Why You Should Present at a Conference

Last month I presented for the first time at a conference. I presented at the Learn Conference that was held by my local ATD chapter in St. Louis, MO. I wrote this a week after presenting but it has taken me a month to process this and get this post to where I want it to be. I have narrowed this down to three main points:

Attend the Conference for free
Slightly Heightened Status
You Connect more to ideas and people

Why Present at Conferences?

What I Learned

I have recently developed an itch to present and wondered about how that would feel. I was anxious before the conference. During the conference, I was surprisingly relaxed and after the conference, I was relieved to be on the other side of it. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. It is not the presenting that wore me out though, it was the standing, the waiting, the meeting new people, and holding professional conversations to the best of my ability. Now that I have the first one in the bag and am relatively unscathed, I want to share my experience and the benefits I see around presenting at conferences.

Attend for Free

Let’s talk about the low-hanging fruit first. The main payment for speaking at a conference is that you get to attend that conference for free. I never really thought much about this because my company paid for any conference I attended (which I should add is a limited number per year.) Maybe this says something about how much I am willing to pay for my own personal and professional development. I prefer to take the perspective that I am a frugal person. There are plenty of ways for me to improve on my own. Be it, online, the library, the Libby app, linked in learning, (and let’s be honest, the largest LMS in the world, YouTube.)

The benefit is not necessarily that you can attend for free but that you can afford to attend more conferences. So, I don’t pay for the conferences I go to, but my company only sends me to so many per year because there is a budget. I can stretch that budget further if the entrance ticket and part of the food board are already paid for.

There is a hidden benefit I just learned about too. I applied to speak at Training Magazine’s Training Conference & Expo in Orlando in February 2025. I was not accepted but put on standby. Now I thought this meant rejected but after some conversations in my professional network I learned that “Standby is Good.” Not only do you still have a shot at presenting at the conference, but you get into the show at a discounted rate.

OK, so free stuff, that’s nice.

Slightly Heightened Status

I should start here by saying that I do NOT perceive myself as a person who is motivated by status. In fact I see people who crave status as the opposite of those who peruse quality of work or seek out the truth. So, I am not naturally motivated by status.

My friend Jazmin Webster (President Elect of ATD STL) let me keep the sign!

One thing I suppose I never really noticed or thought about was that people who present at conferences are sort of the bread and butter of the event. They are creating a draw for people to attend. I have to admit I always understood this on a logical level. However, after being a presenter at a conference I had a different perspective on the value presenters add. People walked up and thanked me for my efforts and there was a buzz in just that. Sure, an unnecessary boost to my ego, but also a healthy development of my sense of self-worth and overall confidence.

In the same way, I feel like I held myself up in a different way while at the conference. There must have been something different about the way I was moving through the space. I am going to make this point by picking on a new professional connection I have. Two years ago, I walked up to the Keynote Speaker at the same event, after she gave her message and said, “Hey, I really liked what you said.” She politely smiled and thanked me and then slightly turned away from me. It wasn’t her; it was me. I was approaching her, probably standing too close, and didn’t add anything to the conversation other than I liked her. Sort of creepy, weird, awkward, yes, and maybe verging on stalker.

Who was this mystery woman you ask? Well, Justine Froelker is a speaker and therapist who has made a name for herself both locally and nationally as a training facilitator, speaker, and author. Well, she also presented this year at the same event, and when I saw her I remembered that awkward time I went to compliment her and then found I had nothing to say. I walked up to her while she was quietly enjoying a salad alone at the vendor table ATD had provided her to market her services. I smiled and said hello and introduced myself. She asked if I was a presenter and then we started a real conversation about our lives. That’s my whole point. It’s not that I approached her and had something to say, it’s that she could smell it on me. I held myself like a presenter and somehow, she just knew. (I promise I didn’t say, Hey I’m Dave I’m a presenter.) You could argue that I have grown a lot in my personal and professional development simply by rebooting this Blog and pouring my soul into it, and you would be right. I would argue that more than that my identity was altered because I had been selected to present.

You End Up Connecting More

Connecting more dots
Connecting with more people

I have saved the best part about presenting at a conference for last. This was a selfish choice, I should have led with my best point, and the one that would benefit you the most. As I have written previously:

Write for Them:
How to Create Instructional Content That Resonates

So, I share that to simply point out that I am not afraid to break my own rules.

However, if you are still reading now you will learn about the best part of presenting at a conference. Having gotten up and presented in front of a crowd at the conference was a hit. It jazzed me up and gave me a strong buzz. I was in good spirits and overall, just in a great mood. This landed me in the growth mindset and when I attended other sessions, I was more vulnerable, more open, and more engaged.

For example, when I attended the amazing session on Gamifying business strategy by Caitlin Johnson from Bold-Bird Consulting. I spoke up in the session and shared personal information that I might not have shared if I was only an attendee.
In addition, I spoke with Caitlin after the day was over at the networking event hosted for presenters and we think that we might be able to collaborate at some point.

The reason this all sparked up was because what I shared about myself was a missing piece in her process. I am an explorer in her language, and the exploration factor is her weakest link and what she is leaning into now for personal growth. I am not saying I don’t learn anything at conferences I don’t present at. I do learn at those conferences. I think the difference is the baseline mindset. Will I continue to get more out of conferences even if I don’t present at them? Maybe. Or perhaps sometimes I will and sometimes I won’t. I don’t know. What I do know is that I am still relatively new to all this conference going considering my age. Why didn’t I go to these sooner? Why not quote the Talking Heads here and share:

“I’m touched by your pleas
I value these moments
We’re older than we realize
In someone’s eyes”

When I attended my first national conference in 2023 it was also my first time in Vegas. It made such am impact on me it revived this VLOG and got me on a new path. I had a breakthrough when I wrote this:

HONESTY

https://improvementdave.com/2022/11/23/honesty/

Honesty became my word for reflecting on 2022 year, and that is what lead me to choosing Consistency for 2023.

Consistency

https://improvementdave.com/2023/01/10/consistency/

As I said, it was my first time in Vegas, and I was good, I didn’t gamble, I didn’t get sleazy and I only drank alcohol that was free (#Principles)! DevLearn was a force of nature and the whole week can easily be summarized as over-stimulation. Cognitive overload doesn’t begin to describe what happened to me that week. I will share that I didn’t hold back either. I walked all the way from the southern tip of New Vegas up through the desert to New Vegas to see the Zappos building and the Neon Sign Museum, and I would like to curate a post just on that experience. …Yet, in all of that frenzied madness, I attended a session by Renee Boydo. I entered that training room and a calm came over me.

I met Boydo the night before at an impromptu dinner I saw on the conference app., she confided in me that she was terrified because she was presenting for the first time and she asked everyone at that table to go so she wouldn’t have to present to an empty room. The next day, I went, she was calm she was collected, and she stated referencing her work as a leader, “My thing is that I just keep saying ‘It will be alright. It will work out.’” She presented a smartphone app she developed with a third party to train school bus drivers. In the class she shared that she had never presented before, she was terrified, but then came her light that “it was going to be alright.”

Conclusion

I didn’t know it then, but Mrs. Boydo planted a seed during that session. She lit a light in me. I saw that she was throwing herself into unbridled improvement. She was forcing herself out of her comfort zone in the name of learning and in the name of sharing her insights with her community at large. I didn’t want to admit it, but I wanted to do that too. I wanted to be like her. Now, I am writing this so I can share it with her and tell her my version of the story, so I can thank her for that.

Then later I attended a session by this lady named Betty Danowitz on Podcasting. Well, that whole thing is definitely for another post. Long story short, I started listening to her podcast and then started chatting with her, and I ended up as a guest on the show. Then Betty and her friends who are now my friends pushed me to present at a conference. It was ✨Kassy LaBorie who said, you need to apply to speak at conferences, so I did. I am forever grateful to Kassy. Now there is no turning back.

Write for Them: How to Create Instructional Content That Resonates

Write So They Care

Hey, this is Dave. I am an Instructional Designer and learning experience advocate. I would like to discuss ways we as learning professionals can help learners on their journey. How Teachers, Corporate Training Facilitators, or Instructional Designers can “Get Out of the Way” of learners on their journey. This is not a new idea, but it is an important one.

Main Points

Use tools that help you stay in the learning game.
Write content that helps the reader improve on their own.
Sell your idea, don’t force it, Sell it!
Make the training about the real world, not academia or your world view

Serve the Reader

One way we can create instructional content that resonates with learners is to write better. Write simple statements that offer solutions and ideas that will help our learners. It sounds obvious when you say it, but somehow it helps to be reminded. In this article, I would like to pinpoint this concept, explore its meaning, and connect it to educational artifacts.

Expedited Audio Learning Tool

Here is an accidental win I had. Have you ever done a free trial of an app on your phone? Then you liked the app so much that you just never canceled it? It’s not something anyone would be proud of. I’ve had it happen at least once. OK, it was once because I do not spend money. It was the Headway app. This is not a paid advertisement for the Headway app… …but it should be!

( #Headway, #pleasesponsorme, #sponsorship #Iloveyou, #Iwillfightforyou.)

My favorite app, I mean Blankest is good but Headway is BOSS!

I love the Headway app. It condenses books to their essence and then reads that summary to you, it also provides you a text summary. In this way, you can listen to 4 or 5 books while you say, mow the lawn. (Which is normally what I do while using the app.) I have

Listened to condensed versions of books I have never heard of
listened to condensed versions of books I have already read twice
discovered books I want to read and then went out and read or listened to them.

The topics are wide ranging. I have relistened to the 7 Habits by Stephen Covey. I learned about the Japanese Aesthetic of silence and somber inaction. I have trained my subconscious mind to generate creative solutions. I have gotten better at not arguing with my family. You tell the app what your interests are. Then it amazes you with content you never knew existed. It also reminds you of content you love.

Nobody Cares About You

The most useful book that I listened to on Headway is called:

This book will teach you how to write better
by Neville Medhora.

Neville writes an amazing blog here: https://www.nevblog.com/

This book falls into the category of: This is a book I like so much. I went out and read the original book.

I love the message of this short book:

Write clear and concise messages that help other people.

It really doesn’t get any better than that. People don’t care about you, they care about themselves. People like to read about interesting or novel things that will help them. Even if you write a story about yourself, you should not stroke your ego. Don’t make the book all about how you are the most amazing human ever in the history of the world. The focus is on the reader, how can you help them? After all humility is sexy. People want to be with other people who are humble.

Summary of the book, that I wrote on my iPhone while mowing the lawn.

As I mentioned I use this app while mowing the lawn. (OK, I took breaks from driving the riding lawnmower while I took these notes. I did not write these while I was mowing.)

This book will teach you how to write better

Delivery is critical, be proactive in finding ways to help others.
Always write in casual copy.
Never write in technical explanation. *Unless designing technical documentation or technical training.
People care about themselves. people do not care about you. So write for them. Write things that help them.
People respond to what is: new, novel, or helpful.

Use the AIDA sales Model:

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

[End of the summary I wrote on my iPhone.]

So, we have a novice writer (yours truly). He is writing about being a better writer. He is also using a sales model to identify how to be a better educator. I want to drill down on the warning above about the tone of the writing. We should use casual copy to describe ideas to compose writing that is easy to read. Learning content should be straightforward. It should be easy to follow. It should use common words and not use complex language that the average person would not know.

This is because the reader (learner) will waste effort on figuring out what you mean. They will focus on looking up words or not really understanding instead of focusing on the message itself. In the Learning World, we discuss this using the phase, “Cognitive Load” but you already knew that… or you should have.

Definition of the A.I.D.A. sales model

Here is a definition of the AIDA sales model provided by Gemini AI from Google.com

The AIDA model is a marketing framework that describes the four stages a consumer goes through before making a purchase:

The acronym AIDA was developed by American businessman Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898 and has been in use ever since. Businesses can use the AIDA model to create effective sales pitches that resonate with prospects and turn them into customers by understanding and addressing each stage. For example, a salon might use the AIDA model to promote an opening by running a PR campaign before launch, offering free consultations, and hosting exclusive launch events.

[End of Gemini AI Summary from Google.com]

Oh, wow. Look at that AI writes really long sentences too.
Now I don’t feel as bad!

Wait, is This Sales? Am I on the Wrong Vlog?

How can Learning and Development professionals apply this model to our work? After all, this is a sales model of all things. I would like to lean on my memory of writings by Daniel Pink here. I am evoking his book “To Sell Is Human.” This book was suggested to me long ago by a colleague. They saw that I just didn’t get it. I was being naive and idealistic in my approach to work.

I was acting as if it was all about me. Yet, counterintuitively I was being aloof. Self-deprecating humor is very useful when you are a corporate training facilitator, but it can go too far. I was not speaking well of myself all the time. I was chronically breaking myself down with self-deprecating humor. This wasn’t just humility, I started to believe it. I hypnotized myself into thinking that I wasn’t good enough.

It’s not about me, it never is. It is about us, working together for a better way. We have to sell ourselves to the people around us all the time. We have to sell the ideas we write about in our learning artifacts. Sales is good, it is healthy. It isn’t inherently sleezy, as long as you are being honest. So, let me rewrite this summary with an L&D bend:

A.I.D.A. Learning Model

The AIDA Learning Model is not a real thing. I just made it up because this is my blog, and it just fits. A sales pitch is a perfect metaphor for well-written learning content.

It needs to be short and concise.
It needs to grab our attention.
It needs to tell us why we should care.
It needs to get us fired up to make a change.

If our learning content is not engaging learners in an experience. Then it is not a learning experience. Learners should feel encouraged to explore and think for themselves. Otherwise it might as well be compliance training on an LMS with a multiple-choice exam. That’s not learning, that is covering your legal ass-ets.

Another Short Book on Writing Better

I don’t think it is a coincidence that the other book I would like to mention here is also short. Writing better is about being concise. I already had a lot of classroom experience. I worked as a training facilitator at a call center in Bridgeton, MO. This experience was in front of audiences and classrooms. I didn’t have a lot of feedback (or feedback I was open to accepting) on my writing.

At one point, I had written an especially terrible email. One of the seasoned trainers handed me a small gray book. I will call him “Jim Simpson”, which is his real name. On the front, it said, ~~~ “The Little Gray Book” ~~~ Q. Wallace. I started reading it. It instantly pulled me in. It gave me ideas I implemented right away to improve the clarity of my writing. I can not recommend it enough to someone who wants to write better.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43292446-the-little-gray-book

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Gray-Book-Q-Wallace/dp/1503583910

Where do we go from here?

All aspects of our experience can help us better serve our learners. We better serve our learners and create learning content that truly connects with them. This happens when we give the best solution to potential problems. We should avoid just collecting cold facts or professing problems.

There is nothing wrong with using AI or ChatGPT and citing them accordingly. We should hesitate to send only what a search from these tools told us. These tools do not always write in the most straightforward tone. Nor do they always give the insider information we can get from partnering with an SME. If we share “real company culture” or “how they do it on the floor,” then we are helping the learners.

The learners will be more engaged. The more focused this solution is on their environment or job role the better this works. The more specific you can be on: what the solution IS the better the results. Share best practices. Explain how it works best. Provide tricks with “the system login”. Describe how it fails etc. The better the results. [This was the end of the post.]

The 100th Post: Unveiling the iSPEAK Project

Personal Reflection

When I started the blog I was getting my Master’s Degree in Instructional Design. It was from a smaller local liberal arts college. The college had a strong online program with a foundation in technology. Fontbonne is not the greatest college in the world. In a few years, it will sadly close its doors. I believe that is a sign of our Post-Covid 19 world. It is not an indicator of the quality of education the University provided. Still, it gave me a great education and I am forever grateful. Thank you Fontbonne U. for showing me how magical online learning can be when done correctly, and getting me started on this beautiful journey.

The 100th Post

The thought came on a whim. It was a boring day at work that was infinitely brightened by a call from a friend. A conference call with people who did what I did but on the next level. They had been trainers, they had been designers but now they had died and moved on to bigger things. Traveling the world to speak at conferences, starting their own business, becoming keynote speakers.

The keynote speaker bit really caught my attention. So when Kassy said you need a strong speaker reel to be a real speaker, I had an idea. A potion of an idea. A crazy Dave of the theater idea. The sort of idea you get from listening to WEEN rock out your whole life.

Influence of Ween on Dave

If you don’t know WEEN they are the strangest band you never heard of. Unbridled creativity and a sense of power that no other band seems to wield… and some drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. They have said themselves in interviews that most of their best songs were conceived just before recording. These songs were written and recorded in under an hour’s time. I believe that. It is easy to believe. It has always inspired me. The speed of production and creative freedom, not the drugs.

The thing about WEEN, is you were never sure what you were gonna get. Each album was its in a genre, not to mention a new universe.

Then in 2016, they got the band back together. In 2023 came to St. Louis while my brother was visiting from Japan… So we went. They were better than ever, it was amazing. What had changed was they had a new crowd in the audience. Before it was the art crowd. The weirdos from every town. Now it was remnants of the stinky neo-hippy crowd. It didn’t matter. I didn’t care They still sang out harder than anyone I have seen rock out.

So What?

OK, Yes. That was way too much back story on Ween. I hope you check them out if you don’t know about them. Fast forward, to the 100th post of Improvement Dave, in 2024! It somehow channeled some of that energy that WEEN brings to the table without even trying. There was some coffee involved, but not very much. When people read the post and watch the video, the next comment tends to be around partying or drugs. (Why I thought of WEEN! 😂) I should just take in stride.

It was a very liberating post to create. People have said they review the video to reduce stress. Besides who am I trying to impress at this point? I have a successful and fulfilling career. I have a loving wife and two beautiful children who completely love me. (Well, they are still young) I am building my real estate empire!… and Yet, I was stone-cold-sober when I recorded iSPEAK. The excitement of making the post revved me up. I got Punch-drunk on the muse.

Here is the point, the video landed me a speaking gig at a local conference!

iSPEAK

The post was written much later than the video. The video carries the post, and somehow people have already calling me the iSPEAK guy. It is OK, I like it. The whole project is true to my brand. Do something bold, do it for free, do not over-rehearsed, be brutally honest, and don’t take yourself too seriously.

If you want you can check out my 100th post here:

https://improvementdave.com/2024/08/08/ispeak-real-speakers-need-speaker-reels/

Upcoming Projects

This was a fun post, but the post is just the beginning. I am developing learning sessions about how to be a better designer. To be a champion for the learner. I have a working title of “Get Out of The Way!” a command to educators to make room for the learner in the learning event. To make it about the learner and their experience. If we do not make room for their journey, deep learning does not happen. The whole damn thing is in vain.

My first speak will be in St. Louis at the ATD St. Louis LEARN Conference:

Speaker Bios can be see on this page.

I tell myself I am excited about it. If I am being honest, I am terrified. I have anxiety from not building out the presentation completely. I also haven’t rehearsed as much as I should by now. The problem is, I will do just fine.

What’s Next?

I started writing this post less than thirty minutes ago and now I am going to publish it. I still need to find a cover image. This was a simple message to recognize that my promise to myself in 2023 was to be consistent. I have been consistent. Now I am working on being more integrated, to tie all of my selves together. I aim to be a more whole person. In many ways I see that working.

Moving forward, I hope to keep the creative spark alive. I want to do what WEEN did later in their career. Don’t record a song 20 minutes after you thought about. Get the idea and then build on it, develop it, cite sources, generate illustrative examples, and tell relevant examples. In the next post, which I have been working several weeks on, I hope to do just that. To have fun with it, but do better at delivering a message the reader can walk away with. To give the reader something they can use… Like a gift. A gift for Improvement.

Quote

Facts are the Opinions of Numbers

~ David Kolmer

iSPEAK | Real Speakers Need Speaker Reels

Real Speakers Speak to the Need to Need Speaker Reels

I recently learned from my friend, mentor, and famous person that I know (and admire) Kassy LaBorie, that if you want to speak at conferences and be a keynote speaker you need a “speaker reel”. So, I very professionally, (And quickly), Googled up what the #MATH a speaker reel was and saw some things.

A Smartphone Works

A Speaker Reel is short shots of you speaking from multiple angles and backgrounds. Ideally you should be presenting something that is on brand for your overall message…

Behold, I made a speaker reel within 1 hour of hearing about it for the first time. I am a Real Speaker, I speak.

VIDEO MUSIC: Ani Kuni – Polo & Pan CC

I attached my iPhone12 Mini to a standard camera tripod using an attachment I purchased on Amazon for ~$15 USD. I placed the camera pointing at the scene, started video record, and then walked into place. I edited out all of this extra footage in post production using TechSmith Camtasia, but iMovie or a version of Windows Movie Maker could have just as easily been used.

You don’t need to pay a million dollars for a speaker reel, just make it with your phone. Using a real microphone would be preferable to achieve a more favorable result. I did not do this here because I made this in a fit of passion to make a point.

Conclusion

This project had several iterations but overall it was created in about a day. I posted it on YouTube and linked it to Instagram and LinkedIn. There were about 30 views initially and it helped me land a speaking slot at the local ATD Learning conference in St. Louis, MO.

So, I would argue that this experiment worked. This supports the hypothesis that it is the idea that matters. It is the concept that is important, not the production quality or resolution. Having a high production value is important but that is second to having substance or a message. A mediocre idea can be propped up with high production values, but a stellar idea will shine on its own.

My First Speak

If you will be near St. Louis, MO come check out my SPEAK on Not Blocking the Learner Journey titled “Get Out of The Way!”

https://atdstl.org/event-5405435

#improvmentdave

Special Thanks to Mark Borreggine for copy editing on this post. You are a great support and a fantastic friend.

#ImprovementDave

Understanding ‘Beach’: A Symbol of Relaxation and Informality | Seeking Understanding of the Job Title ‘Beach’ and Its Symbolism

In a previous post, I declared I Can Beach, however, I did not delve deeply into what that means and left it up to your interpretation. I plan to dig deeper into what “Beach” means in this post.

Prologue

In 2023, Greta Gerwig directed a groundbreaking film about the push and pull between the patriarchy and a matriarchy. The film, Barbie, features the iconic doll and her rumored romantic partner, Ken. At best, he is a 2D accessory to Barbie.

Though the film is about Barbie, Ken takes a personal journey too. He has an identity crisis when he travels from Barbieland to the real world. At first, the real world is very different for Ken, and he soon realizes he can’t even “beach” anymore. This simple and yet abstract action that Ken partakes in, known as beach, is not a job title, it’s not a profession, and it might not even be a complete concept. However, there is a certain understanding that you can glean from the movie but is difficult to put into words. Let me tell you what I think it means to “beach”.

We can all BEACH.

My Beach is not Ken’s BEACH.

We all BEACH differently.
This is Improvement Dave, and… I beach.

For me, BEACH is three things:

Simple
Informal
Not Logic-Based

Listen to us discuss this topic, at length on the I’m Just Ken episode of the If You Ask Betty Podcast, here.

#1 Beach is Simple

Relaxed – The first step is to be relaxed. “Beach” is never forced, it is summoned.
Not complicated– Identify the next right thing and then do that. This will not lead to being overwhelmed this will lead to being on the right path with the least amount of mental delineation.
Simple does not mean stupid. Do not make bad decisions. Work slowly, think about it, and take the next best small step
In Thai, we say Sabaii Sabaii Dee “easy easy good” In many ways we could just say look at Thai culture, traditional Thai culture, and in that way, you can identify BEACH.

Beautiful aged Thailand old man sincerely smiling at camera on street food market. He offers fruits and vegetables to locals and tourists from biking cart. Local small business and traveling concept.

I lived in Northern Thailand for 7 lucky years. The Thai people smile all the time. There are 16 unique smiles in the Thai language. There is a sad smile. Thailand is called “The Land of Smiles”. Did you know that when you smile because you are happy, the scientifically measurable mental state is the equivalent of smiling when you are not happy, but then you become happy because you smiled? So, in other words, smiling all the time is a reverse-engineered way to just choose happiness. Now THAT is Beach!

#2 Beach is Informal

Not formal, also Not trashy, but quality
Relaxed fit, No slim fit, and Not super baggy
Good example: Trendy, but not expensive, Sandals from Nordstrom Rack Nordstrom rack. Not sandals from Bloomingdale and not the cheapest sandals at Walmart or Amazon.

So, I am using fashion as a metaphor in the bullets above. This is not about where you buy your clothes. However, if you search at Bloomingdales there is an inverse relationship of correlation with being BEACH. This is about how you present yourselves overall and can include a more informal thought process, posture, or style about you. If you will go there with me, we can call it “Chill Vibes“.

Speaking of Chill vibes, this song will take you to BEACH wherever you are.

Groove Armada broke the ceiling with this absolute chill Banger!

#3 …But wait, “I BEACH”… that doesn’t even make sense

Not making sense is a crucial step in the creative process.
If something doesn’t make sense now that doesn’t mean it won’t make sense in the future when you better understand it. After you nail it down and know what it is and what it isn’t.
Being bold and brave enough not to make sense is a way to innovate and try new things out.
This might lead you to a new solution that is better than what we have now.

Stop Making Sense – in 1984 the music group The Talking Heads did a tour called “Stop Making Sense” where David Byrne begged us to let go and stop making sense. It is arguably some of the best live recordings of stage rock/funk music ever compiled. In each song, the band adds a new band member.

Just Dot it. STOP MAKING SENSE.

Epilogue

BEACH ON! Before we get to the summary let’s watch the scene this is taken from.

@official.ra1
My job is just ….. beach lol #barbie #ken #barbiemovie
♬ original sound – RA10

In conclusion, the phrase “I Beach” is an illogical one, but that does not mean that we can not pull meaningful direction from it. That is the whole point of this point. Simply because something doesn’t make social sense does not mean it has no value.

Epilogue 2.0

Also, on the Podcast mentioned above, the Hostess with the Mostest, Betty Dannewitz admits that her favorite scene in the Barbie movie was right when Barbie and Ken traveled to the real world and some construction workers hit on Barie, so she explains that “Oh, we do not have Genetals.” …AND, since I BEACH, I made a cartoon out of it, and I hope you enjoy it!

Oh, yes I did!

Credits

The Betty Dannewitz did copy editing on this writing and suggested it to be a VLOG video, but I left it as a Blog post. (Mostly because I am behind and I have COVID-19.)

Song Credits taken from Wikipedia

“At the River” is a song released in 1997 by British duo Groove Armada.

Stop Making Sense is an independently produced 1984 American concert film featuring a live performance by the American rock band Talking Heads.^[5] The film was directed by Jonathan Demme and executive produced by Gary Kurfirst, the band’s longtime manager. The film was shot over four nights in December, 1983 at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre while Talking Heads were on tour promoting their 1983 album, Speaking in Tongues.

Overcoming Analysis Paralysis: Embracing Self-Care for Creativity and Integration

It has been months since I posted on this VLOG, and there were points last year when I posted daily. I had multiple ideas for April of 2024, and they are just sitting in their folders waiting to be developed. So, Now that it is near the end of June I am going to put together a post. It might not be my best post, but it will be honest. I believe I have started to struggle with why I created this Vlog. I have identified here that I have not focused on self-care and analysis paralysis has set in.

Strange man in black hood and gas mask on the background of mountains, around smoke, fog and radioactive fallout. Concept of environmental pollution, chemical disaster. Ecological catastrophe. AdobeStock_499292144

In April, a theme that played out almost across the board was Nuclear Radiation, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I am glad I paused to think about it and I really talk about it in the video below. So, the purpose of this post is around self-care. Identify what is holding you back or causing you analysis paralysis and call it out. Name it and talk about it.

ATD ICE 2024

Last month, I visited New Orleans, Louisiana for the first time. I attended the largest annual conference held by the Association for Talent Development. Luckily it jogged me out of the funk I was feeling about the “month of nuclear radiation”.

I do not know if there was a theme of self-care at the conference but I feel like there was. Maybe I think that because I noticed those messages because I needed them, but It seems like self-care is becoming more talked about as behavioral health becomes less stigmatized. I think this is great, and I keep telling myself I should meditate more or go to therapy, but instead I create videos at work, take care of my kids, rebuild bathrooms, and write on this blog… you know, live my life.

DEAR WORLD was at the event and “X” himself led multiple openings to keynote speakers, and short of Daniel Pink I think “X” did the best Keynote talks. He was honest, he was fresh and he had a clear purpose at the event. I ended up getting a “brain tattoo” and I am glad I did.
You can read about it on my LinkedIn post here:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kolmer_atd24-nola-dearworld-activity-7203856128756109312-vUWn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Video Synopsis

In this video, I speak to the fact that I have not posted in a while and I reflect on my apprehension to do so. I suffer from analysis paralysis and I bring up the irony that I have attended a few training sessions and listened to numerous podcasts on Imposter Syndrom created by my mentor/friend Betty Dannewitz. (She called me on a cell phone, and she said we are friends… it’s a thing.)

Supporting Video

In this vlog post, I talk about how April had a theme of radioactivity, and how nearly everything I did that month was related to nuclear radiation. I had the footage up front of the field trip and I put that video together separately because one of the students on the field trip is actually an Improvement Dave fan. I know it’s crazy, I have fans. I didn’t even know that.

https://youtu.be/YTz50beAqDg

Conclusion

This year I am focused on integration, and so far I am not sure I am doing a great job at it. I feel like the blog posts I have managed to create are long-winded, winding, tangled and disconnected. I feel like last year when my word for the year was Consistency I posted frequently and the posts were short, straight to the point, and therefore had a clear message. Or maybe I posted more so I was less focused on each specific post.

I recently shared this post (Close the Loop) with a new colleague and friend, ✨Kassy LaBorie. Her feedback was very telling. “David you are obviously intelligent, maybe a genius, but you need to make the message clear.” Well, I am paraphrasing, but that is the gist of what she said. (Thank you Kassy, you are a good friend.) She is right, I need to get back to why I started the blog, to talk about Instructional Design. ID work is about learning and the message needs to be clear. So, here it is.

The Point

I need to focus on simple outcomes. I need to get to the learning moment upfront of each post. So, if people only read the first paragraph they get the point. In this post, I did that. I went on and on supporting the “BIG IDEA” but I think I did less of that and all of what I said is pointing back to the idea that I need to focus on self-care because posting this was hard. I have suffered from analysis paralysis AGAIN. I fell back into my old rhythm. I can be integrated but I can not let go of consistency. It’s not one or the other it is both, and that’s the point.

I need to keep on stepping. I need to think less. I need to get out there.

I Can Beach

My word for 2024 is Integration, and I am applying this goal to all of my projects. In this post, I integrate my interests in Podcasting, gardening, home repair, painting, video design, and parenting into a single message on productivity and self-improvement.

Video

I can beach. I can solder. I can paint I can speak. I can tie it all together.

AI Summary

Monica is a free AI assistant that I have added to Google Chrome, and she so kindly offered to summarize my video.

💫 Summary Source

Improvement Dave wrote:

This video drives me closer to having a Podcaster tone of voice so the Video really drives this post. Also, in the post I share that I am slated to be a guest on the “If You Ask Betty” Podcast. This post is about me preparing my setup to arrive at that recording ready to roll. I had an issue recording on my current setup in 4K and then did not have an issue recording after I set my recording to 1080p.

The ways Monica caught my meaning and extrapolated the connections I inferred are amazing. I love how parts of the summary are inaccurate, for example, Monica stated that I will attend the “If You Ask Betty” Podcast and play the role of Ken.

Extended AI Summary

Detailed Summary for I Can Beach by Monica

00:04 Improvement Dave (David Kolmer) is excited to be on a podcast about the Barbie movie and is celebrating by throwing sand on his front yard to practice “beaching” like Ken.

David is a fan of the podcast “If You Ask Betty” and has listened to the Loki series multiple times.
He bought one ton of sand and plans to purchase another ton to create a backdrop on his front yard.
David’s wife is not impressed with the sand on the lawn, but he finds it fun and is practicing for his role as Ken in the podcast.

06:14 The speaker is working on fixing a pipe and plans to solder a new piece in place.

The sprinkler system is still in good condition.
The speaker purchased a piece of 1/2-inch pipe from Lowe’s.
They are using a husky cutter to cut out the old pipe.
The speaker plans to solder the new pipe in place using tinning flux and solder wire.

09:21 The video shows the process of using a torch to melt copper wire onto a snowboard, with some mishaps along the way.

The person lights up a torch to melt the copper wire onto the snowboard.
They accidentally melt the snowboard in the process.
They continue to apply the wire to the copper until it starts to discolor.
They notice steam coming out, indicating a problem with water in the line.
Despite some mishaps, they managed to successfully apply the liquid metal onto the painting.

12:28 The artist is experimenting with melted metal on a painting.

The artist didn’t initially want melted metal on the painting but decided to try it.
Some parts of the painting have liquid metal splatter.
The artist cleans off the discoloration on the painting with a wet rag.

15:35 The speaker discusses a plumbing issue that caused potential damage to their painting, but they were able to fix it by soldering a new piece of metal into the line above it.

The shut-off valve for the water was failing, which could have caused damage to the painting.
The speaker soldered a new piece of metal into the line above the painting to fix the issue.
Some silver tinning came off the painting while applying gel medium, causing concern.

[END MONICA AI CONTENT]

Beach Photos

I can Beach. I bought a ton of sand but I still need to purchase the second ton of sand after it stops raining all the time. I am strong, but there is no reason to shovel sand when it is wet a second time. That gets heavy!

Soldering Copper Water Pipe Photos

Here is a photograph of the old gate valve that stopped working last winter (2023), I simply shut it off and opened the bleeder valve planning to fix it in the spring (2024 / Now).

Here are two shots of the final product with the ball valve I installed in the video.
(I learned I should work on my home improvement instructional video skills.)

Abstract Painting Photos

I have been trying for a while now to find a way to create “A Painting that Moves“. I am still unsure if I have gotten there, but I am getting closer. I have a history of painting abstract waterfalls on flat canvas, but now I am creating a support to drop the paint down where the paint spills as the waterfall. The paint would spill off the support onto the plastic liner so now I am crafting a support that has a 90-degree angle so the “Spilage” can be captured into the final piece.

The excess or runoff pool is quickly becoming my favorite part of these “gravity paintings.” I am spending more time making sure the pool below looks right and adding more color and texture to draw the observer’s eye to that aspect of the painting. These paintings are breaking the 4th wall in a way because they are working into the 3rd dimension and that is exciting to me.

Front View

Top View

These paintings hang “Sideways”, if you want to see more about that I have a video on that here.

I have found an artistic outlet through painting for years now. I really started painting a lot in 2005, when I lived in Lampang Thailand, and broke my foot. I had nothing to do and was not able to get around very well, so I used painting to pass the time and perhaps it aided me in the healing process.

I don’t have a very strong online art presence, but I do have an Etsy shop and a Facebook Page.

KOLMER (FB)

dkolmer.etsy.com

“The reason to make art is to innovate and self-express, show something new, share what’s inside, and communicate your singular perspective.”
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

Building My Sound Booth

Sound Advice

Improvement is something that always sounds good up front. The concept is wonderful, you will end up with something better than what you started with…
Who wouldn’t want something better than what they already have?

The flip side is that nothing worth obtaining is easy to come by.
Value is determined by the scarcity of a resource or the difficulty of learning. Improvement without real work does not add real value.

This post started with a simple video I created about fixing an issue I was having with my new Scarlet 4i4 audio interface recording into only one ear, (which is still how the post ends.)

Basement Office

As I told this story it caused me to work backward into describing all the work I did to build the sound booth I put in my basement. So, to integrate the process I took my time and told more of the story. This increased the quality of this post and I hope it adds more value to the reader. The pictures of me building my sound booth included the work on the bathroom adjacent to the home office/sound booth/guest room, so I included that work because it is part of the same story.

As I worked backward from making iterations on my sound stage I realized I hadn’t shared all the work I did on that room to get it where it is today. So I developed this second video as a retro-montage. I cover the steps in this video in more detail in the rest of the Blog post below.

This video covers cutting cement with gas saws, adding an egress window, leveling the floor, adding a jetted tub, and finishing the project. Content on sound-proofing is below.

Adding Value

When I put in the muted office space in my basement I did three things:

I added an egress window.
I “soundproofed” the walls with Mineral Wool & decoupling pads.
Hung a suspended ceiling.

Egress Window

I could have saved some time hiring someone else to put in an egress window but I saved a lot of money leveraging the knowledge, skill, and power of my dad, Mike Kolmer, and my friend (and CPA) Jon Carns.

This is what we had when we started:

I rented a gas-powered circular saw with a massive diamond-crusted blade and made cuts from inside and outside. Unfortunately, the cuts didn’t allow the block to fall outward so we had to knock it out with sledgehammers. Below is what we did ending with the updated egress window.

Why Add an Egress Window?

There are many benefits to adding an egress window into a basement, they are beauty, safety, and, income.

Beauty

It is very nice to have a big window in a basement room because it lets plenty of natural light into the room and makes it feel much less like a basement.

Safety

There is also the safety concern of a fire where people could escape from the window if there was a fire.

Income

This is related to the law around listing a room as a bedroom when renting or selling the property. If you have an egress window that meets local code requirements (a certain height from the floor, a big enough opening to crawl out of, and a certain size based on the size of the room,) then you can call it a bedroom! That will raise the monthly rent you can charge and or the selling price of the property.

What I learned…

…is that if I do this again I will pay more for a cement saw with a mount that cuts at a perfect 90-degree angle. They also have lasers on them, so I would also require that it has lasers, not because that is very important but because it is amazing.

Level the Playing Ground

After putting in the window I leveled the floor with some self-leveling cement. The first step is to paint down some primer rated for self-leveling cement. (Left below) Then mix the cement. (Center below) Lastly, pour and spread with a board. (Right, below)

Words cannot express how satisfying it was to pour very liquid cement
on the floor of my basement and strike it out to level the floor.

After the Egress window was in and I felt better about the dip in the floor, I hung some 10 mil sheet plastic as a moisture barrier with “liquid nails” industrial caulk.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kolmer David (@kolmer5)

Instagram post of my progress

The next step was to put up some stud walls with pine 2″X4″ lumber. I used pressure-treated lumber on the bottom board because those hold up to moisture better than the cheaper untreated boards I used for the studs and the top plate.

Sound-Proofed the Room

So, I am using the term sound-proofed lightly here. I merely dampened the sound entering and reverberating within the room. If I had “soundproofed” my office that would have cost several tens of thousands of dollars, but I will say that my office is quiet and mute, and there are still things I could do to reduce the noise floor of the space.

Rockwool Insulation and Wool Pads

I also filled the walls and ceiling with Rockwool insulation. This fiber made from minerals adds additional sound absorption.

If you look closely at the pictures on the right, above, I also added wool strips between the gypsum drywall sheets and the studs in the whole room, and across the hall on the wall in front of the HVAC. All this was done to make the room mute and dampen sounds from outside.

There are definitely more complicated and much more expensive ways to decouple the drywall from the wooden stud, however, these wool pads worked and I purchased them at a clearance price at Menards. Whenever I upgrade a house I always look for the option with a good value. It’s not the fanciest system, but it did the job well and cost me almost nothing to implement.

Then, after hanging the drywall over the studs we hung a suspended ceiling. Luckily my (then) 5-year-old son had experience with this. He had also wired a few houses by then, which was helpful.

Yes, I am joking, this was his first experience hanging suspended ceilings and wiring LED light fixtures, but it’s never too early to learn how to build sweat equity in real estate, especially in an owner-occupied property!

That brings us up to 2014, and a lot has happened in the room where I am currently sitting, writing this blog post. For starters, I work from home in this room.

Jetted Tub

We installed a jetted tub! So, this has nothing to do with building my sound booth, but the work happened alongside the sound booth work, so it ended up in the retro montage video I opened this post with. This addition was less substantial overall but it is something that I use all the time to unwind and relax.

I have used this tub to take hot Epsom Salt baths, but it has also come in handy for ice water baths for muscle recovery, and a fun bath for the kids!

How I am Improving My Sound Booth Today

Sound in One Ear Using Camo Studio Pro with Focusrite Scarlet 4i4

in the original Video, I shot for this post, I looked further into a complication with my sound setup. It took me quite a bit of time to solve this issue. I wasn’t sure which sound setting was causing my audio to record into only the left channel.

At first, I thought this issue was with the Focusrite Scarlet 4i4 digital sound input. So I was looking at the audio settings in the app interface for that device, and they were not fixing the issue. in the end, I discovered a setting in the Camo Studio application (which I’m using to implement my cell phone as an HD camera), that caused the single audio channel in the final recording.

In this video, you can see me explaining this issue in detail, and I start with how I solved this issue, then I include all of the tests I ran while I was trying to understand why I was having this error. I ended the video with a humorous project I completed for work where I had to quickly put together a video that had sound in only one channel. At the end of this video, the movement of my lips is not synced with the sound, and it is disorienting. Unfortunately, this video was already published to the members of our organization before I realized I had made this error. this clarifies why it was so vital for me to solve this opportunity. #CamoStudioPro #FocusriteScarlet4i4 #focusritescarlett #Focusrite #Scarlet4i4 #Camostudio

Conclusion

This year I am focused on integrating the separate parts of my life. I have many interests and often do not have enough time to allocate to all of them adequately. Integration has become about clearly identifying the things I like to do and spending more time on them, so I can do them well. My interests in sound design, video, learning content, real estate, art, landscaping, and spending time with my family have all contributed to the success of this sound stage that I have built. There will always be ways to make it even quieter and find better ways to increase the quality of my videos. I must not let the idea of those things that I still plan to do demotivate or distract me from things I am doing today.

Close the Loop

There are loops all around us. Cycles that gain power when they are closed loops. All of these loops are connected to other loops and if a loop is changed it has downstream effects. Life itself depends on these loops, and our lives are enriched when we identify these loops and make efforts to close them. A sentence that is only started does not carry a message, but a completed sentence can effectively transfer a thought from my brain into your brain.

Seeds and Butterfly Lifecycles

My mom started a hobby a long time ago of planting the milkweed plant that attracts Monarch butterflies. Every year she purchased more plants and planted them on the path in the backyard. After we had children, I started collecting the seeds of these plants. When I planted these seeds, I completed a loop and now have an endless supply of seeds that attract Monarch butterflies.

In turn, these plants support the procreation of Monarch butterflies and increase the number of these amazing creatures on our planet. This in turn increases the number of pollinating insects on our planet, which I should not have to tell you is a good thing.

Moving Dirt in the Real Universe

This will be like MINECRAFT but in the real world

Minecraft Prelude

My son loves Minecraft, just like most 8-year-olds in 2024. I had heard about the game but didn’t understand how great it was until I went back to school to study Instructional Design. The power of Minecraft is that no matter what mode you are in, be it creative or survival, the game is based on you creating items from raw materials.

The Threat of Death Creates a Loop

Creative mode is much more open and the options are endless, but as my son has shared with me, survival mode is more challenging and proves you know how to play the game. You can’t die in creative mode, but in survival mode, you can.

When your character dies and is born again in a game you have closed a loop. Without that loop, the game is less interesting and less challenging, and as my son explained playing in creative is less impressive. It is more impressive to see a player do something amazing in survival mode because it displays that they really know how to play the game.

Minecraft as More than a Game

Now, for the uninitiated who do not live around children or who have never entered the Minecraft world, I want to open this up a bit. Yes, Minecraft is a video game that can be played alone or socially online. Yes, you can play in survival mode where you have to gather all of your resources and can be killed by “mobs” (that is what you call enemies in the Minecraft Universe).

Here is the part you might not be aware of. The new generation watches others play Minecraft on YouTube more than they play the game themselves. My 5-year-old and 8-year-old know more about Minecraft than I knew about anything when I was that age. Creators are now using Modified versions of Minecraft to create Television Shows. When my daughter was 4 years old she said, “I like that show (Mikey and JJ), I like watching that more than Disney.” This was completely unprompted and it really caught my attention. I mean, better than Disney? really?

Yes, because it is interactive. The players in this show are doing things that the audience can do because the audience is made up of users! Instead of watching your older sister play the game, you can curate playlists on YouTube of your favorite designer crafting things that interest you.

The Metaverse Has Arrived

Many people think that the Metaverse is a string theory abstraction that only high-level mathematicians believe in. If you are thinking of the Metaverse proposed by comic books and action movies then those people are maybe right, possibly. There is, however, another way to perceive the metaverse, a way where it definitely exits, and that is the worlds that we create in online games. We often reserve statements about the metaverse to augmented reality (think Pokemon Go) or even virtual reality (see image below), but on-screen games can be included as well because they are worlds rendered in a virtual “3D” space.

Bust of Apollo equipped with VR headset. Metaverse concept with copy space. 3D rendering

The network of online worlds created by the Minecraft community alone is nearly unimaginable, and that is just on the Minecraft platform. (I tried looking this up but only found that a block in Minecraft is equivalent to a meter, so if you find this let me know!) As interesting as the metaverse is, it is not a place in the real world, and I do not want my kids to live in a mental space where all that they know and love is based on imaginary objects. When you close a loop in the metaverse it does not connect to a loop in the real world. This imaginary universe of unbridled creation and design is beautiful, and part of me wishes I had something like that instead of the locked-down side scrollers of the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). There is another part of me that is very glad I did not grow up in the age of Meta-connection.

Pre-Metaverse Games

SAO PAULO, SAO PAULO – BRAZIL – AUGUST 13, 2023: Old NES Nintendo video game, with two-button control Nintendo Entertainment System 1985, 80’s, joystick gamepad console Black Studio Background

I had Super Mario Bros., Metroid, and Megaman, and these were fun games, and they were hard games. It was their difficulty that made them compelling. When you died you didn’t just lose items and go back to the building, you had to start the game over. There was no save and this made the gaming experience different. Indeed, they were not connected to the internet so the term Metaverse might not apply to them.

What makes Minecraft compelling is not as much of the difficulty but the novelty of creation, the beauty of the design, and the sublime ways we can interact with these worlds almost seamlessly. I want my children to benefit from these mind-enhancing experiences, but I also want them to have a solid grasp of the real world. So, when I had a hands-on project in the back yard I told my son, “This will be like Minecraft, but in the real world.”

One way of looking at what I did here is that I was closing the loop. I connected the design ideas of Minecraft with playing with dirt in the backyard. They are very different in many ways, but one could argue that they are more similar than different. Closing the loop is about integrating all the aspects of our lives and effectively transferring skills from one part of ourselves to another. Digging in real dirt has different challenges than digging in the Minecraft Metaverse. You can’t dig straight down to solid bedrock in several minutes no matter what your shovel is made of. (Not even an enchanted diamond shovel will help you in the real world.)

The Moment I first Uttered “Close the Loop”

I was still digging around in the backyard, and my kids had completely lost interest because somehow digging real dirt is more difficult and less rewarding in terms of instant gratification than in Minecraft.

My first idea was to dig out the area of our backyard in the far back. We have a rough makeshift firepit that I threw together with blocks that I found digging around our various beds and gardens of our 1-acre lot. My plan was originally to dig out a half-circle from the berm right next to the fire pit so that people could effectively sit on all sides of the pit. (I soon realized that this plan would not work because I had the current make-shift pit on an easement and I don’t want a permanent firepit in a space where the sewer company may dig, but that is a story for another post.)

Where to Throw the Extra Dirt?

The original question was where should I place the dirt I have removed? The answer was to place the dirt on another part of the berm that stretches across the back property line of our yard to make a ramp that we could ride bikes on. This idea of taking dirt from one project and placing it in a way that benefits another project was to me “CLOSING THE LOOP”. Instead of placing the dirt where it did not benefit another project I was benefiting two projects with minimal additional work.

Fires of Wood

The fact that this project is for a fire pit offers another example of closing the loop. We purchased the house right next door to my parents, so between the two families, we have roughly 2 acres of land, with a LOT of trees. So there is a limited supply of good hardwood for our indoor fireplaces, but an almost endless supply of wood to burn.

This is why I cobbled together this rough fire pit, to burn off the extra wood. We could pay someone to haul away the wood, but instead, we burn the wood off ourselves. This gives us a nice place to sit in the backyard (and pretend we are camping), but it also gives us free fertilizer for the yard.

The ashes from the fire, also called “pot ash”, are very rich in phosphorus, which is a vital nutrient for the roots of all plants. So keeping the wood, burning it, and laying it in my yard completes that cycle, it closes the loop.

Carpe Diem Dicey Bones

The events of this post happened at the end of October of 2023. During that Halloween season, I went to the pop-up Halloween Spirit store and bought a lifesize skeleton to hang on the spiderweb in our front yard. I named this plastic replica “Dicey Bones”. The skeleton is a universal symbol of death.

This was October when I was gearing up for No Shave November.

Death is our final destination and death is the final loop we will close in our lives. We can choose to dwell on the negative aspects of our mortal existence, we can focus on how our days are numbered. Or we can celebrate the days we still have. We can seize the day, suck the sweet marrow out of life and live our lives to the fullest. To do that this year I am focusing on integration, I am closing as many loops as I can to integrate all of my selves into a single unified drive forward. As the Japanese say “Zen Roku Wosusogu” or Focus your energies. Less I fall victim to a non-eventful life. To laying on my death bead and thinking “I would feel content if I would have…”

Conclusion

So, to summarize, this post explores the concept of “closing loops” in various aspects of life, and how the closed loops benefit from other closed loops. Trying new things is great, but closing the loop is about completing tasks that you have already started. By recognizing and completing these loops, we enrich our lives and create meaningful connections. Through examples like planting milkweed to support butterflies, playing and integrating Minecraft concepts to enhance our understanding of design thinking, and repurposing dirt efficiently for simultaneous backyard projects, I have attempted to shed light on the interconnectedness of our actions and downstream effects. Embracing the concept of closing loops becomes a way to celebrate life, recall the importance of seizing the day, and integrate all aspects of ourselves.

Being Integrated

I am choosing a word for each year and this is my post for 2024.

The ending of 2022 was about Honesty, mostly with myself but also with other people.

Then 2023 was about Consistency. I spent the year building up the consistency in my visual brand, teaching myself to model in 3D, and posting what I learned while I learned it in a 30-day 3D Model Challenge. In August I consistently posted for St. Jude charity with my Push-Ups for St. Jude where I did 50 pushups a day and they were not always pretty, but I posted all the videos anyway and raised over $537 US. Then in September, I went cycling as frequently as I could and posted as many videos as I could for my Consistently Cycling More often in September 2023 series. I received feedback from my English-speaking friends from the UK that biking is not used for the act of cycling in proper English so as to not confuse my English friends and colleagues I changed the title of those halfway through, so the early ones have “Biking” in the title. That was not very consistent of me!

Sprinkled around the year I posted about my health journey and even summarized the whole thing in my final post of 2023 Consistently Well.

Throughout the year I learned a lot about consistency. About what it meant to post to my blog consistently. How to consistently show up for my kids and my family. The main thing I learned was that consistency was less about a 30-day challenge, or posting every day on a blog. Consistency was about finding my true self and being that authentic person all the time. It is funny how it just tied back to my first annual word of honesty in that way.

And at the end of 2024, I knew I wanted a word about being complete… Something about completing things, Completing the cycle, or Closing the Loop. However, the word complete itself implies too much desire to finish a specific task. It implied so much around the idea that things are not just complete the way they are, that I am not complete as I am. That is not where I wanted to take this discussion. So, later I came up with the word connection or connected and I liked that word. That is until I remembered we are building an intranet at work and probably calling it Connect or Connections, so I wondered if my subconscious had just picked up that language from that project, and wanted this project to be separate from that. …So, it was New Year’s Eve and I still didn’t have a word I liked.

Then on New Year’s Day, I did some YouTube Yoga with my wife. We like to practice 30-day Yoga challenges with Yoga with Yoga With Adriene. While doing yoga Adriene called out the word of being integrated. Having the movement, the breath, and the mind all integrated, and at once I knew that was my word for 2024.

May 2024 be my year of integration.

Integrated

Improving my process

Improving the equipment I use

Connecting with my family, friends, and colleagues on a deeper and more meaningful level

Connected

Connect with my craft, my interests, and my Dad by creating learning content around real estate and not only why you should get involved in it, but how you can get started.

Complete

Complete posts I started on in 2023 that I wasn’t ready to create. Posts that belonged in the year of integration, not the year of consistency. Posts about the process, about art, about creation.

Complete art:

“If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker. This isn’t because the other artist stole your idea, but because the idea’s time has come.”
― Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being