Create a Skill-Building Bootcamp Using Your Planner
As a child you may have participated in a summer camp. There you may have learned enjoyable and valuable life skills, such as first aid, knot tying, arts and crafts, archery, and sports. As an adult, we may have our own skills we’d like to learn, but without the luxury of a summer camp to devote to them. Some “grown-up” skills could include learning a creative talent, mastering a new language, training for a race, learning to code, getting scuba certified, learning to speed read, or any number of other interests. However, armed with your planner, you can build your own “skill bootcamp” of sorts.
Whatever skill you’re looking to build, a well-structured plan can make all the difference. As a busy professional or caregiver, it can be hard to create and maintain a plan to develop a new skill. Here are some ways to use your planner to recapture some time for yourself and learn a valuable, rewarding skill.
1. Define Your Goals and Objectives
Begin by outlining your skill-building goals. What specific skills do you want to develop? Why are these skills important to you, and what do you hope to achieve? Write down these goals in your Golden Coil planner. The planner’s custom pages allow you to get a big-picture plan and also break it down into manageable steps. There’s a specific Goals page just for this, but you could also use the Project Planning Pages.
Example:
Goal: Learn conversational French
Objective: Be able to participate in simple everyday conversations, understand the past, present and future tense in spoken French, and engage in transactions (ie. ordering food, checking out at a store, etc)
Try to be as specific as possible. Try to envision yourself successfully executing your goal, whatever it may be.
2. Break Down Your Goals into Actionable Steps
Next, divide your main goal into smaller, manageable steps. Create a roadmap. With every roadmap, there’s a start and a destination. Give your goal an “end date” or deadline to keep yourself accountable. Better yet, give yourself smaller deadlines along the way. Use the Golden Coil planner’s Undated Weekly spreads to break down these steps further. For each skill you want to acquire, outline the specific tasks or milestones you’d need to complete to get to your final objective.
Example:
Deadline- A trip to a French-speaking country
Week 1: Basics of conversation - Vocabulary, common greetings/sayings, introductions, etc. Research and use language apps such as DuoLingo to quiz yourself.
Week 2: Increase essential vocabulary. Memorize numbers 1-20, days of the week, etc.
Week 3: Basic grammar
Week 4: Verbs and tenses
Week 5: Everyday situations - Vocabulary for food, drinks, common shopping phrases
Week 6: Consider joining a local French club, hiring a tutor, or trying an online site that connects you to native speakers to really up your speaking “reps.”
Etc.
3. Design a Study Schedule
Utilize the planner’s calendar views to schedule your study sessions. Dedicate specific blocks of time each day or week to your bootcamp activities. This helps in maintaining consistency and tracking your progress.
Example:
Monday: 10 minutes of vocabulary study, 10 min of listening, 15 min of speaking
Wednesday: Meet with French club; converse in only French
Saturday: 1 hour of review and practice
4. Track Your Progress
Golden Coil planners offer a variety of tracking options, from habit trackers to progress logs. Use these tools to monitor your advancement and identify areas where you might need additional focus.
Example:
Weekly Progress Log: Record completed tasks and any challenges faced
Goals Tracker: The Goals page is a perfect place to keep track of and assess how you’re doing on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis.
5. Reflect and Adjust
Set aside time for reflection in your planner. Review your progress regularly, noting what worked well and what didn’t. Adjust your bootcamp plan as needed based on these reflections to stay aligned with your goals. Brain Dump, Lined Pages, and even the Boxes pages provide free space to reflect and journal thoughts.
Example:
Monthly Reflection: Write a summary of your achievements and areas for improvement
Adjustments: Modify the study plan or add new resources if needed. Perhaps you realize you need much more speaking practice earlier on, modify to include that
6. Celebrate Milestones
Don’t forget to celebrate your successes along the way. Use your planner to mark milestones and reward yourself for reaching them! This helps maintain motivation and acknowledges the hard work you’ve put into building your desired skill.
Example:
Milestone Celebrations: Note any completed projects or significant progress and plan a small reward or recognition for yourself. Perhaps you could center it around your goal, so have a French movie night, or treat yourself to that French bakery in town. Practice ordering while you’re there!
7. Integrate Learning Resources
Compile Useful Materials
Create a dedicated section in your planner for tracking learning resources, such as books, online courses, and tutorials. Keep a list of recommended materials and note any key takeaways or ideas you find valuable.
Example:
Resource List: Utilize the Fillable List page, Reading page or Lined page to Include a section for books, websites, apps and courses for future reference
With your planner in hand, set your sights on your goals, and embark on a rewarding skill-building adventure. It’s never too late to start, and with the right tools and mindset, you can achieve your goals!