One of the main tools I use to organize my life is Trello. With this app I record all my potential projects, research paths, and undeveloped ideas. I've found that over time I have amassed a lot of cards. It has become harder and harder to visualize the whole space, and this in turn makes it harder to prioritize tasks. Recently I've found myself switching around between various projects not getting much started. Then I read about a "deliberate learning strategy" in Pragmatic Thinking & Learning by Andy Hunt that will help me focus my goals with little cost, and give me a path for measurable progress.
The learning strategy is two-fold: the use of SMART objectives and the creation of a Pragmatic Investment Plan. These two concepts are very straightforward. SMART objectives provide an outline best suited for creating specific, short-term goals.
S-M-A-R-T
- specific
- measurable
- achievable
- relevant
- time-boxed
The "specific," "measurable," and "achievable" tenets tie in to the requirement making your goals things that could be described and checked off a list. A goal of "I want to learn a programming language," is not as useful as, "I want to write a pull request in the bitcoin protocol," because the first one doesn't provide any direction or finality. Next, a goal is "relevant" when you are passionate about it and it fits into your long-term plans. Lastly, you must give yourself a deadline. An important part of goals is stopping every once in a while and evaluating your progress and what you've learned. It's also important to not let your projects fizzle out and never get finished! Taking all this in mind, we need to organize our SMART goals into a plan that drives us towards our long-term goals.
The second part of our learning strategy is the Pragmatic Investment Plan. This part of the strategy is all about how to manage our "knowledge portfolio," which is our collection of skills that must be crafted and maintained. This is how we build up our short-term goals to a well-rounded set of long-term goals.
Pragmatic Investment Plan (PIP)
- concrete
- diverse
- active
- regular
A plan that is "concrete" is just one that has been described at many levels: now, short-term, and long-term. It's common thinking that plans will never come to be as originally conceived, but the act of creating the plan itself can make you think about your goals from a new perspective. It's beneficial to have goals that are diverse in environment, as well as in risk factor: different industries and skill sets. Do you have any investments that may pay off big? You need to be active, not passive, in your goals. The author has taken this word--"active"--from the financial world, and it means to periodically reevaluate all of your investments, in this case the contents of your knowledge portfolio. Are you performing as well as expected? Finally, you should be putting effort into all your goals on a regular basis. This is where building a daily routine, or at least some sort of ritual, can be very useful. With these principles, PIP enforces a balanced strategy for managing goals, and should help anyone choose and complete useful goals.
Deliberate Learning
Applying ourselves deliberately in our learning should put us on a path towards becoming an expert in any skill, with enough time commitment. Using SMART goals organized with a Pragmatic Investment Plan can help us maximize the synergy of our investments, improving our health and abilities. I've tried to implement these objectives and planning style into my usual workflow as smoothly as possible. So in Trello, I made a card for each of my goals, filled in the description with my current short-term goal, and set a due date. With the goal cards prominently displayed, it should make it easier to choose new tasks that align with them. It may pan out where I don't see a reason to continue with this exact jargon or structure, but no doubt these principles will live on whenever I plan my goals in the future.
Reference
Hunt, Andy (2008) Pragmatic Thinking & Learning: Refactor Your Wetware.