This time of year, most people are starting to shift into fall. Summer winds down, students head back to school, and there’s a natural sense of transition in the air. So it’s worth asking: how are you getting ready to tackle the challenges of this fall? And more specifically, what do you need to know about technology to handle them?

For a lot of folks, the answer involves a list of tech skills they’ve been meaning to build but never got around to. However, “figure it out eventually” isn’t a real plan.

Why This Gets Skipped

Most of us never learned technology the way we learned other things, through a clear curriculum with someone walking us through it. We picked things up as we went, usually under pressure, usually because something needed to get done right then. That works for a while, until a new tool shows up or the workflow you’ve been using no longer works. The gaps stay invisible until they suddenly aren’t.

Finding Your Focus

Now is a natural moment to ask ourselves, “what’s the one tech thing I can learn that would make my work or my life easier if I really understood it.” Maybe it’s a spreadsheet function you’ve been avoiding. Maybe it’s understanding what AI tools can and can’t safely do for you. Maybe it’s something as simple as organizing your files so you can find them again.

Naming that thing can be harder than it sounds, because most people don’t have a framework for figuring out where their gaps actually are. That’s where some structure helps. A while back, I put together a Tech Life Questionnaire that walks through eight everyday tech categories, from devices to social media to AI, and asks you to rate how comfortable you feel in each one. It’s not a test, there’s no score. It’s just a way to see your situation more clearly, including the parts you’re already good at.

A Plan, Not Just a Goal

Once you know what you want to get better at, don’t treat that as enough. “I want to get better at Excel” is a wish, not a plan. A real learning plan gets specific: what exactly you’re learning, how you’re going to learn it, how you’ll practice it, how you’ll know if it’s working. Without that structure, it’s easy to start strong and lose momentum a few weeks later. Not because you aren’t capable, but because there wasn’t a clear path to follow.

I have a Learning Plan worksheet that walks you through that, in five parts. It’s built to take a vague goal and turn it into something you can follow through on, whether the goal is small or substantial.

Where I Fit In

If you need advice developing your plan or need help executing it, I’m here. We can schedule a set of sessions built around the specific goal you’re working toward.

You don’t need to overhaul everything about how you use technology. You just need to know where you are and have a real plan for the one thing that would help most. That’s a small doable task, and it’s one I’d genuinely enjoy helping you with.

If you’re curious where to begin, the Tech Life Questionnaire is a good place to start. Subscribers can get it and the Learning Plan below.