The Decolonized Learning Glossary for creative entrepreneurs who are allergic to "Just follow the steps"

I was spectacularly bad in school. Not in the charming, rebellious way that gets you labeled a "creative type"—more in the way that gets you quietly shuffled to the back of the classroom where teachers hope you'll at least stay awake.

I hated being trapped in those fluorescent-lit boxes, listening to teachers drone on about things that seemed to have no connection to actual life. I would look around at my classmates trying to understand what held their attention. My mind wandered constantly and I procrastinated with the dedication of someone training for the Olympics. The end result was that I didn’t do that well in school (as one teacher told me, I “swam in a sea of mediocrity”) and it was ungratifying.

When I entered the working world, I discovered I had simply graduated to bigger fluorescent boxes but the same problems remained. I procrastinated with professional flair now which wrenched up my anxiety. I couldn't find meaning in work (it just felt like elaborate busy work) and I felt totally disconnected from my colleagues. I wasn’t unambitious but something was clearly missing and I was always left wondering, “What am I not getting about how work works?”

So naturally, when I started working for myself, I assumed entrepreneurship would solve my procrastination, boredom and disconnection. Spoiler alert: it didn't. These behaviours had become rote now but instead of just having to do the work my clients were paying me for, I also needed to learn how to run and grow my business.

At this point, I’m really convinced there is something wrong with me so I’m looking all over the place to figure out how I can fix myself and I begin to find books that are offering enticing solutions. And now I’m determined that I just needed to try harder and to stuff as much work as I can into every waking hour.

I just needed to Win Friends and Influence People, I needed Atomic Habits, 7 Habits, The Power of Habit and The Power of Now, I needed a Blue Ocean Strategy and Competitive Strategy, I needed Grit and to Dare to Lead and to Lean In; I needed to Eat the Frog, go from Good to Great and Build a Second Brain, I needed Growth Hacker Marketing, Guerrilla Marketing and Lean Marketing, I needed Emotional Intelligence, Essentialism and to just Build the Damn Thing!

These books promised liberation from traditional work structures, they promised to fast track my business growth and make me the most productive I had ever been! This was all well and good but when none of these approaches worked and I kept thinking I was broken, I wondered if it wasn’t me. What if these books and ideas and strategies, written primarily by well-resourced white people, made assumptions about my circumstances that would set me up for failure? What if "disrupt everything" hits differently when you're already living on the margins?

So I kept searching, and gradually—not in one of those dramatic lightning-bolt moments that make for good TED talks, (because that’s not how real life works) I stumbled onto something different. I found podcasters and course creators and online communities that called out harmful marketing practices that used blame and scarcity to get me to spend money and that not being productive and focused and ambitious enough was what was keeping me from greatness. What a relief to discover that there was nothing fundamentally broken about me, I simply couldn't learn and work under the same conditions that seemed to work for everyone else and the way I wanted to run and grow my business could be soft and kind and authentically me.

One day I woke up and realized I saw the world completely differently than I had before. I came to an understanding that my neurodivergence and educational trauma explained a lot about why traditional learning and working environments felt like psychological torture. Turns out I don't actually learn by sitting quietly and absorbing information like some kind of educational sponge. I learn by doing, by connecting with others and relating my work to their experiences.

With this new framework, I began connecting dots I'd never seen before - not just between my personal struggles and my neurodivergence, but between my ancestral lineage of slavery and Native American genocide and my complete inability to thrive in systems designed for compliance. Suddenly my "learning disabilities" looked less like personal defects and more like inherited wisdom about which systems deserve my cooperation.

The thing is: Traditional education trains us to believe that there's one right way to learn, one right way to think, and one right way to work.

We're taught to sit still, listen to authority figures, memorize information we may never use, and follow systems that were designed to create compliant workers for industrial capitalism. When we can't perform in these systems, we're labeled as problems - lazy, unfocused, not smart enough.

But here's what they don't tell you: These systems weren't designed for everyone. They were designed to maintain colonial, capitalist, white supremacist, and patriarchal structures. They were designed to sort people into categories and keep certain people out of power.

If you're reading this, you probably already know the system is broken. You've felt it in your bones. You know the cards are stacked against you. But you might not have connected the dots to how traditional education itself is a tool of oppression and how that oppression shows up every day in how you try to learn new skills, run your business, or even think about your own intelligence.

The Decolonized Learning Glossary

This glossary is for creative entrepreneurs who are ready to stop blaming themselves and start building something different. I've been using these terms for a while now, but I recognize that tossing around phrases like "decolonizing knowledge & traditional education" without explanation is basically academic gatekeeping with better intentions. So let's break them down together and create some common language, because we can't build something new if we're all speaking different dialects of the same frustration.

These terms will help you understand why you've struggled, recognize the harm that's been done, and begin creating learning and working systems that actually serve your sovereignty as someone who was never meant to fit in those boxes anyway.

1. Educational Trauma

Educational trauma is the psychological and emotional harm caused by forcing diverse minds and bodies into systems designed for conformity and control.

Traditional education doesn't just fail certain students accidentally. It's designed to create winners and losers, to sort people into categories, and to teach compliance above all else. When you couldn't sit still, when you asked too many questions, when you learned differently, when you brought different cultural knowledge, you weren't failing the system - the system was failing you, intentionally.

This harm shows up in adulthood as imposter syndrome, perfectionism, procrastination, and the belief that you're "bad at" things like technology, math, or business. It shows up as anxiety when you have to learn something new, or shame when you try to apply what seems like good advice but it never quite gets you to the promised outcome.

The shift: Instead of asking "What's wrong with me that I can't learn this?" ask "What conditions do I need to learn this effectively?" But even better: ask "Do I actually need to learn this at all, or am I being sold someone else's solution to a problem I don't have?"

2. Decolonizing Knowledge & Traditional Education

Decolonizing knowledge and traditional education means understanding the harm that has been done, really understanding it and how it shows up, and then identifying a different way of owning knowledge and educating oneself based on one's own needs.

This isn't just about acknowledging that traditional education was problematic. It's about deeply examining how colonial approaches to knowledge - the idea that there's one right way to think, learn, and know things - continue to shape how you approach learning in your adult life.

It means recognizing that your cultural knowledge, your intuitive understanding, your lived experience are all valid forms of knowing. It means questioning whose voices you're centering when you learn, whose methods you're adopting, and whose definitions of success you're chasing.

In practice: This might mean seeking out teachers and thinkers who share your identity or values. It might mean trusting your instincts about what feels right for your learning process. It might mean rejecting the pressure to learn in ways that don't serve you, even if they're considered "best practices."

3. Metacognitive Learning Design

Metacognitive learning design is the process of understanding exactly how your brain, body, and spirit need to engage with new information—and then creating those conditions unapologetically.

This means recognizing that your learning needs are valid exactly as they are. Maybe you need to move your body while you think. Maybe you need to understand the big picture before you can focus on details. Maybe you need to connect new information to your lived experience before it makes sense. Maybe you need community and conversation, not isolated study.

In practice: This might mean learning business strategy through storytelling rather than spreadsheets. It might mean understanding technology by building something you actually want rather than following generic tutorials. It might mean finding teachers who look like you, share your values, or understand your reality.

The Real Story

Here's what usually happens when I work with a client:

Someone reaches out, completely overwhelmed. They've tried everything - apps, systems, courses, templates. They have a Notion workspace they can't figure out, or they're drowning in productivity advice that doesn't work for them. They're convinced they just need the right tool, the right method, the right way to finally get organized.

"I must be missing something," they say. "Everyone else seems to have it figured out."

But here's what I've learned: They're not missing anything. They're not broken. They're not doing it wrong.

They're trying to force themselves into systems designed by and for people who think differently, learn differently, and work differently than they do.

The breakthrough never comes from finding the perfect app or template. It comes from understanding that their brain, their body, their lived experience - all of it is valid. It comes from designing systems that work with who they are, not against who they think they should be.

The transformation isn't about fixing what's wrong with them. It's about reclaiming what's right with them.

Your Learning Liberation Starts Now

When I first started this work, I thought I was just helping people organize their businesses. But what I've discovered is much bigger: We're living with the wounds of educational systems designed to sort, control, and exclude. These systems didn't accidentally fail so many of us, they succeeded at exactly what they were designed to do.

But here's what gives me hope: Every time someone recognizes that their brain isn't broken, that their learning style is valid, that they can design systems around their actual needs, they're not just changing their own life, they're modeling a different way of being for everyone around them. They're proving that there are infinite ways to be intelligent, successful, and whole.

What becomes possible when we embrace this new language?

Imagine creative entrepreneurs who stop apologizing for how they think and start designing businesses that honor their neurodivergence. Imagine BIPOC business owners who trust their cultural wisdom instead of trying to fit into white-dominated business frameworks. Imagine a generation of learners who ask "How do I need to learn this?" instead of "What's wrong with me that I can't learn this?"

This isn't just individual healing, it's collective liberation. Every person who breaks free from educational trauma creates space for others to do the same.

Your first step is simple: The next time you catch yourself thinking "I'm just bad at this," pause. Ask instead: "What conditions do I need to engage with this effectively?" Trust that the answer exists, and that you deserve to find it.

Your learning liberation journey starts with that single question. And if you're ready to go deeper, to build systems that actually work for your brain, your body, your life, I'm here to guide you through it.

Because your way of thinking isn't a problem to be solved. It's a gift to be unleashed.