus on that will help you cut through the noise in the search results:
Online courses
Research papers
How-to blog posts
Books or textbooks
College course syllabi
How-to videos on YouTube or Vimeo
Optimize for Believable Resources
While the internet can help you find tons of resources to help you achieve any learning goal, it’s important to be skeptical and highly selective about the online resources you decide to use.
One essential part of this search is determining whether or not the resources are believable.
Believability, a concept discussed by the investor Ray Dalio in his book Principles, refers to the types of people who have:
“…repeatedly and successfully accomplished the thing in question—who have a strong track record with at least three successes—and have great explanations of their approach when probed.”
In the same way, you want to ensure that the resources you choose to use are the product of a strong track record of credibility and believability.
Here are some general recommendations:
Check the source: Look at the website or organization that published the information. Do you know if it is a reputable source? Is it known for providing accurate and trustworthy information?
Check the author: Look for information about the author of the content. Do they have expertise in the subject matter? Are they affiliated with a reputable organization or institution?
Verify the information: Check the information presented against other credible sources to ensure that it is accurate and up-to-date.
Look for supporting evidence: Does the information include supporting evidence, such as research studies or data? If not, it may be less credible.
Watch for biases: Consider any potential biases or conflicts of interest the author or organization may have. Do they have a particular agenda or viewpoint that may influence the information presented?
Review the date: Ensure the information is current and up-to-date. If it is outdated, it may no longer be accurate or relevant. This will depend on the nature of your learning goal.
Consider the tone and language: Pay attention to the tone and language used in the content. Is it objective and factual, or does it contain emotional language or exaggerations?
Ultimately, the final responsibility of determining the believability of any resource is up to you.
Scan through the list of resources you identified and verify the credibility and believability of each one. This time, look for reasons to remove it from your list, as opposed to how it relates to your learning goal.
Taking additional steps to assess the credibility and legitimacy of a resource will increase the chances of finding existing, believable resources most likely to help you achieve your learning goal.
Deconstructing Strategy #3: Interview a Large Language Model
Artificial intelligence tools are like having a go-to expert at your disposal whenever you need them.
For this final deconstruction strategy, you will need a free Open AI account to access ChatGPT. ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) that can help you convert your Pareto Questions into subgoals. This section will help you interact with ChatGPT to figure out additional knowledge and skills you need.
Before using this deconstruction strategy, it’s important to know that large language models like Chat-GPT aren’t 100% accurate or fool-proof in the answers they generate. It’s important to always use pre-existing resources outside of large language models for your actual learning. Think of tools like ChatGPT as a go-to expert who can help point you in the right direction; it’ll still be up to you to find believable resources for your learning (this will be discussed more in 4. Select Your Learning Resources” below).
Here’s a simple “multi-turn dialogue” you can use:
Enter your first query using the following template:
My learning goal is to (enter your learning goal here)
(Enter your first current question here)
Review the response provided by ChatGPT
Ask yourself, "Will this help me reach my learning goal?”
If yes → Write down the specific knowledge topic or skills you’ll need (or copy and paste the response and save it as a resource)
If no → Submit a clarifying question to see if your response improves, or move on to Step 4.
Enter your next query, this time only entering your next current question
Continue until you’ve searched all your current questions and captured any relevant knowledge and skills
Update and Refine Your Deconstruction List
After deconstructing your learning goal, you’ll likely have many more questions than when you started, along with an expanded list of knowledge topics and skills.
As you worked through the deconstruction process, you likely also learned new information and gained new context that can help you refine it. Now, condense your list to the most relevant questions, knowledge topics, skills, and resources related to your learning goal. Take some time to update and refine this list by removing anything that’s no longer relevant.
Simply put, remove it if it’s no longer relevant to what you now know about your learning goal.
3. Generate Subgoals
Next, you’ll need to turn your learning goal into actionable subgoals.
Think of subgoals like an action-based checklist for reaching your learning goal. If you can complete all of your subgoals, you’ll reach your learning goal.
When you deconstructed your learning goal, you discovered and wrote down three things:
Current questions
Knowledge topics
Individual skills
Resources
This list is what you’ll use to create your subgoals.
Sub-Goal Types
There are two types of subgoals you’ll need to reach your learning goal:
Input subgoals: These subgoals require inputting new knowledge into your memory and awareness. When you write them, they’ll start with verbs like read, watch, or listen.
Output subgoals: These subgoals require you to do a behavior or action at a specific quality, usually measured by a certain frequency, level, or other metric. When you write these subgoals, they’ll start with verbs like create, perform, write, execute, solve, etc.
How to Generate Subgoals
Pull up your list of questions, knowledge topics, and individual skills you identified in your deconstruction and ask yourself two questions:
What can I read, watch, or listen to to learn this? This question will help you create input subgoals. When you write these subgoals, start with the verb that describes what you’ll need to do (i.e., read, watch, listen, etc.). Since you’ve already scanned existing, believable resources, you should be able to determine which ones you can use; there may be several. If you select a resource to use, add it to a folder, bookmark list, or database where you can access it when you’re ready.
How will I know that I learned it? What should I be able to do? These questions will help you create output subgoals. To answer these, define the specific behavior, skill, or ability you’ll need to be able to perform to satisfy it. When you write these subgoals, start with the verb that describes what you’ll need to do (i.e., create, memorize, operate, solve, execute, write, etc.)
Go through your complete list of questions, knowledge topics, and individual skills, and capture as many relevant subgoals as you can determine. As you do this, keep the following tips in mind:
If you find that a question, knowledge topic, or skill is no longer relevant, remove it from your list
If a new subgoal you create can replace previously added items in the skills list, remove them from the skills list
If a skill you added would work as an appropriate output subgoal, make sure you mark it as a subgoal
4. Assemble Your Learning Plan
A good learning plan should:
Sequence your subgoals into the order you’ll need to complete them
Display the subgoals you’ve already completed
Track subgoals you’re currently focused on
Organize your learning resources
Here are the steps for creating your learning plan using everything you’ve captured and gathered so far:
Put Your Subgoals In Order
Your learning plan will work like a roadmap that you can follow to achieve your learning goal.
Just like a roadmap shows you each location to pass through to get to your destination, your learning plan will need to show you in which order to work on your subgoals.
Start by organizing your subgoals into input/output groups.
For example, if you need to complete an input subgoal (reading, watching, or listening to something) before you can complete an output subgoal, pair these together. In some cases, you may need to complete multiple input subgoals before you can complete an output subgoal. That’s okay too.
Next, put your input/output groups into if → then pairs.
To do this, take any subgoal pair from above and ask yourself: “If I do these, which pair will I be able to do next?” This forms an if → then pair. Then take the next subgoal pair, and figure out where it fits in the sequence.
Keep in mind that there is no exact method for doing this perfectly. As you progress through your learning plan, you’ll find that you’ll need to make changes along the way, and that’s okay. The purpose of this step is not to create a perfectly sequenced learning plan. Instead, it’s to give yourself an overall direction.
Make Your Learning Plan Visual
Now that your subgoals are sequenced, you’ll need to create a visual method for organizing and tracking them as you complete each.
To download the LearnChangeDo Learning Plan Notion Template, which includes an organized workspace for this entire process, along with a learning plan tracking system, click here.
Alternatively, here's a simple progress tracking system you can use when working towards your learning goal:
Create three columns on a notebook, dry-erase board, project management app, etc.
Title each of the columns:
Coming Up
In Progress
Done
Put all of your subgoals, in order, into the Coming Up column (make sure you put them in the order determined above)
5. Follow Your Learning Plan
When you're ready to start learning, move the first subgoal into the In Progress column and start working on it.
As you make progress, here are some important things to do along the way:
Track Your Progress
As humans, we thrive on the experience of seeing visual, measurable progress toward a goal.
Your learning plan will help you see your macro progress toward your learning goal, but you’ll also need to track your progress toward each subgoal. Always document your progress toward each subgoal. You can do this using a checklist, a measurement, or a score representing your progress.
The LearnChangeDo Learning Plan Notion Template has built-in tracking features to help you do this.
Whenever you shift your engagement from one subgoal to another, take a few seconds to update your progress on your learning plan and ensure you can always see it.
Use Effective Learning Strategies
You want to utilize the most effective learning strategies and methods when learning. Here are a few LearnChangeDo articles to get you started:
The above articles cover most skills needed to achieve your learning goal. Depending on your learning goal, you will need to focus on some of the above learning skills more than others. In any case, always allow your subgoals to help you determine which learning strategies to use. For example:
If you’re exploring new concepts and ideas for the first time, you should use exploration and discovery strategies
If you’re practicing and developing a new skill, you should use practicing and skill development strategies
If you’re focusing on remembering and recalling, you should use memorization and recall strategies
Make (and Allow) Time for Your Learning Plan
Effective learning requires time and consistent engagement.
If it isn’t apparent by now, completing your learning plan and reaching your learning goal will require a significant amount of time. Rather than “find” time in your schedule, you should approach it from a more active perspective by making time. Use a calendar to block out specific 1-3 hour blocks as often as you can to work on your learning plan.
Equally as important is allowing time for your learning plan to “work.”
You will undoubtedly face periods of self-doubt and want to give up. That’s normal. What matters is that you continue to stay the course and give your plan time to work.
Create your plan. Follow your plan. And give it time to work.