writing – Improvement Dave

Your Brain Is Curating Your World

Synchronized Synchronicity (Or Maybe Just Paying Attention)
Today is Cinco de Mayo:
A holiday many United States of Americans treat like Mexico’s Independence Day.

Cinco de Mayo and Perception

Cinco de Mayo. or, what it really is “5th of March.”

It marks a single battle in 1862, but here in the U.S., it’s been repackaged into something else entirely: a reason to drink.
I’m not drinking right now —
And I’m not sure I ever want to again.

What Is Synchronicity?

This post is about synchronicity. At times in my life, I perceived this phenomenon in an overzealous or spiritual way. I like the idea of mysterious forces working behind the scenes, and I’m sure that plays a big part in our experience. But I don’t want to delve too deep into that side of this here—not because I don’t believe it, but because I don’t want to waste energy trying to prove something that isn’t provable.

My point here is that we all live in the same universe, and that universe is connected to itself. As much as we would like to perceive ourselves as individual participants in the ecosystem, the truth is that through our surroundings, we are all connected to each other.

A Series of Events

What got me thinking about this was a series of events that happened to me over the past month. Actually, all of it happened in the last week.

Let me start by just saying my family loves to go to Babler State Park, just southwest of St. Louis city in Missouri. We go there at least a few times a year.

Leaning Into Community

I’ve gotten fully involved in my local chapter of ATD. (That is the Association of Talent Development in St. Louis.) The local chapter has been very supportive of my trying to grow as a professional into being a better instructional designer and training facilitator. The relationship has grown to the point where I’m now serving on the board as the Director of Educational Technology. Being on the board means that I know a lot more about what’s going on and what’s being offered by the chapter.

So when something came up about networking in nature, I raised my hand right away and said I’m there, whatever you need me to do. I think there were some discussions about what parks we all liked in the area, so I probably mentioned that I like Castlewood, Babler, and Creve Coeur Park. So this event ended up happening in Babler.

Back to Babler

As we were preparing for the event, I was talking with Sarah Garner, who is organizing the whole thing, and I was joking with her. I said, I’m going on a field trip next week—guess where it is? It’s at Babler. She responded with a 😆.

So I went to that event last week at Babler, and our meeting spot was right next to the pavilion that our family always goes to.

Geocaching Enters the Picture

Then, a couple of days later, I was recording a podcast with Dave Smiderle – from Burlington, Ontario, Canada; and since this is GameLayer, we were talking about games and learning. Out of the blue, Dave brought up geocaching. Where you use GPS to find specific coordinates on a map. Someone leaves you a treasure, you fill out the log, put in a new treasure, and then continue on your hike.

Geocaching, a man looking for a hide in a wooden cavity

Two people finding a geocache in the forest. Shallow depth of field with sharp focus on woman.

I mentioned to Dave S. that I’ve heard about geocaching from some art friends in college who loved the adventure of the whole thing.

That episode is dropping soon, and you can hear more about it there.

The Moment of Synchronicity

Just yesterday, I received a text message on an app called ClassDojo from my child’s teacher. She shared that we will be traveling to Babler State Park and partaking in a geocaching activity. Now, in my inner self, I sensed the synchronicity of everything that was happening in my life. In the podcast with Dave, I expressed a deep interest in getting into geocaching, and I meant it. And it feels to me like my sincere interest is what caused the activity at the field trip I’ll be at next Thursday to be geocaching.

A Rational Counterpoint

One could easily argue that I’m making this all up, and I think that is a perfectly rational stance. Here’s why: now I’ve been talking about geocaching more, and a colleague at work named Karen said, “Oh, geocaching—I used to do that with my kids.” Now I’m learning more about the process from her. I’m not arguing that there’s some underground magic happening behind the scenes.

It’s coming up more because I’m thinking about it and talking about it more. …right?

So What’s the Point?

So, what’s my point in all of this, you ask?

My point here is that if you seek something out and set your intention on something, then that thing will find you. Half because you’re looking for it, and half just because you notice it more. It might be a bit of a stretch to argue that the universe is going to rearrange itself around your intentions and desires, but after a while, it really does sort of feel like that.

Bringing It Back to Beer

Let me tie it back into drinking—or not drinking alcohol—Or drinking NA—for Cinco de Mayo. While I was at Babler State Park for the ATD networking-in-nature event, I looked in the cooler and saw my favorite non-alcoholic (NA) beer. It is Athletic. It’s a beer that’s brewed to be nonalcoholic. They are NOT trying to reproduce some other famous beers without the alcohol.

This results in an incredibly delicious beer-like beverage, which just happens to not have alcohol in it. If I hadn’t made the conscious decision over the last couple of years to cut alcohol out of my life, I wouldn’t have known about this beer, and it wouldn’t have been a noticable.

But because I have done that, and because I’ve grown very fond of Athletic brand beer, I brought it up and asked Sarah if she brought that. She said, “I’m an advocate!”

I called out, “Me too!” over the picnic table, and several people looked at us, getting excited about some beer that doesn’t even have alcohol in it. Now, these people are probably concerned about my mental well-being, and that’s fair from their vantage point.

The Pattern Behind It All

The fact of the matter remains: if you start to pursue a certain thought, object, or culture, then those thoughts, those objects, and that culture will start to seek you out as well. Why is that? Because the entire universe really is a single item. It is all connected, and the flap of a butterfly’s wing can cause a wind that in turn leads to a series of events that topple a mountain.

An Invitation

If you’ve made it this far, then I implore you: the next time something seems to find you, let yourself believe that magic is real. Just trust for a minute that the universe itself is consciously providing you with what you desire. Give it a shot—not because it is an entirely provable thought process, but because it enriches your experiences and provides meaning beyond language. And from my perspective, enriching experiences are all that matter.

Final Thought

It very well may not be the case that the universe is out to conspire for or against you. …But I know one thing to be true: human perception is always colored by our previous experience, and when things don’t make sense, the human mind fills in the gaps without us even knowing. Our perception of the world is provably inaccurate. Also, the human mind is an infinitely creative machine, and it feeds on what you give it. So be mindful of what you’re feeding it, because it literally shapes your perception of the world around you. And in turn, your perception recreates the world you live in.

Closing Quote

Talent is the ability to let ideas
manifest themselves through you.

~ Rick Ruben

When You Stop Listening to Your Self

Not That Kind of Hospital Post

It’s always bizarre to me when people post pictures of themselves lying in a hospital bed, all connected to wires, on social media. This is not one of those posts, although the image is of me in a hospital office.

The Appointment

I admitted myself—or rather, scheduled an appointment—with the nurse practitioner at my primary care physician’s practice. I was experiencing the symptoms of sciatica. I’ve done some research, and everyone explains that sciatica is caused by a twisted vertebra or a bulging disc between vertebrae—what chiropractors call a subluxation.

I went to the appointment and labeled the visit “exploration into sciatica.” This way, the medical professionals already knew why I was there. I followed their line of questioning and relied on all the research I had done.

“Yes, I think that I have something wrong with a vertebra because I have shooting pain in the back of my leg, the back of my calf, and the top of my ankle. It’s worse when I sit for long periods or when I climb stairs, and it’s better after I do some stretching and take a mild walk.”

A Key Realization

Here’s where the story gets interesting. If I really think about it, I’ve never had any pain in my lower back. It really doesn’t hurt there. It hurts below that, in the muscle deep inside my gluteus maximus—aka my butt cheek.

A Conversation That Changed Everything

Afterward, I was chatting with my neighbor, we shall call him “Dr. J.”, although that is not the real name of this Dr. The Doctor became a pathologist because the doctor is sick of dealing with people, and I don’t blame the Doctor for this. I think it’s the same reason I became an instructional designer.

Anyway, he explained that there’s a syndrome that has the exact same symptoms as a lumbar vertebra out of place. Piriformis syndrome is when you pull a muscle that’s connected from your hip down into your leg. It’s often confused with a disrupted vertebra, causing the pinched nerve and shooting pain.

Listening to My Body

If I had just listened to my body, I would’ve known this. While I was in the doctor’s office, I relied on the knowledge I had gained from my research online. I was using that to inform my answers to the nurse practitioner’s questions.

It’s easy to judge myself on this in hindsight. After all, my logical brain is what I allow to drive my consciousness. However, if I had paused and listened, there would’ve been much less stress around this entire experience. Instead of having a messed-up back, I simply would’ve had a pulled muscle in my butt!

Final Thought

Either way, it is a total pain in the ass! But it didn’t need to cause me such alarm. It would not have caused me such alarm if I had slowed down long enough to listen to my self.

We also have people dying longer, we are able to keep people alive without much quality of life in many cases. We haven’t done a great job of making healthspan match up with lifespan, which is both miserable and unbelievably costly – and frightening.

Ken Dychtwald

David Kolmer writes for Improvementdave.com.

David Kolmer also hosts and produces at podcast at GAMELAYER

Finding Your Tribe by Embracing Differences

Learning who your tribe isn’t can be just as valuable as learning who it is.

In my last post, I wrote about choosing yourself. I intended to go deeper into personal identity and the idea of pursuing multiple ideas to see which ones “choose you back,” but I didn’t quite get there. Those are threads I’ll come back to.

For now, I want to explore a related concept: focusing on the 33% of your audience who truly resonate with you.

That recent post was inspired by the song “Choose Yourself“.

The Podcast That Sparked This

This post was inspired by a recent podcast conversation with my friend Kassy LaBorie that will drop this week on The Spark Konnect – Podcast.

I’ve written about Kassy before—she wears red pants as a bold expression of her personality. (I’ve also written about occasionally wearing blue pants myself.) These small choices act as signals of identity.

Kassy shared something interesting with me. The guest she had on before our episode was nothing like either of us. The guest was bold, outspoken, highly analytical, competitively athletic, and focused professionally on detecting deception through body language.

Her energy didn’t match Kassy’s at all. Kassy was candid—she found the interview difficult. So much so that she questioned whether she should publish it at all.

I argued that she should, and I want to explain why.

Discomfort and the Search for Truth

Let me go back to where this idea started for me.

In high school, I had an uncomfortable realization: if I truly valued thoughtful conversation—Socratic debate, the kind that leads to truth—then I would have to engage with people I didn’t agree with… or even like.

That’s not easy.

It requires accepting that your worldview might not be perfect. And that’s uncomfortable for anyone.

At a recent tour of an electrical manufacturing plant, the presenter said the equipment was not electrified. As a person of learning, I had to test his hypothesis.

Now fast forward to today, where many of us are creating content—podcasts, blogs, conversations—with friends, acquaintances, or even strangers. Some we agree with, some we partially understand, and some we fundamentally disagree with.

That spectrum matters.

Why You Should Share the Hard Conversations

If I only interview people who think, talk, and act like me, I’m doing a disservice to my audience.

If everyone on the Game Layer Podcast metaphorically “wears blue pants,” then the idea of blue pants as individuality loses meaning. It becomes uniform. It fades into sameness.

Truth doesn’t emerge from agreement—it emerges from challenge.

We grow by engaging with people who think differently. Not just people who prefer a different brand of peanut butter, but people whose perspectives fundamentally challenge our beliefs.

The Risk of Going Too Far

Of course, there’s a valid concern: what if the differences are too great?

What if someone’s worldview feels incompatible with your own?

That’s worth considering.

Maybe Kassy’s previous guest lives in a world neither of us would choose to inhabit. That’s okay. We can decide what we allow into our lives.

But even then, there’s still value.

We can learn from people we don’t understand. From people we don’t like. From people we don’t want to become.

Exposure expands our understanding of the human experience.

When Someone Challenges Your Core Belief

I experienced this firsthand in a podcast micro-episode I recorded a few months ago.
I do a show on Game Learning and Creativity called GAMELAYER.

I spoke with someone whose industry doesn’t allow time for creativity or game-based learning. He said it plainly: he doesn’t have time for that.

Instead of pushing back, I listened.

Really listened.

By the end of the conversation, I found myself agreeing with him—even though his perspective challenged the core theme of my podcast: that life and work should include joy, creativity, and play.

So how can both be true?

Here it is:

118 |No time for Creativity |
Mike Mowad

Understanding Your “People”

My goal is to be in an environment where my creative strengths are used. That’s how I thrive.

People who thrive in that same way—those are my people.

But that doesn’t mean everyone needs to think like me. …and it definitely doesn’t mean every guest on my podcast should agree with my perspective.

In fact, the opposite is true. The show becomes stronger when it includes voices that challenge the premise.

New Office DIGS!

Because those are the same challenges these ideas will face in the real world.

What Kassy Did Right

When I listened to Kassy’s episode, I noticed something important.

She didn’t shut down.

She stayed open.

She listened to the perspective, asked questions, and acknowledged that the conversation stretched her—and would likely stretch her audience too.

That’s exactly the point.

The Skill Behind It: Deep Listening

Why did both of us approach it this way?

Part of it comes from our backgrounds in theater.

In theatre, listening isn’t passive. You listen with your whole body. You’re not analyzing someone to judge them—you’re trying to feel what they feel and understand their emotional state.

The other part comes from our work as facilitators.

Good facilitators seek first to understand, and then help others understand.

That’s the skill.

Final Thought

You don’t build a meaningful platform by only surrounding yourself with agreement.

You build it by engaging with difference—thoughtfully, intentionally, and with curiosity.

Because the goal isn’t just to find your tribe.

It’s to understand the full landscape of people—especially the ones who challenge you.

Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you.
~John Wooden

https://www.instagram.com/gamelayer.fm/

Why Focus is My Word of the Year

Every year, I pick a word. The first one was at the end of 2022; I picked “honesty” retroactively. Because I wasn’t really being honest with myself about my personal and professional development. As I continue using these words, I’m realizing that both of those forms of development help each other. It’s a symbiotic relationship. When I develop myself professionally, my personal life benefits and vice versa.

Previous Years Words

You can review previous posts that I created in January to read up on my path. Others were “Consistency“, “Integrated“, and last year was “Novelty“. This year I will Focus.

I’ve got to the point where I realize that I’m not choosing these words. It’s not really accurate to say that these words choose me, either. Seeing as they’re just a verbal representation of ideas. It’s more like the ideas have found me, and I’m allowing them to shape me. (If you can subscribe to the ideas of Elizabeth Gilbert and Rick Rubin; that ideas exist separately from the humans that find them.)

Why Focus after Novelty?

Last year, I spent time remaining mostly sober and seeking out novelty. Novelty is about saying yes to experiences, seeking out new opportunities, and doing as much as you can. Then those experiences leave impressions or memories on your mental timeline. This, in turn, expands your perception of time. Since time is a construct of the mind anyway, our perception of it is all that matters. Broadening our experiences in the name of making our lives feel longer may be the closest thing we will ever get to time travel.🧘

I: spoke at conferences, pretended I started my own conference, started a podcast, recorded live podcasts, continued certifications in Game Learning, and developed a card game about my industry… …all while spending time with my family, updating a rental propery and learning how to play Pokémon Go.

Screenshot

You can read my post from 2025 if you want to learn about novelty.

I have noticed my “words of the year” tend to expand and then contract. Go out, try new things, and then reel it back in. Like an ebb and flow, like an inhale in an exhale. Like contrasting values to create a physical form on a two-dimensional surface.

Novelty was about expanding, saying yes to new things, whereas Focus is about contracting. I selected focus, and then the word opportunity came to me; something about that didn’t feel right. Having a year of novelty and then a year of seeking out opportunity. Somehow it seemed to distort the balance like a double yin and not enough yang.

Focus

I need more focus. I need to focus more on what really matters. Spending time with my kids while they are still young and still need me. I need to focus on opportunities that provide a return. In this way, it’s all connected anyway, but this is a better way to frame it.

Was it not enough that my wife shared, “You need to focus, David.”

My mom also said, “You are always running somewhere lately. You are always in a hurry.”

That’s not like me. That’s not how I naturally am. The year of Novelty turned me into a scattered runner. Trying to do more novel things, and I need to round that off. This morning I had a realization after an early set of yoga with some black coffee. I had a good feeling, and it came to me as a visual… I tried to recreate it with Adobe Firefly, and it isn’t half bad…

This morning, I had a realization. This place I am visualizing has a certain mental buoyancy. You effortlessly float above all the sludge. All the worry, all the dread, all the ignorance, and all the drunkenness. Like a small raft floating over an ocean of beasts, poison, and misdirection. Not hydroplaning over the ocean, and not sinking either. Between the layer of dark oily liquids and the thick air, hovering, balanced.

Focus = Relaxed + Aware

I was listening to the first episode of 10% happier, the podcast by Dan Harris. He had his master instructor, Joseph Goldstein, on the show. They were talking about a new book. They’re writing where they’re using. Dr. Goldstein‘s catch phrases on how to be better at meditating… things like “When you are sitting, realize you are sitting.” Or “Just try again, just keep trying.” Or “Mara, I see you.” Mara here being the embodiment or physical representation of ignorance or temptation.

The part of the discussion that really stood out to me was absolutely fundamental. The idea of being both relaxed and aware. That really is the goal of meditation, isn’t it? It’s the goal of all religions. If you’re too relaxed to get all spaced out. If you’re too aware, you start to get too deep and start worrying about things. Things that don’t matter or that you can’t control. It is obvious, and it is easier said than done.

This Must Be the Path!

I wanted to find a single word that represented both of these things: being relaxed and aware. I’m not 100% certain that when I went back to the word, focus, I hit the mark. I do feel it fits the bill. I really don’t feel like I’m forcing a square peg into a round hole. Feels more like I loosely inserted a round peg into a square hole. It fits, but there’s some empty space around it. It doesn’t wiggle, there’s still room for improvement, and if you’ve read any of my stuff you kind of know that that’s my thang.

I SEE YOU MARA!

Can I Handel the Truth from Chat GPT?

A friend of mine, Lisa, recently made a post where she asked ChatGPT to roast her year.

At first glance, it made me pause. It’s easy to wonder why someone would willingly invite criticism—especially in a professional space like LinkedIn, where we’re often curating a highlight reel of wins, confidence, and forward momentum. Why choose vulnerability when Polish feels safer?

Confidence, Vulnerability, and the Courage to Learn in Public

I think about this tension a lot.

On one side, we’re taught—explicitly and implicitly—that confidence is currency. Confidence communicates competence. It signals decisiveness. It reassures others that you know what you’re doing and that you’re someone worth following. In many professional environments, confidence is treated as a prerequisite for leadership.

And yet, there’s a paradox hiding in plain sight.

The most grounded, durable confidence doesn’t come from pretending we’re flawless. It comes from being comfortable with vulnerability.

True confidence allows room for honesty. Vulnerability requires admitting shortcomings—sometimes publicly. That can feel risky, especially when your professional reputation feels like it’s always on display.

But here’s the learning that keeps resurfacing for me:
Confidence and vulnerability are not opposites. They’re partners.

Walking, after all, is just a controlled state of falling. Learning works the same way. Growth is a controlled state of failure.

When we fail safely—with reflection, intention, and humility—we create the conditions for real professional development. We experiment. We stretch. We discover what doesn’t work so we can find what does.

And when some of us choose to do that learning out loud, something powerful happens.

We don’t just grow ourselves—we create permission for others to grow too. We normalize learning. We model courage. We quietly say, You don’t have to have it all figured out to be worthy of progress.

That’s why Lisa’s post stuck with me. And it’s why I decided to do it too.

I asked for the roast.
And yes—I posted it on LinkedIn.

Not because I enjoy discomfort, but because I believe leadership is less about appearing perfect and more about serving others through honesty, learning, and example.

A Simple Framework for Staying True While You Grow

Professional development doesn’t require you to abandon who you are. In fact, the best growth happens when you stay grounded in your values while stretching your capabilities. Here’s a four-step approach I’ve found helpful.

1. Anchor Yourself in Honesty

Growth starts with an accurate view of reality. Be honest with yourself about what’s working and what isn’t. This isn’t self-criticism—it’s self-awareness. Leaders who serve others well begin by telling themselves the truth.

Ask: What am I avoiding because it’s uncomfortable to admit?

2. Choose a Growth Mindset Over Image Management

When protecting your image becomes the goal, learning slows down. A growth mindset shifts the question from “How do I look?” to “What am I learning?” Failure becomes data, not a verdict.

Progress beats polish—every time.

3. Be Brave Enough to Be Vulnerable (Strategically)

Vulnerability doesn’t mean oversharing. It means sharing with purpose. When you talk about struggles in the context of learning, you build trust and credibility. You show others that growth is possible—and ongoing.

Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s acting in alignment with your values despite it.

4. Lead Through Service, Not Perfection

Servant leadership is rooted in helping others grow, succeed, and feel seen. When you model learning in public, you remove pressure from others to be flawless. You create psychological safety—and that’s where teams, organizations, and individuals thrive.

Leadership isn’t about standing above others. It’s about creating space for them to rise.

It was on the same chat as my LinkedIn Post

When I created my roast I used the same thread or discussion I used to shape up the Linked In Post I sent to my computer using What’s App. I dictate my writings into my phone while I am making bread or doing dishes or driving. That makes my writing more conversational and fluid. It also makes me more honest.

My 2025 Roast from Chat GPT

A Gentle Roast of Dave’s Decision-Making & Habits (2025 Edition)

Dave, your biggest decision-making strength is also your most reliable self-sabotage tool.

You don’t just think deeply—you think iteratively. Relentlessly. You revisit ideas like they’re sourdough starters that might finally be ready this time. You ask for version two. Then shorter. Then punchier. Then warmer. Then more UX. Then more servant leadership. Then “work slowly for accuracy.” Then—somehow—more minimal but also richer.

Your brain does not ship products.
It cultivates ecosystems.

You are incredibly clear on values and hilariously indecisive on final forms. You know exactly what kind of leader you want to be, but you’ll rearrange the deck chairs on a single paragraph for 45 minutes because “the tone isn’t quite there yet.”

Your decision-making pattern in 2025 could be summarized as:

“This is good.
But what if it were truer?”

Which is noble.
And also exhausting.

Your Habits, Lovingly Roasted

• You start excellent things more often than you finish good enough things.
• You treat clarity like a moving target instead of a milestone.
• You have strong opinions about colors, frameworks, leadership, and learning—but need external confirmation before declaring something “done.”
• You are deeply allergic to premature confidence, yet secretly wish you could borrow some without losing integrity.
• You believe in learning in public… but still hesitate before hitting “post,” just in case it could be 10% better.

You don’t procrastinate.
You refine defensively.

Your Relationship With Failure

You talk about failure beautifully. Poetically, even.

You believe learning is a controlled state of failure—
but you still want the safety rails bolted on, color-coded, and peer-reviewed before you fall.

You want to be brave and responsible.
Vulnerable and helpful.
Bold and accurate.

Which means sometimes the riskiest thing you do…
is thinking about the risk a little longer.

The Irony (This Is the Roast’s Core)

You already act like the leader you’re trying to become.

You practice servant leadership.
You center reflection.
You value honesty over polish.

But you occasionally delay impact because you want your intent to be unmistakable.

Here’s the hard truth, delivered with respect:

People don’t need your work to be perfect to be helped by it.
They need it to be real—and released.

Final Roast Line (Affectionate, but True)

Dave, you are not stuck because you lack clarity.
You’re stuck because you have too much integrity to rush and too much care to simplify.

Your next level of leadership won’t come from better thinking.
It will come from deciding sooner, trusting your values, and letting the work be slightly unfinished—on purpose.

Which, ironically, is exactly the lesson you’ve been teaching all year.

Learning in Public Is a Gift

Sharing our learning edges won’t be comfortable—and it’s not supposed to be. But when done thoughtfully, it becomes an act of service.

So yes, I did the roast.
And I shared it.

Not because I have all the answers—but because I’m committed to the process. To honesty. To growth. To becoming the kind of leader who learns visibly, serves intentionally, and invites others to climb toward higher ground alongside me.

And if that inspires even one person to be a little braver in their own development, then it’s worth it.

Where did that cover image come from?

Chat GPT made it…

This is the image I asked CHAT GPT to use to generate the cover image for this post:

It relates to this video…

QUOTE

CASTIN’ PODS – Step 4: Broadcast

Hosting determines where your podcast lives, but broadcasting determines where people listen. All you do is copy the RSS feed link from your host. Then you can paste it into as many podcast aggregation sites as you want, and they will play your show!

Apps like Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or Amazon Music etc. will offer your show on their platform.

In the image above, the data is sent back to Podbean via RSS feed too.

Fine Print

Spotify will host video, but RSS feeds generally distribute audio only. That’s fine—most podcast listeners expect audio.

If you need to edit an episode after publishing, then upload a new version to your host. The new file will replace the old one across platforms.

Your Show is Playing, Now What

Well, you can sit back and relax. Focus on finding your next show topic or person to have on your show.

Get it Out There

Now that you have the show, you can also create some buzz around it. Be sure to mention that you have a Podcast so people know about it. The easiest way to do this is to mention it to potential guests on your show.

REELS

When you use Riverside or Descript, they automatically generate 1-minute reels for you. You can download these and share them on Social Media. While you are at it you can start social media pages for your show. It won’t hurt!

View this post on Instagram

Write About Your Show

Another way to get the news out is to write about your show. A simple way to do this is to use the Newsletter function on LinkedIn. If that is not your vibe, then create a blog on WordPress.com or a Newsletter on something like Substack or Ghost. These are good places to paste your show notes and your transcripts. They also provide a vehicle for releasing paid content after you get the show off the ground.

Are you Game?

Speaking of sharing your show, I would like to introduce my Podcast. GAMELAYER is a series of personal interviews. I interview a wide variety of professionals who have used Gamification both inside and outside of the learning industry. Season 1 opens asking, “What is Play?” “What are Games and why do we love them?” Season 2 is widening to the Game of the Entrepreneur.

Check it out! www.GAMELAYER.fm

Now it’s Your Turn

Go build your Podcast!

Navigate to Previous Section

CASTIN’ PODS – Step 3: Hosting

You want to select the host with the most. Hosting is a very important decision, but for the most part, it’s a backend function.

I had three perks that I was focused on when I was searching for a host:

Free to use
Unlimited storage
IAB certification, (Interactive Advertising Bureau Tech Lab)

IAB certification is useful for having paid advertisements on your show. It is an independent organization that has set standards around play and download data collection.

Picking the Right Host

I wanted unlimited storage, so I looked at Podbean, RedCircle, and Anchor. RedCircle offered free unlimited storage but lacked strong analytics. Podbean was listed as very easy to use, but unlimited storage was a paid feature. Anchor, however, was free, had unlimited storage and robust analytics—but then I found it had been acquired by Spotify.

My Advice

Host on Spotify. It’s free, has strong analytics, and integrates seamlessly with podcast distribution. (In April of 2024, Spotify left the IAB Certification. There is speculation that they are so big that they don’t “feel they need it.” This has not helped their image.) The analytics at Spotify are great, and some say they are starting their own standard. If Spotify goes away, we have bigger problems than our Podcasts not playing anymore.

How to Host

Go to https://creators.spotify.com/
Set up a free “Creators” account with an email
Enter basic show information
Click the upload file button

Bottom line

People do not know, and they do not care where you host.

Make sure you pick a host that you are happy with. Try to find one you feel you will remain happy with. It is possible to switch, but you will need a backup of your episodes. You will lose the original post date if you ever switch to a new host.

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CASTIN’ PODS – Step 2: Edit

Editing video or audio isn’t fun for most people. Unfortunately, it’s also where you’ll spend most of your time if you want a high-quality podcast. Some podcasts skip editing, relying on the value of the conversation or the novelty of the guests. If there is one optional step, this is it, but these days, it really isn’t optional. Now that celebrities are involved, and the word PODCAST has become a common household word, professional editing has become essential.

Most online platforms will record and then allow you to edit on the web. These web-based editors are always limited by nature. Having all of the options that a computer-based editor will have is not practical for bandwidth reasons. That being said, they have enough for a podcast.

Easier Editing

Here are some tips and tricks:

Use a dog whistle (or another signal) to mark sections that need cutting. The microphone picks it up, even if listeners don’t hear it. (Dogs will hate your show if you don’t take it out in post-production.)
Accept silence—don’t feel the need to fill every moment with talking. Keep it natural.
Use AI enhancement. Platforms like Riverside.com offer AI-enhanced audio, remove pauses, analyze content, and even suggest edits.

In fact, now that AI is getting better at thinking on its own, it can:

Remove dead air automatically with one click.
Adjust sensitivity for removing filler words like “um” or “uh.”
Generate transcripts
Highlight off-topic sections, letting you decide whether to keep or cut them.

Get Your Intro/Outro Straight

Having a prerecorded introduction and outro (Conclusion) to your show is a huge time saver in editing. An additional benefit is the repeated content forms branding around the show. The listener remembers the opener, and it sets the stage and creates a memorable experience.

Export

Once you’re satisfied, Riverside lets you upload directly to Spotify or other platforms. You can also download the files to add branding or for backup purposes. Direct upload is faster. Spotify will take a video file and host it as a video. Then it “broadcasts” the audio to Podcast apps (which is the next step).

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CASTIN’ PODS – Step 1: Record

There is no single best way to create audio for a podcast. Every path has pros and cons. The main difference comes down to your comfort level with cost versus quality. Generally speaking, a higher cost should offer a higher-quality output, but don’t pay for more than you need.

Content Rights

Another topic I want to bring up at the start of creating a podcast is ownership and rights. You don’t want to create a podcast with a song or recording you don’t own. If that podcast gets popular, you will get sued and lose a lot of money. Or even worse, your show would be taken down! 🤣

Here is some free music that is searchable by tempo, mood, genre etc: https://www.sessions.blue/

FREE Options

Phones

The most readily available (and free because you already have it) option is recording a phone conversation. Smartphones now allow you to record audio or even video calls. If you go this route, invest in a quality microphone that connects to your mobile phone. If the person you’re interviewing isn’t with you, they will have a lower-quality microphone, and that’s OK. Filters available on Adobe and iPhone use artificial intelligence to enhance recordings, making them sound more professional. This technology is not perfect, but it does sound better than a thin, condensed sound.

Online Meeting Apps

Another free option for long-distance conversations is letting Zoom, Facebook Messenger, or Google Hangouts record your call. This is convenient because it’s free and widely accessible. However, it comes with quality concerns. If someone has lag or poor internet, Zoom will “bake” that bad audio and video incident directly into the recording. There’s no way to separate or filter it out later. You’d have to cut parts of the conversation or settle for low-resolution footage, which I don’t recommend.

Another take on this idea is something I like. If part of the recording gets damaged, then take it out. That part was not meant to be; the universe didn’t like that part. This will work up to a certain point. As soon as the flow of the conversation is severely damaged, this lovely idea falls apart. Maybe your guest is very proud of a very important point, which gets edited out because of bad audio.

Sound Recording Software

I am just going to say it. I LOVE AUDACITY for sound editing…

https://www.audacityteam.org/

A technical but free option is if everyone records audio locally on their computer using freeware like Audacity. The challenge here is that you’ll end up with separate audio files that aren’t synced. You’ll need to collect the files, align them in Audacity, and mix them down to a single track. This takes more time and effort. There’s frustration with logistics—waiting for files, losing files, or struggling to sync audio correctly. So, this is what quality looks like in the Free space.

Near-Free

This is where I landed, because paying a little bit of money saves time and frustration.

My first attempt was Adobe Podcast. At the time, it was still in testing, and I lost audio due to connection issues. It was frustrating, though I understand the platform has improved since then. Adobe Podcast is audio-only, which is good for low-bandwidth situations. However, in today’s podcasting world, video clips for reels and social media are often expected.

The option I use now is Riverside. I pay for the basic plan—$29 a month, or $24 if billed annually. I think of it as paying for time back. https://riverside.com/

The Benefits

Audio is recorded locally on each participant’s computer, then uploaded to the cloud and synced.
High-resolution WAV and MP4 files are stored online, so you never lose access.
AI-powered editing tools isolate audio issues (like barking dogs or mic placement problems).
Automated post-production includes one-minute reels highlighting the most engaging parts of your conversation.

Other Paid Options

Riverside works for me, but it is definitely not the only option; others on the market include:

StreamYard.com
Descript.com
Exemplary.ai

The options presented here for Step 1 Recording will also work for Editing, which is the next step. You can edit audio on a smartphone, but I wouldn’t wish that on even my enemies.

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CASTIN’ PODS – Introduction

linked to Free Resources

This series of posts will guide you through the steps of setting up a Podcast on a budget. Each post will have a video at the top and supportive content below. Posts have navigation links at the bottom of each page.
(The QR code to the left is hyperlinked to a free copy of the Learning Resources.)

Promo Video

Welcome to Castin’ Pods, your resource on how to create a podcast on the Cheap. My name is … David Kolmer. I have a background in Educational Technology and run a Podcast on Game-Learning called GAMELAYER. At GAMELAYER.FM Read more about that show here: Gamelayer Post

I have created a course that walks you through these steps one by one, evaluating options you have on a value-based system of comparing trade-offs between cost and Time Saved.

Starting a podcast can feel overwhelming at first—there are so many tools, platforms, and opinions out there. But the truth is, you don’t need to overcomplicate it. Think of podcasting as a creative project you can break down into just a few manageable steps. Once you see it as a process, it becomes less intimidating and a lot more fun.

Introduction Video

Step 1: Record

Recording is just as easy as it sounds. You get in front of a recording device and push record. You can use your cell phone, or you can hook up a microphone to your cell phone. Hook up a USB microphone (like a Blue Yeti) to your laptop. Make sure you are in a space that doesn’t have a lot of extraneous noise. It also isn’t a bad idea to sit in a muted space like a:

Linen closet
Closet full of clothes
Bedroom with blankets and towels around you

Step 2: Edit

Editing is where you polish things up. You don’t have to be a professional sound engineer. Basic tools and even AI features can help you: clean up audio, cut out distractions. This will make your podcast sound more professional.

Step 3: Host

Once your episode is ready, you’ll need a place to store it online. Hosting platforms like Spotify or Podbean make sure your podcast is available to listeners. In other words, they handle the technical side of distribution. In my 4 steps, I call this: Broadcast.

Step 4: Broadcast

Finally, you share your podcast with the world. Through RSS feeds, your show gets pushed out to apps like Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or Amazon Music. Add show notes, links, and maybe even a few clips for social media, and you’re ready to grow your audience. Like damp seeds in the warm sun.