What Is Your Life Curriculum?

What you decide to learn and practice throughout your lifetime is your life curriculum. How well is yours organized, or not?

If you look at what you have learned thus far in your lifetime, the knowledge content you received in your early years up to age 12–14, probably came directly from your primary caregivers; your natural or surrogate parents (i.e.) your family.

That curriculum was likely a combination of what they had been taught in their early years, personal content they acquired as they lived in the world as adults, and the content and structures present in the community ‘culture’ surrounding them.

This ‘mash-up’ of differing proportions within which you were ‘cultivated’ under the oversight of your primary caregivers, we refer to as your family heritage; the unique mélange that is your foundation. For a moment, consider how much of you today, is composed of the content and structure from your family heritage, and how much comes from different sources including your own contributions.

Crossing The Bridge

About age 12–14 you began a process of direct personal encounters with the world and its curriculum. You began adult relationships with others and likely exchanged impressions, experiences and beliefs about the family heritage you were raised in like; where the family came from, or family rules like curfews, and who not to associate with. Perhaps you shared beliefs (or not) about God, politics, and money; is it good or is it the root of all evil?

We’ll refer to this period as the beginning of your personal heritage; the time when you began to integrate or modify the family heritage content (curriculum) and organizing structures you were raised with.

From this point forward, your personal heritage (i.e.) your unique encounter with the world will be greatly, but not exclusively influenced by the conscious and unconscious choices you make about what you will learn; the curriculum, and how you will organize what you learn; the structure and put into practice in your daily life.

How Is Your Life Content Organized?

Looking back across time from our vantage point as adults, many of us realize that our parents didn’t have a system per se, for teaching us life any more than we have one today for ourselves and our children.

Much of what we learned was not formally taught as much as it was experienced.

Like a balancing act, we saw our parents trying to balance the checkbook, to balancing the spiritual and emotional needs of the family. Often, acting intuitively by the ‘seat of the pants’, or seeking out friendly advice, and reliance upon a dose of good luck.

If this is familiar to you, what, if anything, would you improve in the curriculum and organizing structures you have inherited from your family heritage? Perhaps having an alternative content organizing framework to use as a comparison tool like; ‘this is how my closet and its contents are organized now, and here’s what it could look like’, can be useful to see whether there is something you would like to organize or develop differently as you move forward in your personal heritage.

Life-as-a-Craft: An Organizing Framework

‘Craft’ as we define the term, is an organizing structure for a specific body of knowledge and practices focused on a particular subject (e.g.) healthcare, so that anyone can identify it, learn it and practice it with greater skill over time.

‘Life-as-a-Craft’ is the term we will use to refer to a specific organizing framework focused on the body of knowledge and practices that deal with the physical, mental, and spiritual experiences of all human beings.

Thus, if someone wanted to learn and practice ‘life’ as a specifically defined craft the way that someone practices textile weaving or woodworking, it would require that the content; the curriculum of the craft, be systematically organized so that it can be learned in a manner similar to the way we learn and practice our trades, crafts, and professions.

Managing Your Life Curriculum

What you decide to learn and practice throughout your lifetime we refer to as your life curriculum. Much of it was learned from your family heritage. Much will be added as a result of your personal heritage experience and choices.

Life-as-a-Craft is comprised of five categories or ‘elements’ for organizing the content you have already learned or will learn across your lifetime: your life curriculum. Inside each element is where you can place content you have already learned and find new content that might interest you.

1. Family & Personal Heritage — The legacy we come from, and the legacy we leave to the next generation.
2. Family & Household Management — How we manage the people and environment we live in.
3. Family & Personal Finance — Producing income and managing money to operate our household.
4. The Human Being — The inner-self and outer-self that we shape in our lifetime.
5. Tools for Living — The devices we use to shape ourselves and others.

The Time Span: The Four Phases of Living

Every trade and occupation have an initial period in which the curriculum of the craft is learned, followed by the time span in which the trade is practiced, and skills are incrementally improved, and new knowledge is progressively acquired.

Life-as-a-Craft spans a period of approximately eighty (80) years in Four Phases; based on the structure found in most trades and occupations across the world, during which you will learn, and incrementally improve your practice of the craft of ‘life’.

1. Apprenticeship: Age 14–25 | The Learning Phase
2. Journeywork: Age 25–45 | The Building Phase
3. Masterwork: Age 45–65 | The Masterpiece Phase
4. Mentorship: Age 65–85+ | The Legacy Phase

How You Do Your Work: The Way of Craftsmanship

Throughout your life you will be exposed to methods and processes; ways of working, as well as standards of quality of work as measured in a finished product. When a finished product meets or exceeds a quality standard, it brings positive attention to its ‘maker(s)’ and is commonly referred to as ‘quality craftsmanship’.

Performance excellence or ‘excellence of execution’ no matter what the finished product, is universally recognized in every culture of the world. All that needs to be understood is which standard; (i.e.) which measure is being applied to the finished work and by whom, to determine whether a work result meets and/or exceeds the particular standard and may be considered ‘quality craftsmanship’.

In your lifetime, you will perform across a wide range of subjects with varying degrees of performance results (craftsmanship) depending upon your knowledge of the subject, and the level to which you have developed your skills in it.

You are not and cannot be a master in every subject. Ever. Masquerading as such only damages your reputation in the end when your work result fails the test for mastery in the given subject.

Life-as-a-Craft incorporates The Way of Craftsmanship as a guide to measure one’s proficiency; knowledge and acquired skill in any subject. Applied to yourself, you can determine your knowledge and skill level in any subject, and whether you want to advance to a higher level of proficiency, and if not which characteristics to look for in someone else if you wish to engage them to assist you.

The result of practicing craftsmanship in everything you do will significantly improve the quality of your personal and professional life, and the lives of your family and loved ones.

Levels of Craftsmanship

1. Apprentice — Novice with limited knowledge or experience.
2. Journeyman/woman — Credentialed, skilled practitioner.
3. Master — Advanced credentials, skills and experienced practitioner.
4. Mentor — Counselor to the craft.