The personal curriculum trend has taken the internet by storm, and that’s a good thing. Creators in all niches and spaces are prioritizing personal growth and self-guided learning by creating something called a “personal curriculum” for themselves, where they pick topics or subjects to read and learn about in a school-type structure throughout the year.
However, if you find yourself searching for how exactly to structure your own personal curriculum, it can quickly delve into overwhelming territory. In this guide to self-guided learning for beginners, we’ll quickly go over what a personal curriculum is, what you can study, and most importantly, how to structure your subjects so you can actually dive in and start learning. There’s even a FREE notion template you can use to get you started!
Whether you need a productive outlet to replace your doomscrolling or are a nerd at heart who misses the structure and learning aspect of school, then a personal curriculum is the perfect addition to your routine. It’s the perfect way to slow down, go analog, or simply have a constructive hobby to fill your time instead of simply consuming.
What is a Personal Curriculum?
A personal curriculum is a self-guided system where you choose a topic (or multiple topics) you want to learn more about. This can be a skill you want to develop or improve, a topic that has interested you for a long time, a language you want to learn—there’s no right or wrong answer.
Why Build a Personal Curriculum?
The key shift from simply observing to actively learning is the intent and structure. If you build out even a simple bulleted list of what you want to learn, your goals, and some key resources, this framework will help you feel less overwhelmed, more focused, and much more motivated to keep learning.
What can I Study in a Personal Curriculum?
The best part of a personal curriculum is that you can make it as simple or advanced as you like. You can learn how to knit, speak French, code…you name it! It can even be as simple as choosing a niche topic that really interests you and maybe wasn’t exactly available to you in your traditional schooling. Obsessed with space? The industrial revolution? With the internet today, you can truly learn about anything.
How to structure a personal curriculum?
This is where it gets a bit more complicated, because one of the main factors of success with learning is having a structure to follow with actionable steps. It’s suggested you focus on one subject first, and determine your goal. What is it you want to achieve? Don’t just say “learn about this subject.” Make it specific. If you want to learn a new language, your goal could be something like “I want to be able to have a conversation in Spanish.”
How to Stay Consistent With Self-Guided Learning
You will want to create some sort of syllabus (or even just a list) of some sub-topics within your chosen study, and then find some resources that support it. Get some books from the library or make a playlist of educational YouTube videos that will teach you about these topics specifically.
It can help to set out a deadline for yourself, because time-bound goals are much more likely to get achieved than if you leave it open-ended.
Integrate your personal curriculum into your daily, weekly or monthly schedule. By having a structured syllabus or guide, you won’t be asking “what can I learn today?” because ideally, you’ll already have a list of topics with their recommended readings.
Tools + FREE Notion Personal Curriculum Template
Create some kind of syllabus or outline, and our suggestion is always Notion. You can get as detailed and granular as you like, or you can stick to something as simple as a bulleted list. We have a FREE template for you to build out your entire personal curriculum, from subject pages, to a to-do list and even course templates to completely build out your year of self-guided learning.
Here’s to 2026 being the year we slow down and better ourselves through self-guided learning ✨📚