The Personal Curriculum: the ultimate tool of self-education

The personal curriculum is how you'll

take back control of your learning and

actually feel smart again.

Self-education is the only way to

counter this collective lobotomy forced

onto us by algorithms and digital noise.

And it's only way we become well-read,

well-rounded people. I've already been

doing mine for months now and it's great

fun. And I want to share the whole

five-step process with you. Everything

from choosing topics to finding material

and even how you test yourself on the

go. And believe me, it's not

unrealistic. Like I'm not asking you to

shell out 3 hours every day here. That's

just crazy. Even if you have a spare

half an hour here and there, you'll find

it will adapt to your needs perfectly.

But first, what is a personal curriculum

and why should you make one? In

classical Latin, currere, meaning to

run, is where curriculum is derived

from. Which in turn means a running or a

course, something you move forward

through. In the modern sense, like in

school or college, they are exactly

that. They are a roadmap of learning

that you move through and hopefully

complete. The problem is traditional

curriculums often chain you down. And I

don't want to be edgy and bash them too

much, but it's kind of true. You have to

do classes that you don't care about. Uh

half the lectures feel like PowerPoint

hell and you always get these professors

that just depressed, to be honest. They

have no energy, they're weary, they're

completely devoid of passion and in

turn, you don't care about the class.

The personal curriculum, at least for

me, removes these frustrating and rigid

parts of traditional education and it

puts the control and the direction back

into your hands. They are made by you,

for you. And this leads me to the final

very important preamble of the video.

And I'm serious, don't skip this. But do

not copy this video because it's a

personal curriculum for a reason. And

while yes, I will show you my own and I

will show you how we can make our own,

it's just a guide at the end of the day.

Because I you know, I may be the best

YouTuber, fine, fair enough. But I'm not

a prophet, I'm not God, I'm not this

master of education. I'm kind of a

to be honest. So, I'm not going

to prescribe this as the system to end

all systems and you know, this will make

you a master, this will make you a

polymath. No, it won't. And I actually

want you to

borrow elements you like, I want you to

reject others you don't like, and I want

you to

design it in a way that it serves you,

not me, not the next person, but you.

This is also why I keep the setup as

general as possible. I don't want to

prescribe anything too specific onto you

because how do I know it works? How do I

know you'll like it? I don't. And I want

you to have the liberty and the

initiative to go out and make something

that's yours and to fill in the blanks

that I leave you. So, as you watch

through each step, just remember that

that it's a template and I want you to

make something out of it rather than

just copy it because who knows if that's

going to work. Step one is to choose the

focus of a curriculum. Which topics and

skills and problems do you actually want

to cover? And believe me, there are no

rules here. They can be as broad or as

specific as you want and they don't have

to be related to each other in any way.

Now, you can choose more traditional

topics like marine zoology or Victorian

poetry, something you'd find in college,

right? But if you have a more precise

interest, your curiosity is a bit more

unorthodox, maybe, you can go for

anything. You can go for Ottoman

elements in Constantinople. You can go

for chemical disasters or history. If

that's your thing, whatever, doesn't

matter. Do it. Now, I admit these can be

tricky to choose. Like it took me a good

while to come up with my own list and

for that reason I've made a few

questions that can hopefully prompt you

in the right direction. So, have a think

about them. What subjects do you find

yourself encountering that you wish you

knew more about? What do you wish you

were well read in? What knowledge would

impact your life more than any other?

Which practical skills do you want to

learn? Ones which make you more

competent, happy, and fulfilled? What do

you want to be seen as an authority on?

What are you passionate about? What do

you find yourself thinking about a lot?

What obvious knowledge gaps do you have?

What deficiencies embarrass you? And

finally, what grand goals do you have

and which topics could serve as stepping

stones for you to get there. Based on

some of these questions, after my

pondering, this is the list I landed on.

And don't worry because this isn't

definitive. You don't have to stick with

it for good. You can change things. You

can get rid of it completely, make a new

one. Doesn't matter. If anything, it can

and will change over time. Like mine has

already changed within the past few

months. That's normal. It's fine. Just

have something to work with initially.

Now, fair enough if you want to skip

this next part, but if you are still

struggling to put together a list, first

I understand it's difficult. But for

that reason, I want to walk you through

my own choices and the thought process

behind them so that hopefully inspires

you to, you know, go in the right

direction and find your own subjects.

The backbone of my entire self-education

is the Western Canon. And if you're not

familiar with it, it's a loose umbrella

term for all of the high culture

classics that have defined the course of

European civilization. Stretching back

from thousands of years ago, by the way.

Now, I'm cheating here a bit if you can

call it that because this isn't just one

topic. It covers everything. You have

science from Darwin and Newton. You have

poetry from Homer. Lots of philosophy

from the Frenchies. You have politics

from Machiavelli and Hobbes. And maybe

most importantly of all, you have lots

of fantastic fiction. The literature we

call literature. Now, this is the trunk

of my curriculum because it covers the

core of many different subjects. The the

essentials, you could say. It's a wide

but deep exposure. And I think even if

you just did this, you'd end up pretty

well read. It's like the best humanity

has to offer.

You know, someone's going to say, "Well,

um this is exclusionary. It doesn't

cover the East." Yeah, I know. It's It's

the Western Canon.

Give me a break, okay? Unlike the other

topics coming up, this one is special

because it's going to stay with me

forever. I will always, for the rest of

my life, be reading something from the

Western Canon. And it's something that I

don't really plan to finish ever. It's

that vast of a mission, of a quest. And

I chose this because I can't miss out on

these books. I have to read these. I

have to read Dostoevsky. I have to read

the Marcus Aurelius. I have to read

these people, and I can't wait for the

right time in my curriculum to

eventually get to them because they are

they are the books, and I want to get to

them. Next comes my history, and I love

history, end of. That's enough for me.

But, to understand pretty much any

modern issue or conflict or problem, you

have to know the past. You have to.

And that's why I stress history so much.

It's where we came from. Now, I could

pick from a million different topics,

right? There's so much out there to

learn. But, to keep it simpler, I split

my history into two. Something ancient

and something more modern. And by the

way, don't worry if you struggle with

this problem of choosing because we will

cover that later on. You'll see. For the

ancient side of things, I went with

early Mesopotamia because it's where

civilization began, and I think it makes

it an important anchor point in the past

to learn about. And for the modern side,

I chose the rise and fall of fascism as

a ideology. It's just interesting. Next

up are three topics which just interest

me a lot. I've always had my eye on

them. I've always thought about them.

They've always intrigued me. And that is

the nature of masculinity, human

evolutionary history, and chemistry,

which I also happen to be very deficient

in. So, it's a good chance there to do

both. Now, the first two are somewhat

linked, and this is natural. It's going

to happen because your interest will

overlap. Fair enough. I find that

studying our biological past has many

answers for present issues. And I also

really want to explore what masculinity

actually is. What is it? What is its

essence? What is its nature? And these

two, they're connected, so why not put

them together? Next up, I identified an

area that I was painfully lacking in,

computer science. Despite using them

every day and having all this software

and hardware part of my everyday life, I

don't know how it works, and that

frustrates me. It pisses me off. So, I

want to sit down and actually get to

grips with what I'm doing and what I'm

using every single day. Now, your

personal curriculum can also include

practical skills, the kind that go

beyond theory and actually demand some

real-world application. And you know, I

have three, for example. I I'm learning

Dutch, so I might as well include that.

I've also always admired people who can

speak very fluidly and passionately even

without a script. And so, for that

reason, I want to learn some, I guess,

speechcraft and oration. And finally, I

want to nail down injury recovery and

prevention in the context of the gym,

because I'm done with that I've

had enough of it. I need to get out of

my life. I need to I need to be I need

to be normal again. Coming up later,

we'll dive into the timing of your

self-education, when and how often will

it be. And for this, you need a place to

flexibly manage your tasks and topics as

they come, a command center, so to

speak, which is why Akiflow, today's

sponsor. Akiflow is a productivity

system that puts everything in one

place. Instead of needing to log in and

flick between all of these different

tabs, the universal inbox captures

everything from everywhere, ready for

you to get started. Getting started is

also easy, because it integrates with

all of the apps you already use, like

Gmail, Slack, and Notion. Every task

from every place is centralized. Then,

with your Akiflow calendar, you can drag

and drop tasks and be intentional with

how you use your time. Now, listen,

calendars and time blocking in general

is idealistic. Things rarely go as

planned, because life is unpredictable.

And I always get stressed when I don't

know what to do and when, especially

when things start to pile up. But,

what's cool is that Akiflow has an AI

copilot that tracks your work patterns,

plus the urgency of your tasks, and then

automatically arranges them all for you.

It's a big relief, because it saves you

from decision paralysis. To try out

Akiflow for yourself and smooth in your

schedule, click link down below and sign

up for their free trial.

And if you still don't know where to

begin, they actually offer one-to-one

onboarding calls to get you familiar as

soon as possible. So, I hope you enjoy

that, and thank you to Akiflow. Step two

is about narrowing down the scope,

because even after choosing your broad

topics, which is hard enough on its own,

you might still feel overwhelmed. I

mean, these are massive areas, and where

do you even begin?

You can't just say, "Yeah, I'll study

biology or English history," because,

well, what does that mean? You can do

everything, parts of it, the basics, the

the advanced stuff? What are you

focusing on? Plus, let's be realistic,

you don't have all the time in the

world. You have, you know, school,

college, a job, kids. There's no real

way to focus on the entire topic,

realistically. You know, unless that is

your sole and only focus. You know, even

for me, it's been months and I still

haven't touched many topics. So, let's

not be crazy and let's narrow it down a

bit cuz we have to. But first, let's

address a problem I raised earlier. What

if you have too many topics or interests

and you just struggle to pick between

them? Well, in that case, first, I get

it. But in that case, I like to group

them by school of thought or category or

type. You know, maybe some history

topics, maybe some STEM topics, maybe,

you know, if you're into finance, some

topics in that field.

And then within each of those types or

categories, I trim them off, I trim a

few off until it becomes manageable.

And that way, you are still getting a

variety and a breadth across many

different, you know, fields or areas,

but you also make it manageable for

yourself and it's actually realistic. I

know it feels horrible to get rid of

subjects you love, but remember, this is

your first curriculum. It's going to

change, it's going to evolve, you can

add things later, and of course, you

will eventually move on. And so, the

topics you get rid of today are the ones

you will do tomorrow, or well, in a few

months more like. Once you have those

core topics, there are two more things

you can do to make it even more

realistic and manageable. You can narrow

down the scope or you can subdivide or

maybe even both. By narrowing down the

scope, I mean you refine your choice to

make it more precise. And you might

think this is redundant, but trust me,

it's important because it gives you

direction. Whereas before, you might

have said, "Well, I'll study biology."

Now, you might say, "I'm going to study

cell biology." Or I'm going to study the

physiology of mammals. And that way, you

have much more direction, it feels much

more approachable, and you know where to

go. In my case, I chose early

Mesopotamia as my core topic, but I

realized maybe it makes more sense if I

narrow this down to the empires of

Sargon and Akkad. And that way it was

much clearer. I knew what to do. I knew

what to focus on. And I think it covered

my interests more readily. And remember,

these subtopics, these things that you

have narrowed down upon, they don't have

to sound like real college courses. If

you have more niche, peculiar interests,

then you can call it that. You can say,

"Well, I'm going to do home fermentation

science. I'm going to do personal family

genomics or urban mammal adaptations."

You know, you can call it whatever you

want because it's your curriculum. The

second option to narrow down the scope

is to subdivide your topic. And this is

almost the first of the same. You are

narrowing things down, except you're not

excluding anything. You're just taking

one larger topic that maybe you have a

complete interest in, and then you're

breaking it down into more manageable

chunks that are less intimidating. This

is what they do in college all the time.

They take a topic and they split it

into, you know, semesters and modules.

And that way it's more digestible, and

you can approach each one, and you can

test yourself more accurately, and it

just works. Now, the way you divide it

doesn't really matter so long as it

works for you. You can go with a more

traditional route of using modules and,

you know, subcategories. That makes

sense. I like that. Or you can go a more

unorthodox route.

You know, for example, in history, I

sometimes like to

divide a topic through questions that I

want to then later answer.

So, if if here for the history of

fascism, for example, I wrote down a

bunch of questions that I felt covered

the topic. And then maybe in the future,

once I finish, I can then answer them.

And that is a way to mentally chop it up

and

make it more manageable. Step three is a

quick one, and it's to decide the time

frame. How long is this curriculum of

yours going to last? Because it can be

anything from a month to several months

to years and beyond.

And it matters because you need to know

the pace. You need to know how much you

need to do every week. You need to know

if there is a limit in the first place,

if you want to move on, if you want to

push yourself to learn faster, it

matters. Now, this depends on the topics

you choose and the amount of depth you

want.

Are you studying complicated topics that

require a lot of focus and effort and

time, or do you want just a basic

overview of something just to get the

the feeling of it? And the most

important question of all is, how much

spare time do you have? Because you

might even struggle to find an hour, a

spare hour here or there. And in that

case, where you're exceptionally busy,

then yes, you will have to stretch your

curriculum over many months, at least.

I'm not going to be about it and

say, "Wow, you have to time block. You

have to put it in numbers."

You don't, right? I don't do that. I

like to be fluid with it and, you know,

hold myself accountable on a day-to-day

basis. But if you do struggle with that,

if you do struggle to really keep

consistent, I do recommend making a sort

of plan.

Week one, week two, week three, month

one, month two, something to

let you know what you're going to do and

something to keep you on track. Now, my

approach is a bit varied. I like to do

the Western Canon as this, again, slow

burn in the background that will last

forever, so there's no due date for

that. And for then, the maybe middle

topics which I have lots of interest in,

I'm happy with a slower pace, a medium

length pace that will last many months.

I'm happy with that.

And then for the topics that I'm maybe

less interested in or I just want a

basic overview on, I'm happy to blast

through them in a few weeks at most. So,

it's almost a, you know, long-term,

medium-term, short-term. And depending

on your interest, you can sort them into

those buckets. I know this is a system,

this will systematize, right? But

really, it's based on vibes. Just do

what feels right, do it for how long

feels right. You probably can't go

wrong. Step four is to gather resources.

You need to find books, articles,

podcasts, papers, journals, anything

that you feel will help offer valuable

insight to your topic. Now, I have a hot

take for this one, and it's not really a

hot take cuz no one gives a right?

No one No one's talking about this. But,

let's say it is controversial.

I don't think it's important to plan a

list of resources because I find that

too much planning and preparing what

does that do? It kills your momentum. It

slows you down. It makes you focus on

the books and the articles over the

actual learning itself, which is what

we're supposed to be doing. I would

rather just begin with one good book,

one good article, one, you know,

well-made documentary, and from there

I'll find the next thing as I need it.

And if anything, that piece of content,

that first entry into the topic, will

likely lead you into another area,

another natural next step. Well, look,

you know, that's just me. If you want a

list, if you want a structure, something

to check off as you work through the

topic, go ahead and do it. I actually

have a video on how to design a reading

plan, so I'll link that somewhere,

hopefully. Now, the next question is,

where do you find this stuff? Because a

lot Oh my goodness, especially like AI

writing now and AI, you know, script

writing on YouTube, there is a lot of

out there. There is so much

crap, and it hurts, honestly, because

what seems like a good video or a good

blog or whatever is just junk, is

garbage, and you can't trust it. So,

where where is the quality? Where do you

find quality? First, and especially if

your subject is more traditional, check

university websites because they will

often have reading lists already made

for you. They are vetted, they've worked

through them. They use them in their own

lectures, I imagine. And so, these are

are safe choices.

Now, don't copy them. Don't do all of

the entries on the list, but start there

and find something that stands out and,

you know, is more most relevant to you.

Now, books can get pricey, and if you're

researching some obscure, like, niche

topic, sometimes the only thing you can

find is a textbook on eBay for, like,

$500, and it's just stupid. I'm not

doing that.

So, don't sleep on libraries and charity

shops as well, which you would call

thrifting in America.

You know, most of my books are from the

charity shop, and they're no more than

$5 each. It's it's insane what you can

get. Popular books and classics are easy

to find second-hand, but if you're

looking for something more precise,

maybe less common, less popular,

yeah, you're going to have to turn to

online shops. It might cost you 20, 30

dollars, but that's the price of

knowledge. It's pretty good if you think

about it. So, a good investment.

Secondly, try to inspect books before

you read them. Now, this really applies

to books only, but you don't want to end

up, you know, spending 20, 30 dollars on

a book only to realize it's or it's

not really relevant to your goals.

And so, before you make that investment,

if you can,

uh skim through the pages, read the

blurb, see if the argument is relevant,

not necessarily if you agree with it,

but if it's relevant.

And from there, you're in a much better

position to,

you know, spend that money and ensure

that this is going to serve you. This is

going to actually educate you on what

you care about. Trust me, you can get

clickbaited by a book. It's happened to

me, so just read a bit, skim through the

pages, it's important. Third, and you

may disagree with this, but don't

neglect videos and podcasts. I know it's

seen as a bit low culture, it's not the

most academic. Fine, okay.

But at the same time, there is so much

free and insightful content here on

YouTube and Spotify and Substack. And

yeah, you know, if you need credentials

from someone, you can find that,

whatever.

But at the same time, these people are

often well researched, they're often

uh well read, and at the end of the day,

it's up to you to criticize what you're

reading and to approach it with an open

mind and to be wary.

That's your job, not theirs. I also like

to learn with a range of media, because

you don't always want to sift through

through dense, thick, you know, tome of

a book. Sometimes, if you're not feeling

the energy, if you're kind of you know,

lethargic, you want something lighter.

You want to a documentary, maybe. You

want an article. And you are still

learning,

but without having to, you know, always

rely on being in perfect condition every

time. Fourth, and I need to learn from

this, but don't be afraid to quit books.

Because sometimes they're just not worth

your time, and

you know, there are there's hundreds of

books to read. We're going to read only

a few in our lifetime, and you can't be

wasting time with something that isn't

relevant or just isn't valuable to you.

And I know that sometimes it feels good

to read an easy book

just because we feel like we're we're

confident in our skills,

but that that's no good, because if a

book is easy, it's not teaching us

anything. We want to find things that

challenge us, that push us to think and

to digest new ideas. And sometimes

that means giving up on a book when it's

too easy and seeking something harder

and more

pioneering. There's something new, some

new territory. And finally, don't sleep

on research papers. And I know that not

the most accessible, and the way they're

written is often pretentious, and

they're boring. They really are.

But they have depth.

And most people won't be willing to go

there, but if you are, then you have

you have wisdom that no one else bothers

to read.

And they're often also on the cutting

edge, you know, it's research. They're

doing something new.

That's where innovation comes from. And

so, if your topic demands it,

you know, give them a chance. Put the

effort in, read the abstract first, and

if it sounds relevant, dive in.

And I actually have a great tool for

this called a Consensus. I'll link that

down below. It's one of my favorite

research apps. Step five is to establish

a system. And to be honest, I can't

really help you here. This is your job.

Okay, but still, I want to give you some

things to consider and, you know, think

about. And by system, I mean a place

where your learning will happen, a a

where you'll will your notes, where

you'll schedule your time, where you

will

test yourself,

your command center, your cockpit.

And there's so much you can do here, but

to be brief, it all boils down to three

things. What the Three things. A

place, a schedule, and a way to

practice. The place is where you

actually do your curriculum, where you

keep all your work. You could use

notebooks like having one notebook per

topic, for example. You could use a

binder, which keeps things more

flexible. You could use an academic

planner, which gives you a rough

structure if you don't want to

necessarily make one from scratch. You

can go digital. You can use Google Docs.

You can use your writing tablet. You can

use any of these programs, you know,

Notion, Roam, uh and of course my

favorite, Obsidian. The goats. For my

learning, and I've talked about it a

lot, but I like to use notebooks and

Obsidian to learn. And as for the

curriculum itself, it's so dead simple.

It's a single note in Obsidian. That's

it. Just a page. Just some text. Nothing

crazy. And

I could do some more complicated things.

I could do flowcharts and plugins and

and and But

I I did this just to show you how simple

it can be. It really doesn't have to be

fancy and technical.

And what matters is not

the software or the hardware or

anything. What matters is your brain and

the actual learning itself. So, don't go

crazy. Next up is the schedule, and you

cannot ignore this step because

when will the learning actually happen?

Like with any, especially new habit, you

need a way to keep it consistent and to

make it a part of your lifestyle.

Because if you just say, "Yeah, I'll do

this one day." it's never going to

happen. And this whole effort of making

a curriculum will be blown into dust,

made irrelevant. I like to keep it

simple, and I say, "Well, for 1 hour

every single morning before any of the

work starts, I'm just going to focus on

learning. I'll read. I'll take notes.

I will focus on whatever I feel like

doing that day, whichever topic I fancy.

I also try to do the same thing in the

evening if I have time. But again, this

isn't a crazy investment. It's one at

most 2 hours per day. It's not

unrealistic, I think. I like to go slow,

take my time, and I like to alternate

between topics. So, for 1 or 2 days,

I'll focus on Mesopotamia.

The next maybe 2 days, I'll switch to

the history of fascism, and then, you

know, I'll just go on and cycle between

them. And once I feel like I've covered

something enough and I'm satisfied, I

will I guess temporarily retire it and

focus on the next topic. Like I said

earlier, it might take weeks, it might

take months, it might take up to a year,

and I'm okay with that, because

I'd rather be thorough than not thorough

enough. Also, don't underestimate those

random pockets of time throughout your

day.

You know, every now and then, you know,

uh

after the gym or while I'm having lunch,

you can use those maybe spare 30 minutes

you have to, you know, watch a video or

to take notes on an article or to listen

to someone talking about your topic.

These moments of learning are

spontaneous and,

you know, it's better than scrolling, so

you may as well use those wisely. If

your midweek is very busy, which it

probably is, you know, you just can't

find a spare hour to sit down and read,

then what I like to do sometimes is

concentrate that that learning in one

single day that I'm the most free.

You know, Sunday, for example, for me is

a very chill day, and I like to use that

to ignore work, to ignore what I can,

and just focus on getting through some

articles and videos and watching a

documentary and

learning. Third and finally, and perhaps

most importantly, your system needs a

way for you to practice what you've

learned. How will you test yourself? How

will you make sure you've

made progress and actually grasped the

ideas? Learning is active, and you can't

just sit there with your arms crossed

watching a video or, you know, skimming

through text half asleep, because you're

going to piss away all your effort, and

a A later, you're going to forget

everything you just consumed. So, you

need a way to

grab the learning and engage with it and

actually make it stick and make it a

part of your knowledge. You need to

write mini essays. You need to take

notes. You need to think about things.

You need to take time to process and

digest and ruminate. You need to

set out on mini projects. You need to

answer questions. You need to do

quizzes. You need to find any way to

test yourself and to make sure that

you've

engaged with it properly and given it

some attention. These are all forms of

feedback because by engaging actively,

we we check ourselves and we check that

we've grasped things. We find out any

holes that we have, any deficiencies.

And based on that feedback, we can then

address it. We can learn more. We can

think, "Well, I'm stuck somewhere and I

need a way to

to amend this and to patch it up." Think

of it like learning a language. If you

never get any feedback on grammar or

pronunciation, then you're going to end

up like an idiot and you'll sound crazy.

So, you need a way to

test yourself on the go and this is what

this section's about. It's also pretty

much the Feynman technique in action and

I have a video on that, too, so I'll

link it below if I remember. If I don't,

it's on the page somewhere. Now, I

listed a few ways to approach this just

now earlier, but really it's up to you

and it has to be anything that involves

first something that engages you and

second something that provides feedback.

Something that lets you

know what you're doing right and what

you're doing wrong. And sometimes it'll

involve other people. Sometimes it will

just be a test that you can do at home

like taking notes, like answering

questions.

I also recommend, and this is maybe more

my style, but I like to keep things in

the same place. I like to

have them physically close together, my

notes and my my research, my readings,

so that I can have that spatial

overview. I can see connections. I can

see how how link up. I can make those

observations. And I find that's

difficult when everything is all over

the place. Of course, what matters is

upstairs here, but still it helps. I

have videos covering this in more

detail, but I want to briefly go over

how I do it. First, I annotate my books

as I read with quick thoughts and

highlights. Next, the bulk of my

note-taking happens in Obsidian, which

I've been using way before I started

this curriculum, and I still love it to

this day. So, if you want to in-depth

video on how to do that, I'll also link

that below. For each source, I'll make a

source note with the title, author, and

reference. And within that source note,

I will write down anything interesting

or relevant that I encountered. Now,

based on these source notes and my own

inputs, I make atomic notes, which are

these self-containing individual notes

that cover one idea each. These can

connect to other atomic notes, they can

contain knowledge from multiple sources,

and you can arrange them through tags

and indexes. They're like cells in your

body. They are individual,

self-contained pieces of knowledge,

essentially.

But when you link them together and, you

know, build them up into this network,

they become a wider body of knowledge.

They become wisdom. The indexes are like

contents pages, just to help you

navigate and get an overview of the

topic. I like to think of this as a

personal wiki. That's essentially what

you're building here. It's a Wikipedia

page of your interests, built for you by

you. And that process of building it is

learning. It may be arduous, it may take

time, it may

seem like overkill to some people, but

trust me,

the process is what matters. I could

delete every notes in my Obsidian

tomorrow, and honestly, it wouldn't

really matter. I'd be pissed off, fair

enough, but

the learning is the process.

I like to write most of my atomic notes

as mini essays. And, you know, I could

just jot down some, you know, quick

notes in a rough format, and sometimes I

do, but I like to give them more

structure and more, I guess, elegance,

cuz

you know, it's good, it tests your

writing, makes you practice a bit more,

and it makes you think about the ideas

in more depth because you're giving them

a more serious approach. What you can

also do, and I I mentioned this earlier,

but you can

start the topic with questions. And then

as you go, or maybe at the end of your

research, you see if you can answer

these questions, like a quiz, a personal

quiz. And then if you can give a a

satisfying answer to each question, it

shows that you've done your research.

Now, they won't be perfect, but it's a

good way to keep yourself accountable.

But again, there's so many options, you

know, you can just use mind maps, you

can test yourself with flash cards, you

can really talk to people who know more

than you, and uh you know, see if you

can hold a conversation. There's so many

ways to do it, and I want you to be

creative and find what works for you.

And if you want to go the extra mile,

you can start publishing what you learn

about.

You can actually put it online, put it

out there

as a way to, again, stay accountable,

but also as a way to make your research

more rigorous and give it a a stake, uh

a weight, a gravity.

You know, I've got a lot of emails of

people saying how they started writing

on Substack or X purely as an outlet for

their learning, and that is wonderful to

see. I want to end the video with two

pieces of advice I think will take you

far and and make your personal

curriculum successful.

First is

go go and watch other videos on this.

You know, don't take my word for it.

This is just how I see the structure.

This is how my brain works. I could be

crazy, I could be probably am

in some ways, but

go out, watch other creators.

They have fantastic plans, they have

fantastic fantastic ideas. I've seen

some of them myself. Go and check them

out. And again,

find what you like from their videos and

use it in your own system, and use it to

create

something that works for you, not me,

not them, but you. And the last massive

piece of advice is keep this fun and

meaningful.

You're not in college, you're not under

anyone's supervision. You are on your

own, and for this to be even remotely

successful, it has to be fun and it has

to be something you actually care about

rather than this

you know, self-imposed torture or this

thing that this chore that you have to

do. You have to pick topics that

genuinely inspire you and captivate you

and things that you would study for free

with no promise of any return or reward.

That's the sort of thing. Good luck.

And watch this video on screen. And

also, talk to me in the comments because

I like to hear what you have to say.

Thank you so much for watching.