In this video, I share my experience as a father. As a member of a family where we all have aspirations and we all have goals. Everyone in our family unit has their perspective and their set of objectives when I get out of any given situation. This post is a continuation (Day 25) of my September Cycling Challenge.
In the video, I focus on how we chose to walk through the woods on this day because the day before I planned a bike ride in my mind where my daughter would not ride as the third wheel behind my bike. That is a format that we call the copilot in which my daughter’s bike only has one wheel and is attached to my seat post. my mind it would be great if we could go out on a bike ride and she could ride her bike by herself. This was a large leap that I made on my own because she’s really only written on her bike a few times and her confidence is still low. We can add that, but it was late in the day she hadn’t had a nap, maybe not eaten the most healthy food and she wasn’t in her best form. More importantly, I packed the car without consulting anyone and when we got to the bike ride, that’s when she realized that she would not be riding with me but she would be riding on her own. This was met with unhappiness, tears frustration, and of course, I ignored all of that, because this was going to be the best thing ever.
Inclusive Decision-Making Wins
In this post on my Vlog, I resolve to better include my family in decisions, that impact outcomes that they will be a part of. I will attempt to pause and plan with everybody included. This idea of mine, to have my daughter ride her own bike, which was not malicious, or in any way an act of me wanting to negatively impact her experience; doesn’t change the fact that it did negatively affect her experience. It was hot and sunny in the only empty parking lot we could find, and she fell numerous times. She was angry, frustrated, thirsty, tired, and she cried; and then, of course, I was frustrated and angry at myself because I didn’t get to ride my bike at all or exercise.
Ideas From the Group
We didn’t cycle the following day. My wife had a great idea to lower the bar and just go run through the woods. This turned out very well because everyone in our family is good at running in the woods.
Stepping down off the bike also enabled us to talk more, and I realized that maybe my children would like to be more of a part of my video creation. You can see in the video that the kids are interested in being involved so I started including them more.
Wondering About Consent Whilst Wandering Through the Woods
In the video, I talk quite a bit about wanting to have consent from my kids. While also not asking them to speak, or asking them to do something for the benefit of my videos.
Consent Matters
Consent is something that came up while I was on a business trip last week. We were all at a table, eating and drinking and I started recording my colleague.
I had no ill intent in this act, I just really liked what was being discussed at that time and the designer in me had an impulse that I should record the conversation.
The second time I hit record on my phone the recording app stayed on the screen and I laid the phone on the table. My colleague noticed I was doing that, and he politely said, “You need to ask before you start recording me” he was 100% accurate, especially in a business setting. I will add that we have discussed the idea of starting a podcast together, so this is a person that I know rather well, but that doesn’t change the fact that I need consent and can’t just start recording without sharing what I am doing.
I will say that I had already had a few cocktails and did not make a good choice at that moment. The next day I felt very guilty about my behavior. I apologized and he said that he was kidding, which felt good but didn’t change the fact that had a good point. Moving forward I will commit to always asking for consent before, including anyone and one of my recordings.
Music
Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep
Music by John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music
Polo & Pan – Ani Kuni
Music by To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco, Free Music Archive (CC)
Hello, this is improvement Dave, and I am David Kolmer. I used and continue to use the WordPress platform to build this blog. There was a prompt on my WordPress dashboard of an idea for a blog post which was “Describe your best week “, or maybe “Describe your perfect week”… something like that. I didn’t click on it, but then realized last night that I had started one of the best days ever.
At any rate, I am going to use this prompt even though I didn’t click on it and submit it to the WordPress Metaverse officially. I will alter it a bit and narrow the scope to 24 hours.
Exposition to the Perfect Day
My perfect day involves me :
Supporting my kids
Supporting my wife
Supporting myself
Initially, in that order of importance.
I had a promise to myself that I wasn’t going to purchase myself a new bicycle for my September biking challenge until I purchased a new bike for my wife. My wife has gone through a few bikes, and they were all gifts or someone else’s bike, and none of them fit her. She’s not an avid biker, but I can tell that our lives would be better if we all had decent bikes.
Wait, What About the Kids?
I should state that I have purchased two balance bikes for my kids since before they could walk. These are bikes that do not have pedals so they can get used to riding without worrying about pedals. Let me see if I can dig up a retro photo…
Look at that handsome dude rocking that balance bike! Proud as a pig in mud!
So, when the kids did get pedals they learned to ride in about 24 to 48 hours. If that doesn’t sell you on a balance bike then you hate children!
Last month, I bought my son a brand-new bicycle. It was a trek pre-caliber at the TREK store. It was what he wanted for his birthday. He shared that his perspective is that I always get him something secondhand and that Grandma and Grandpa put down real money for the big ticket items. (Well, this is my extrapolation. What was said is that my mom bought me a Game Gear portable Sega gaming system for $130+, and he stated, “You never bought me something that expensive.”) So when the grandparents offered to buy this bike I said, “I am buying this one.”
The TREK storeon Manchester Road was very well-equipped and very clean. The service charges for tune-ups and the price for components seemed expensive. Or at least they cost more money than I want to pay. Anyway, purchasing my son a new bike provided my daughter with a very nice silver hand-me-down bike.
We bought her a Unicorn bell that she got at my son’s birthday party to make it more of a “her” bike…
She also got some nice flashing lights.
She wasn’t getting the hang of the pedals so I hooked up the Co-pilot by Wee-Ride and she felt better about pedaling. Just watch her RAWK that for the first time.
SO BOOM MY KIDS ARE TAKEN CARE OF. I HAVE SUPPORTED THEM IN THE MISSION OF HAVING QUALITY BIKES.
A Moment of Weakness
While I was at the TREK store shopping for my son’s bike, I noticed the Marlin. Now this is a bike that I have read about, and I know that the marlin is a quality bike at a good price. However, I also discovered that Roscoe, which is a higher-level mountain bike with a Hardtail, costs significantly more money. I ordered one of those in the view and then the TREK store never called me back. Exit Trek store stage left.
I ALREADY DISCUSSED BUYING A NEW BIKE WITH MY WIFE FOR MY BIRTHDAY AND WE HAD AGREED THAT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA HOWEVER, SOMETHING DIDN’T FEEL RIGHT ABOUT IT. LATER, I REALIZED THAT I SHOULD BE GETTING HER A BIKE FIRST. OK SO THAT’S ALL OF THE PRE-LOG OR EPILOGUE AND NOW WE’RE GONNA GET INTO THE PERFECT 24-HOUR PERIOD WHICH I STARTED LAST NIGHT.
The Perfect Day Started Last Night
Last night I drove with my whole family to pick up some sandwiches at Potbelly. We had some gift cards, so essentially, I paid no money for them, which is pretty awesome. We eat the sandwiches in the car, which is something my family loves to do because it’s somehow wrong but then so right.
We drove to Billy Goat Bicycle Co.down on Manchester Road in St. Louis Missouri. This bike Shop had been recommended by one of my daughter’s friends’ fathers at my son’s birthday party as the most awesome bike shop in St. Louis to go to. I guess it pretty much qualified as that because when I walked in, they had the marlin eight that I was interested in in the dark blue to dark gray fade in my size. They also had a Marline that was very small, which also had incredibly nice coloring from more of a blue to yellow fade which fit my wife perfectly. We did some test drives in the front parking lot. I was wearing sandals, but I didn’t let that hold me back from curving and carving some banks covered with grass on the apartment complex behind the bike shop.
After some amazing discussions with a man called Ben, who was wearing a T-shirt that had bandit from the show, Bluey and the word “DAD” on it, I found I had learned a lot about bikes, gotten some very quality advice on the downfalls or potential pitfalls of tubeless tires, and essentially purchased my wife’s bike moments before I purchased my bike.
Hers
His
So now we both have brand new bikes, and we can fulfill our destiny of taking family bike rides together. Now, that was just yesterday evening.
As I’m writing this, it is only 5:30 a.m. It is raining outside, and I have a window open. Rain is a big part of the perfect day for me.
So far, I have woken up at 4:30 and finessed the water I had in the 32-ounce mason jar next to my bed. I brewed a cup of coffee while I was filling the jacuzzi hot tub in the new basement bathroom with hot water and Epson salts. I noticed that all these push-ups and all these bike rides have made my body very stiff, and my muscles seem to be filled with lactic acid and they’re sticking themselves. Now after exiting the hot tub and dictating this blog post into my phone in the basement to play some of my favorite video games on the PlayStation 3 which I never give myself time to do. It is called PixelJunk shooter, and it is the best game ever in the history of everything.
After that, I plan to do 30 minutes of yoga. After that, I will help put my daughter in the car and give her a Dum Dum sucker and kiss her goodbye kiss my wife goodbye. Then I’ll hang out with my son for about 30 minutes, and brew some more coffee. He’ll probably watch some Minecraft on YouTube kids, that is, he will watch someone else play Minecraft, instead of playing a game himself, (which is normal these days), I think.
While driving to school I saw they were tearing down that old house on our street that was an eyesore!
Then I will go to work in my basement. I recently put together a spare bedroom with an egress window that doubles as a study and a bathroom in the basement and this is my home office.
Today I have finished adding audio to the four modules of EPEC BRONZE for the National Association of Electric Distributors. Next, I will look at the script and enter all of the new script into the notes section of the Articulate Storyline file. This way I can easily print out a user guide PDF because the screens will be updated, and the notes will match. I’ve already aligned all the screen animations with the audio, so the last step is going to be pretty easy. I plan to break my fast at 12 but will probably wait until 2 or 3 because I drank whey protein powder last night at 8 p.m.
Tonight’s Plans
This evening I will pick up my son from school, then pick up my daughter and we will ride home in the Honda Odyssey. Then I will pull some fresh vegetables out of the fridge and some eggs and stir fry that all up in the Thai style I’ll probably fry some tofu as well and heat some of those smoked ribs that I have in the air fryer. Then I will drive to the YMCA with my son, or he will take a level five swimming course while my wife and my daughter ride bikes after that I will ride home in the Honda Odyssey with my son where he and I will probably ride bikes, then we will probably eat some ice cream. (Well, I might not have any ice cream because I am back on my ketogenic and intermittent fasting diet.) The kids will take a bath and we will take our showers. We will read some dog man turn on some colored, moving lights and the kids will go to bed. Now on some days, I would turn on some TV but for the perfect day, I would choose to not do that, instead, I would go to bed early at around 9 PM after drinking some chamomile and mint tea or some decaf coffee.
That will take us to about a full 24-hour period for the perfect day. What was interesting to me is my perfect day started last night and I’m not even halfway through it, It is not yet written, but maybe that’s the most important part of my perfect day. Much of the day is still in the future. It is unwritten, it has potential.
Conclusion
You know what? On second thought I don’t think I’m going to play that video game after writing this post I feel like it’s time to do my first 25 push-ups (of 50) do some yoga and Brew, and some more coffee.
The Best Day Ever
After I wrote the above content, I did some YOGA, My daughter woke up and then we walked outside in the twilight and enjoyed the rain.
We went back inside, I made her some hot chocolate and made a pinky promise that I would do some My Little Pony Cosmic Kids Yoga with her, but we did 15 minutes of the Frozen Yoga by Cosmic Kids featuring none other than Queen Elsa of Arendale.
My daughter said,
“This is the best day ever.”
She says that a lot, and she is always right.
Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep
Music by To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco, Free Music Archive (CC)
For September 2023, I am committed to biking more frequently.
This is a concept I saw for a charity on Facebook, but then later when I went to find it and sign up I couldn’t find the post. There are a lot of different benefits around charity fighting cancer by riding bikes in September! Since I just did a big charity push last month doing 50 pushups a day for August, I figure I can take a break from the charity push and daily blog/Vlog posts. If you know me personally you might find it funny how much I channeled the online self-improvement health guru in some of that content. If you don’t know me you might think that is who I am. When my brother saw that content he laughed out loud because I was so over the top in my presentation.
It is not a bad time to mention that I have a bachelor’s degree in theater and I often get into a role depending on the given circumstances. So doing pushups daily brought the health guru side of me quite a bit.
I will say that last month (August), although it was the month of 50+ Pushups a day for me I also got the bike out and started riding it. I can post a few maps of past rides I have taken.
I want to point out that the bike ride far right above (September 4th) shows I rode 13.2 miles in 43 minutes. Although this is possible I failed to end the tour and then we rode in a Jeep to another location that had a cafe that we like to ride to. However, my son was with us so we decided to ride in the Jeep. So, that data is incorrect, and it should really only match the image in the middle from August 30th.
I even test-rode some new bikes looking to purchase a new Trek. I am thinking of turning the bike I have into more of a road bike and then purchasing a new or new-to-me Trek Marlin. I am looking at something with good shocks on the front, fat tubeless tires, and a good strength for the price.
From what I have read so far the TREK provides a quality bike at a good value. I do like the Rosco, but I am not sure that the additional cost is something I will need, however, I do love biking and I am wondering if I should just purchase the more excellent bike. I even test-rode some new bikes looking to purchase a new Trek. I am thinking of turning the bike I have into more of a road bike and then purchasing a new or new-to-me Trek Marlin. I am looking at something with good shocks on the front, fat tubeless tires, and a good strength for the price. From what I have read so far the TREK provides a quality bike at a good value. I do like the Rosco, but I am not sure that the additional cost is something I will need, however, I do love biking and I am wondering if I should just purchase the more excellent bike.
I woke up at 6:15 AM to go Biking
This morning is day 10 into September and I took my first serious ride of the month. I went with an accountability buddy, and that is the theme of this challenge. With the safety concerns of biking, I think it is good to go with someone else in case something goes wrong.
There is also the additional benefit of having someone else hold you accountable for showing up and then pushing to go further and faster.
So this was a good ride. We started at the Missouri River, then drove southeast over the river and rode around Creve Couer Lake, then did a loop in the woods and returned back over the river to our cars. at the end, I got the camera out to capture the serenity of the ride.
This is the end of the ride
Here are some pictures I’ve taken over the past few weeks of my biking journey.
My goal WAS to do 50 pushups every day for August 2023. It has been one week since I completed this challenge. I have done at least 50 pushups a day past the 31-day challenge. On day 36 (yesterday) I did 100 pushups! Then I took a hot bath and had to ice up my arm.
Comparing Day 1 to Day 31
Today I compare what my 1st day of pushups looked like up against my 31st day.
Here are the main points I make in this video:
(I am sorry they are not composed as learning objectives! HAHA!)
In the video, I fail to mention that this 50 pushups a day challenge not only made me commit to holding myself accountable but I was also motivated me to build other skills.
For example, I wanted a logo for my blog but have not been very active in developing it. The energy generated from this project motivated me to sketch out my logo, scan it in, and then design a PNG file in Adobe Illustrator with a transparent background. I actually recorded my screen while designing my logo and plan to release that video next week. Once I got the ball rolling on the pushups, other projects didn’t seem as daunting as they did before. The first step is the most difficult.
Not Too Late to Give to the Children!
I did more than 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!
I am feeling better today than I did yesterday. It got down to 65 degrees here in Saint Louis, MO so I decided to do the pushups outside. I am trying to trim the videos down shorter now so there is less dead time and less talking time.
My goal is to do 50 pushups every day for August 2023. My stretch goal is to do 50 quality pushups in a single set. Today I did two higher-quality sets of 25 pushups, for only 50 quality pushups in total! I think this is the best approach overall to do an actual set of 50 by the end of August.
I did a 5-minute breath work session between the two sets, which is available to view after the two sets of pushups. In this video, I do the basic 4-count in, 4-count hold, and 4-count exhale. Then when that feels comfortable I up it to 8-counts for all three. Normally I would do a 4 or 8-count hold after the exhale but having just done pushups and preparing to do more pushups I do not tend to hold on the exhale.
I’m Doing more than 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!
I am not feeling very well today. In this video, I declare, “That is the thing about consistency, you still show up even when you are not feeling well. I am going to give my 100% even though I don’t have 100% to give. I am going to give my full 83%.) My kids both got Hand Foot and Mought Virus over the weekend, and as our Nurse Practitioner warned, there is now a strain that adults get. Maybe it is the offspring of the Omnichrom Carona 19 virus. I am not pro-vax or anti-vax.
It seems to me like just getting the virus is a vaccination in its own way. Probably more risky than a vaccination but it’s cheaper! and I love a good value! Still, I’d rather just get a vaccine if I can afford it and it doesn’t make me sick. So, now that I have polarized my reader base, let’s move forward to the video where I try to do pushups even though I am not very fit and I am sick!
My goal is to do 50 pushups every day for August 2023. My stretch goal is to do 50 quality pushups in a single set. Today I did two higher-quality sets of 25 pushups, for only 50 quality pushups in total! I think this is the best approach overall to do an actual set of 50 by the end of August.
I did a 5-minute breath work session between the two sets, which is available to view after the two sets of pushups. In this video, I do the basic 4-count in, 4-count hold, and 4-count exhale. Then when that feels comfortable I up it to 8-counts for all three. Normally I would do a 4 or 8-count hold after the exhale but having just done pushups and preparing to do more pushups I do not tend to hold on the exhale.
Please Donate to The Children
I’m Doing more than 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!
I have a goal to do 50 pushups in one set by the end of August. Today is the first day I have done 50 pushups in only 2 sets. You can see in the video that I am pretty excited about this.
How Am I Preparing?
I have had trouble doing the 50 pushups a day in less than 3 sets this first week. Before today, I had been eating a ketogenic diet focused on cutting out carbohydrates. I have been focused on using ketones (energy from fats) as my fuel source, or in other words burning fat instead of carbs. That has helped me shed extra weight and I can feel that I have a more consistent energy source.
I have noticed that now that I am working out more I am having trouble performing. I ate a small bowl of oatmeal this morning with ground flax seed in it and then I was able to do 30 pushups in my first set and also 50 pushups in 2 sets. Moving forward I plan to eat carbohydrates 1 or 2 hours before a workout.
I have also had benefits from intermittent fasting, or not eating for 16 to 20 hours a day. I will have to find a way to maybe eat dinner earlier because I like working out first thing in the morning. Previously I was skipping breakfast but that was also not supporting this additional exercise.
I’m Doing 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!
I am going to teach myself how to create 3D objects in the virtual space. I don’t know how to use Adobe Substance Modeler, Adobe Substance Painter, or Adobe Substance Designer, nor do I know how to use Adobe Substance Stager. I am going to spend the next 30 days taking the free Adobe Tutorials on at least Adober Substance Modeler and sharing my experience here. We will see how it goes!
Upon taking some preliminary video courses I have learned that this can lead to designing in Virtual Reality and Augmented reality and I want to be very clear that, this is my ultimate goal. For now, I want to build a logo for my brand and I am thinking that the 3D space might be easier than Illustrator. I have some basic designs in Illustrator and they look well… flat.
So far I have been working in Adobe Illustrator which to be fair I have not used in over a decade. I like it, it is very powerful. HUGE shout out to my buddy Luke Lindberg who has been holding my hand through this process. You are the man Luke. If you need a graphic designer, then hit him up!
What I love about living in 2023 is that if you want to learn something new chances are the platform that makes the product you want to learn is producing high-quality learning content and sharing it on Youtube for free! HOT JAMS! Just look at this, 10 fresh clean learning artifacts that walk me through the process. I would be mad to not take advantage of this! Adobe Tutorials “https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB0wXHrWAmCwrvuebNKHc7rooXkkVDwln“
So, I am jumping in, I am teaching myself something I know nothing about. So let’s look at what I came up with. You can tell by the concerned look on my face in the next video! This is not the face of a man who knows what he is doing. This is the face of a man who is vulnerable and swimming in waters he does not know.
After Working with the First 3D Substance Modeler Tutorial #1
So, to be candid. I created something and it didn’t work because I was just messing around with the shape of the brush and not actually creating something. Then when I went to reopen the file there was nothing there because I didn’t create anything. So I actually created this after watching the second tutorial but it relates to the first tutorial so I will share it first.
After Working with the First 3D Substance Modeler Tutorial #2
In this tutorial, it became clear how to use the creation “gizmo” or “brush”. You can press the “e” key to set it to a transparent object for erasing. Or you can press the “c” key to create in clay. I am still not clear on what pressing the “c” key does. It sort of bakes the clay and then you can’t erase what you have already done. I really dug in here and created many layers to get an idea of what the limits were.
I am really excited to enter this new space. Even if these aren’t the tools I eventually need to create VR and AR experiences learning these skills will be valuable when I do. I would like to thank the learning team at Adobe who put these learning playlists together. YouTube really is the best LMS on the planet Earth.
In my last two posts, Consistency and What Does Consistency Mean to You? I delved into who I am and what I am doing to improve myself. It was rather lavishly selfish and self-serving. I apologize for that. I will take ownership of both of those posts and admit they were not serving my readers in ways I am super proud of. At the same time, I will not delete them. That’s where I was at that time, I needed that, and I also need to own them. I was working on personal improvements that maybe don’t belong on a professional Learning and Development blog, or maybe they do. I guess that’s the good thing about blogs, it kind of doesn’t matter.
I was thinking about this last week as I sat watching my son dig through his swim lesson at the local YMCA. I saw him working on lifting his head gracefully to take a breath in a way that was anything but graceful. He was lifting his mouth far above the water and taking giant gulps of air through his mouth open wide. It was cartoonish. Anyone else watching would have seen a child who doesn’t know how to take a breath during freestyle.
However, that was my child, and I talk to him frequently. When we ride in the van to school, as I tuck him in at night, when we sit in the backyard breaking sticks. I know he is working hard on taking a good breath during the freestyle. I know how long it has been since he could not take a breath to the side instead of raising his head in the front. I know this is a challenge for him. I know this is a big goal of his. I know about the personal work he has done alone and with me at the pool to improve his swimming strokes. I know his work on diving to the bottom, practicing holding his breath, and getting his goggles just right. I see the personal work that he has had to do to be able to swim as well as he can now. We have discussed the excitement and fear he has related to deep diving.
When I shared my last two posts I was sharing my personal work. The things I was doing for me to make my overall performance more effective. Nobody really cared, I didn’t get comments on Linked In, and sadly enough I noticed that, and it meant something to me. Then I stopped posting. The truth is maybe somebody did read that and got something out of it. I was making it about me, about people responding to me. It shouldn’t matter if nobody responds. Ideally, I shouldn’t care how many people read.
Better Writing
During the summer months, I mow my own lawn. I normally listen to Music and Podcasts but I have pockets when I choose Audiobooks. Back in February of 2021, I listened to a condensed version of This book will teach you how to write better by Neville Medhora and it answered questions I didn’t know I had.
I can summarize this in two sentences:
People care about themselves, people do not care about you.
People respond to what his new novel or helpful.
As an Instructional Designer, or in this case a writer of learning content, these statements hit home for me. I stopped the lawnmower, pulled out my phone, and typed these nuggets into my notes app. After some consideration and revising this post before publishing, I realized that I am pulling from that moment subconsciously, so I should share why I feel the way I do here. These statements aren’t groundbreaking, and in a way they are a bit obvious, but having them as a guide as a learning content writer who does not consider himself a naturally gifted writer, was very helpful.
Internal Wins
Stephen Covey first published the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in August of 1989, and I first read it nearly 29 years later in 2018. I am basing this observation off of the 7 Habits. The first half of the list is internal wins or “Private Habits”:
Sharpen the Saw, find a balance between work and relaxation
Be Proactive, take charge, and assume responsibility for your life
Begin with the end in mind, Have a vision for the future to make your ideas reality
These three internal wins get you ready for the transition to external wins #4 to Put things first and focus on what’s important. After that is when the internal wins start to support your external wins, wins that others can observe. Once you have implemented the first 4 into your life then you are ready to move on to:
Think Win-Win, find a solution that is profitable for everyone.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood, first really listen, then make recommendations.
Synergize, together you are stronger than alone.
So, sharing my internal wins, or new “Private Habits”, candidly was meant to show what I was working on and how I was improving myself. However, those wins are for me, those are mine, and I can’t really expect other people to be excited about them like I am. After all, People don’t care about me. Do I still bring up my Spindrift carbonated water with lemon juice and my intermittent fasting to strangers at my daughter’s dance practice? Well, yeah, I still do, and I maybe need to work on that if that is over-sharing; but for here, on this channel, this blog, I am going to pause and pivot. I am not going to consistently tell you about how consistent I am in my diet, work, or sleep patterns and expect you to be happy for me.
The truth is, nobody liked the post much on LinkedIn or Facebook, but I just checked the stats on WordPress, because I was curious, and that post had more views than any of my other recent posts in some time, and I even got some likes on Worpress itself, which I’m not sure I have ever had. So, I am back to square one with Dr. Socrates. I now know that I definitely don’t know sh^t. I need to stop overthinking this, (and maybe rebuild parts of my 4th wall.) Overthinking is not a new pitfall for me. Unfortunately, Analysis Paralysis is kind of my jam and I need to shed that like last year’s skin. Maybe that is what this BLOG is about.
I am going to post consistently, for you (and for me). I’m not going to overthink what I post, I’m just going to keep posting consistently. oh, yeah, and I’m going to keep breathing, probably not drinking alcohol, eating right, and working out HARD 3 times a week, (but I’ll try to keep that more to myself moving forward.)
Work Cited
Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic. [Rev. ed.]. Free Press, 2004.
Medhora, Neville. This book will teach you how to write better. [1st ed.]. Neville Medohora, 2013.
About the Author
David Kolmer is a learning professional who currently works and lives in St. Louis, MO. He does not have a degree in nutrition but does hold a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts and a Master of Arts in Instructional Design and Educational Technology.
Hello, 2023! May you bring me focus and consistency.
I recently read a post written by a friend named Stephanie Gerald. She was inspired by a friend (who will remain unknown) to have a word for a year. Since this came at the beginning of a year and the end of another year it resounds of a new years resolution. However, living your life according to a word seems so much more possible than going to the gym every day. It’s an ideal, something to strive for. Stephanie was nice enough to share the words she has had from the past few years and I love them: Intentional, Courage, Power, and the newest one Grit, inspired by the great Angela Duckworth.
I wanted to steal one of Stephanie’s words because they were so grand and illustrious, but I realized I need to be honest. In a way, honesty was my word from 2022. as I shared in a previous blog post, HONESTY. Now if you have read ANY of my recent blog posts, you will know that I recently went to my first DEVLEARN conference, (and I promise I will get over that someday), but for now, it is still a huge landmark in my career and life in general. While I was there, the learning guild offered these windows of unlimited coffee, and boy did take advantage of that. There was also an espresso bar at the Dochebo booth and I knew the barista on a first-name basis. I don’t even need to mention how much free alcohol was available.
Me at the height of my caffeine addiction being chased by the angel of death at DEVLEARN.
Either way, by Friday I was revved up like a locomotive. I attended a class on Podcasts hosted by the profound Betty Danowitz, from If You Ask Betty. I don’t recall why but there was some sort of delay in the training and Betty asked if anyone knew any jokes. So guess who started shouting out his favorite dad jokes? Yes, if you answered me, then you are correct. After the third joke, Betty asked me to sit in the front row to be her co-host. This was flattering but I knew she was just trying to keep the Heckler close to her so she could keep an eye on him. (Betty Shared a picture of me in this state but it looks like my chat history doesn’t go that far back on Linked In. Either way that embarrassing photo is not the point.)
Now, I was very engaged in this course on Podcasts, and I’d like to start my podcast soon, but for now, I can gather my thoughts in this blog. As preparation, I have also started listening to the I Love Betty podcast and writing on it religiously. (I am wondering why she is not sponsoring my blog, but I need to remember to take baby steps.) One of the Podcasts that has resounded with me over time was with Tim Slade about building your brand. All the talk about choosing colors and fonts made sense and didn’t phase me, but one thing stood out, it shocked me. The goal is to be consistent with colors, fonts, and designs AND in your behavior. To be true to your real self all the time. Often, the only thing I am consistent at is being random. It’s not because I am overly scatterbrained or legitimately mad, but because my brand of humor is conceptual and abstract. So, I realized, I say and do random things to be funny. In other words, hoping it will make people like me more. However, this often backfires with people who don’t know me well. People think I am being serious and I offend them or concern them. Or even worse, they don’t laugh.
So now that I am being more honest with myself, and the world, I want to take it a step further and be more consistent. Well, how do I do that? I have already taken a few steps.
Improvement Dave 