2024W29: Fierce Conversations Workshop in Zoom

Friends, I’m thrilled to share: after 17 years of facilitating Fierce Conversations workshops, I’m co-facilitating my very first one in Zoom!

Fierce Conversations — the book and the workshops — has shaped so much of my life the past 20 years. It’s how I’ve built a business I love. How I move through the world with excitement and confidence. How I’ve deepened all my relationships, especially the relationship I have with me!

This workshop is not limited to any single company — everyone is invited. It’s a complete experience at a sampler price. Happy to answer any questions here or 1-1.

And you’ll get to hear about Fierce through the experiences of my co-facilitators, Bill Weidacher and Brian Armstrong. We are ready to rock your world in the very best way with Fierce!!!

2024W28: Mermaids And Other Summer Fun

A couple months ago, probably on one of those sick days in May, when I took six naps a day and found myself occasionally awake, I fell deep into mermaid brain. The blues, purples, and silvers. The smooth textures of the insides of shells, and the rough textures of coral reefs. The enchantment of a deep sea world humans would never know. Now it’s July and I have a whole mermaid (snail mail) campaign nearly ready to go. This goes along with my 365 Notes project for the year. TBH the full mermaid suite is a lot of work and a lot of time, so I will need to figure out a smaller and more sustainable mini-ensemble. And all of these will go out before end of August, which to me is an official end to mermaid season LOL.

While I am glad to be off the road for a few weeks, getting things done around the house and home office, I’m just as busy. I have so much content to finish writing and producing, more admin and marketing work to support the workshops and courses I’m developing and delivering, and of course recharging the creative battery that gets it all done.

Also I am determined to binge watch The Bear, Season 3, before I accidentally read spoilers and get angry at the world for it, haha.

I’ve had two big revelations recently.

1. I have heard all year several things I have said (in some cases, ten or more years ago) that are now being published in popular books or otherwise said to me. In some cases it’s clear that I said a thing, someone heard it and internalized it so much that authorship got fuzzy, and now it’s coming back to me as someone else’s thought. In other cases, it’s not clear whether my saying something was original authorship, but it’s still annoying that an idea I developed years ago is now enjoying popularity being uttered by others who don’t even seem to have business models, lifestyles, and products that align with whatever their wise words are. All this to say: I keep thinking I need to wait till my thoughts are fully baked, but I don’t. Neither do you. So I plan to start sharing more wild and random thoughts here, even if I haven’t had “enough time” to process them fully.

2. I am at a point in my career where I might kick back and phone it in, but I don’t. I’m wired to keep pushing. And also, the people I work with and for are important enough to me to always do my best and try to be my best. But I am realizing that a lot of people at similar stages of their career do phone it in more often than not. It makes my work stand out even more, not just because of the quality, but also because of the effort, care, and purpose.

Anyone else feeling these things? And / or have you had any big revelations recently? Drop some thoughts in the comments if you wish, and let’s dissect them together.

2024W27: Don't Mean To Alarm You, But It's Q3

Crochet madness. With a rate of one 6” square a day, I’ll have a blanket in 2027.

My friends, we are halfway through the year. !!!!!!!

I’ve been taking stock of my 2024 goals. Here’s my typical process for midyear review:

1. What is each goal, and what is my current progress toward each goal?

2. How far behind am I, for the goals in which I am behind? Is it reasonable and does it otherwise make sense to raise the short-goals for the rest of the year, to “make up” for a deficit and get back on track?

3. How far ahead may I be? Does it make sense to lower these goals so I can make space for other activities.

4. What adjustments do I make to my goals for the second half of the year?

I struggle the most with #4, which is adjusting my daily schedule to accommodate changes in my focus. It always takes me longer than I want! But I usually get there after a month or so.

When I coach people on their goals, I find that most of the struggle with #1! Many of them don’t want to know the truth, so they put off looking at the reports or doing the math to see what reality is at this point in time. When they are able to do that, I find that a number of them who are behind on a goal are hesitant to adjust their Q3 goals up, thinking that market corrections (summer seems to be a more optimistic time for everyone, regardless of their business) will take care of any goals in which they are behind. Ultimately I wonder if it’s because they are afraid of #4, which is changing the daily routine. It’s not easy for many of us!

Here are a few real life examples. I am way behind on my 365 Notes project. I fell off that routine in April, when travel and project volume cranked up. I am about 70 notes behind! It’s a lot, but I can catch up. I have a “campaign” coming up that uses a lot of creative juice, so I’m confident I will make that deficit up over the next 3 months.

I also did not work out 3xweek for the entire months of May and June. I’m not entering a bodybuilding competition so there’s no sense increasing my workouts to “catch up.” However, I am playing a lot of mind games to get back to 3xweek workouts. I really don’t want to do them. lol

I’m on track for revenue, so I’ll stay on that track and pace for Q3.

I am definitely ahead on creative output. I picked up crochet again and am working on an afghan blanket (tho I needed another craft like I needed another hole in my head). I am relegating crochet to breaks and winding down before bed, and channeling illustration and writing to the aforementioned “campaign” that will feed the 365 Notes goal deficit.

That’s a lot of analysis. Better get back to work, haha. How are you doing with your goals? What’s ahead for you in the second half of the year?

2024W22: When Illness Strikes

I missed two weeks of posting — lots to catch you up on — but in the spirit of giving you “right now” info, I am about 10 days out from a bad bug. I tested negative for covid, but I came back from my last trip with something that did not want to let me go!

I’m so much better, with just a lingering runny nose and cough. This whole week is about getting back on track with life, starting with this blog.

Irritating things about being sick!

1. Living life one day out —figuring out from moment to moment what meeting I can or can’t handle; keeping the throat lozenges handy to stave off coughing fits; deciding a day ahead whether or not I’m still contagious and thus can’t attend a variety of Memorial Day events.

2. Thinking I’m getting better, only to have the virus retreat and level up into something to draw out the illness a few days longer.

3. My Apple Watch, insisting I “can do this! Just a brisk, 26-minute walk and” I can close my move ring! NO, I AM SICK SO LEAVE ME ALONE.

Sweet moments despite being sick:

1. Finally moving at the same speed all day as my elderly canine BFF. Taking lots of naps together, so his FOMO was at an all-time low.

2. My family cooking for me and making sure I was eating and resting.

3. Gratitude for the many more days I am well. Chronic illness is not a thing I want to trifle with.

I’ll catch you next week! Stay well, my friends.

2024W19: A Different Kind of Presentation

I spent the weekend in New Jersey for my dear friend Brenda’s memorial. Luckily, I was able to also catch up with other friends, including Kyle of Vacuuming the Lawn and general Princeton community fame. (She took the pic of me above, among shockingly bright azaleas.)

I don’t think I was purposely avoiding finishing the short talk I had been asked to give at the memorial, but I’d never written anything like this before. And even though I’d had about 3 months to work on it, all I had was an outline. Most of which I ended up scratching.

The morning of the memorial, I felt clear that:

• The point of the talk was not to say every single thing I wanted to say about this person. In fact, five minutes or less was probably a good time benchmark, so I had to be very focused.

• The fact I’d known this person for less time than anyone else in the room shouldn’t matter. My best addition would be to highlight was was special about her from my unique POV.

• One way to honor an entire life is to summarize her contribution to the world, through me.

I went with a structure based on “three lessons about friendship in the second half of life,” and it came out quick! I read it through once and made very few modifications, which is unusual for me. (How I write and how I talk can be so different.) In practice, it clocked in between 5-6 minutes depending on how quickly I could abate tears and get back on track.

I got to meet family and other friends Brenda had told me about over the years, and bonded with them over our mutual loss.

2024W18: Making A Living While Making My Life

I have random thoughts to share on a topic, also realizing that I didn’t post last Monday, so here is the Week 18 post of the year, 6 days late…

There’s a saying that we can get so caught up making living that we forget to make a life. I’ve been lucky to have been able to do both at the same time. I’ve been able to live comfortably and had the time and energy to nurture personal relationships that are so fulfilling.

But I sense something novel and electrifying happening this year, as I round the corner into a new decade: I’m engaged in activities that both make my living and imbue my life with such purpose and drive. I didn’t know this was coming, and I feel both wholly unprepared for the new velocity of life and entirely awestruck by the serendipitous arrangement of opportunities before me. I’m standing before life’s all-you-can-eat buffet, I haven’t eaten all day, and I have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

And with that, I bid you adieu until next week’s update comes out, tomorrow.

2024W17: Changing My Daily Routine

At the end of February, I came home from a trip and sprained my shoulder lugging my suitcase off the baggage carousel at the airport. It’s most likely because I haven’t really exercised since last fall… long story why, but obviously the result is not-very-intentional movement and decreased strength and being close to finishing another decade. Here we are.

Last week I started exercising again and remembered that three short workouts a week is a good rhythm for me; that Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday is better than Monday-Wednesday-Friday because I only have to schedule later meeting start times on two business days a week; and I need to take at least one long walk each week to stay in touch with subtle shifts of season and my changing neighborhood.

I’m also changing up my morning routine as a whole. I have written three pages every morning for about a year now, but in 2024 I’ve noticed I have no time or mental space to draw. So I’m skipping morning pages for now and instead drawing in my sketchbook each morning a series of little vignettes that document my thoughts and ideas. It allows me to listen to a podcast or watch a video while I am drawing — for some reason, I can’t do those things while writing.

Surprisingly (or not?) I experienced inspiration from the video I watched while drawing my morning, and developed it out throughout the day and actually published a finished product on Instagram. Unfortunately, I also procrastinated on replying to emails, so I seek balance of course.

AND I have decided to write and develop content for three hours each day that I work from home. I have ambitious plans for content development this year and I need more discipline around this. Also, I’m customizing a workshop for an event four weeks away. Typical me writes and edits until the day before an event, and then I try to cram in all the practice the night before and morning of. If I can get three hours a day in, I should complete the writing and practice well within two weeks. Which sounds amazing to me.

Wish me luck! These seem like they should be small changes, but they feel enormous. I wish you all a great week. <3

Inspiration and completion on the same day. Imagine that.

2024W16: Lessons from a Third Podcast

My podcast team (Louis) and I wrapped Season 1 of Instructor Notes podcast just over a week ago. In retrospect, I can’t believe we pulled it off (8 episodes in 9 weeks). But we did, and now we take a breath and a break.

We’ve had a few debrief conversations to gather our lessons learned. Here are a few of mine…

At-bats really do matter, and so do systems.

I knew from the prior two podcasts that the brain work of planning this new podcast would make all the difference in the world. We set up systems for file and asset management, and knowing the 3-part format of each episode minimized the “debugging” of systems once we started using them. When we recorded various interviews, solo audio, and co-hosting sessions out of order, the systems helped keep everything in the correct place, most of the time. And the systems helped us diagnose where we needed to improve our communication and workflow, and kept us on track. The planning phase is often difficult for me because I see the system arise but can’t yet see the end product at all. This experience reminds me that good planning is worth the investment.

Setting expectations is important for every member of the team.

Obviously I’m referring to my co-producer / sound engineer / audio editor. But also, every co-host and guest was flattered to participate and also at least a little uncertain — especially the early guests, who may not have had a completed episode to listen to yet. Creating brief but informative invitations, scheduling an orientation call before each recording session, and writing thorough and easy-to-scan follow-up documents were all an investment in each team members’ comfort and confidence. And it all paid off in the ease and richness of each conversation.

People are everything.

We were SO LUCKY to have people on the podcast who wanted to be involved. Everyone was willing to push past their uncertainty and take the risk of being involved in something new to them. Without the co-hosts, guests, and voice mail callers, we would not have had a season! The people involved were everything. This is true for the podcast and it is true in life. People first.

Rich content has a longer shelf life than we think.

It still feels weird to promote my projects, since I’m usually very spontaneous and casual about my social media presence. But with so many people pitching in to create each episode, it felt like a part of the thank-you to tag each person and thank them for their contribution in that public way. I was late with some promotional posts, and I dropped a couple of platforms when they seemed like a drag to use. The good news is: I can keep promoting every episode — I can promote each episode multiple times! The episodes are that good! And so I will continue to promote each episode, multiple times.

Take action, then take the next action. Let your confidence grow to match the action.

Although Instructor Notes is my third podcast, it is my first non-hobby podcast and so was a tiny bit intimidating to me. I have a lot to learn to be a great podcast interviewer. But while I see many areas of improvement, I am also proud of this small body of work and feel more confident about doing additional seasons of the podcast. In fact, I’m riding the wave of confidence right on into video content! Whole new ballgame, super brand new to me, and super intimidated.

But we are doing it anyway.

Join us over on YouTube — subscribe to get a notification when we go live. :)

2024W15: Eclipse Mania

A photo from my parents’ yard, just after eclipse totality today.

“Where were you during the 2024 eclipse?”

In my parents’ yard, staring up at a fully cloudy sky. I did see a partial eclipse through my paper glasses a few minutes before totality, for about 5 seconds before clouds obscured my view again. But it was cool anyway to catch that short glimpse, and then to watch the sky go super dark for a tiny bit in the middle of the afternoon. And my mother had made me a delicious lunch, so my stomach was happy before charging out to gaze at the clouds.

And then, it was back home and back to work.

Today’s eclipse, and the surrounding mania, were a reminder of life’s best lessons... You’re never guaranteed the best conditions for a once-in-a-lifetime event. Be physically prepared for the show, but be mentally prepared for not much to happen at all. Schools may call the day off, but you can just take an hour away from an otherwise normal workday to relax, enjoy your family and friends, eat a good meal, and then get right back to it.

I’ve got a lot to do: I’m traveling again soon, updating a IRL workshop for May, and plugging away constructing a very big / long duration virtual workshop this summer. I would have loved to take the day off, but I’ve had a decent number of balanced days lately and it is now buckle-down time.

Also, did I mention I’m starting a YouTube channel soon? Technically, the channel is live but there’s no content yet. Soon, though! Soon. Feel free to subscribe now so you will be notified when the video content starts dropping! Have a great week.

2024W14: Welcome Q2!

Q1 is over! No fooling there. I do a pretty good job of examining all of my ingrained habits, to make sure they still work for me. At the end of each quarter I feel a surge of unnameable anxiety… and I am asking myself this time if that’s for any good reason at all.

This is where I landed: Yes, a small amount of extra awareness is super helpful at the end of Q1. Not overwhelming anxiety, not a shame spiral, not self-flagellation. Just a bump of awareness, followed by commitment to insight. I started the year with enormous ambitions, specific projects and goals, and a one-year focus. This is a perfect time for me to take stock of my progress so far, and make some adjustments.

Celebrate

• This Friday, I’ll publish my 8th and final episode of season 1 of my new podcast, Instructor Notes.

• I’m on track to launch my YouTube channel before summer, which I think is the missing piece of my business’ social media landscape.

• I hosted gatherings at my house five times in Q1 and it was such a blessing to have more frequent contact with some of my friends and family.

• I have written morning pages every. single. day this year.

• Two unexpected opportunities have presented themselves to me, and I’m in the process of evaluating where and how they may fit. I hope they fit!

Needs Attention

• My social media use has fallen off. I think I have figured out how I want to use LinkedIn and Facebook though, so it won’t be too tough to try these modified approaches for the next quarter and see how they work. Weekly blogging was going well until it wasn’t, and I hope to find my footing in the next 3 months.

• My drawing has also tapered off. Hand lettering still OK. I’m super excited to be a patron of Drawn Together; and the two illustrators who lead it have been very helpful getting my brain and inspiration back on track.

• Decluttering has just stalled out completely. Maybe it wasn’t the best season.

Regrouping

1. I was overly eager to do all the things in the first three months of the year. I’ve been more realistic in spreading out the major projects through the remaining 9 months of the year.

2. There seem to be many lessons for me this year in trusting myself completely.

3. While I love annual planning, I wonder if I will benefit from less of a “new year, new me” approach and more of an ongoing evolution / revolution that recalibrates every quarter. It would make January of each year feel less like a grand adventure and more like “I planned this and soon it will be here.”

How about you? How was your Q1?

2024W12: Travel as an Experiment in Minimalism

I’ve always loved the fantasy of living a whole life in a hotel room. Me and my bare necessities in 400 sq ft of living space — what a rush! The minimalist mindset this fantasy inspired will probably last the rest of my life, but the practice started in adjusting my travel habits the past few years, even before the pandemic.

Today, I travel for most 3-4 day trips with one carry-on and one personal item, a large weekender type bag. The current keys to making this work, even in winter?

• If I can’t fly home the night after the work is complete, I wear the same outfit home that I wore flying out.

• Maximum pairs of shoes to pack are two: one dressier and one more comfy. And then there are the shoes I am wearing to travel as well.

• I’ll only pack extra undergarments — no more overpacking clothes!

• I use my personal item / weekender as my daily carry bag when I work. It’s larger than it needs to be for daily use, but it keeps me from having to pack an extra bag.

• I wear the same color neutral to travel as I do on work days. It used to be all black. For the last 4-5 years, it’s been all navy. This means even the clothes and accessories I travel in can be mixed and matched with the clothes I pack, if necessary.

All this is harder for me to do in winter, with thicker layers and more of them required. But summertime? No problem! How about you? Are you a minimalist packer or a maximalist packer? Or somewhere in between?

2024W11: Hacking Daylight Savings

In some future, we will stop honoring silly human inventions that ultimately don’t serve humanity! I’m looking at you, Daylight Savings Time!

Until then, here are my ultimate hacks (aka workarounds) for anyone who takes a while to adjust to Daylight Savings changes twice a year:

• Don’t fight it. Go with it. In springtime, push your earliest meeting back on the calendar by one hour for the week or two after Daylight Savings Time kicks in. Similarly in the fall, end your meetings one hour sooner at the end of each day.

• Give yourself a few days to wake up without an alarm, if you can. Just see how quickly you can adjust without forcing anything to happen. I adjust quicker in the spring than in the winter, but maybe that’s also because when the days go dark so early, they also get cold and I consume more sugar and carbs that make me extra tired LOL.

• Get out in the sunshine for a quick walk as soon as it’s light. Things reset quicker with the help of Mother Nature.

• It’s too late to do anything about it this year, but next spring, plan to go to bed earlier in the two weeks prior to Daylight Savings Time. I did this once and it was amazing how well it worked, combined with getting out for a quick walk each morning at sunrise.

Sadly, I don’t have any tips for hacking your pets’ adjustment to Daylight Savings, but if you have any, send them to me and my out-of-whack senior dog.

2024W10: On Community, And Leading From The Edge

I’ve always maintained that when we lead a workshop, we are leading people. Each workshop is a test of our ability to make a team from the folks who happen to be in the room, for each team member to contribute, and for all of us to grow from our work together. And maybe the end result, after 24 years of leading workshops, is that you find yourself having accidentally led a community, too.

This KWU AmBASSador Award was a huge surprise for someone who hasn’t been in the direct center of things for many years. I’m still documenting the lessons I am learning from this experience.

This year is full of creative output. Contrary to popular opinion, I usually have more curiosity, energy, and ambition than actual confidence about the programs, media, and other things I am putting out in the world right now. I guess I am learning that that is also leadership. That a community is watching, and probably waiting for someone else to move first and pave the way.

On that note, about Instructor Notes podcast… on Friday we published our fourth episode, which means we are halfway through our first season. It’s super gratifying to be part of creating something for us, the KW trainer community, with us. Even if you have not listened, please contribute to the community by calling in with a training question, maybe a training tip, a request for a future episode, whatever: 210-570-5858. It’s for us!!!

2024W9: A Last-Minute Week 9 Post

I wrote something and decided not to publish it. I’ve written this instead.

Some years ago, a KW associate started a great Facebook group for all KW associates to share their notes, which was perfect for those of us who suffer from FR FOMO. I was getting into sketch noting and shared my notes there, and I loved being able to read other people’s notes from the sessions I could not attend. It was a very active group! But during the pandemic, things in the FB group got messy and late last year it was mainly full of spam.

My first Week 9 post was a call to use that FB group, and link to it. But I’ve changed my mind, and changed the post. Because in retrospect, other ways of sharing notes have popped up in the past 5 years. And they seem to be meeting people’s needs better. We can get so caught up in forcing something that might organically have met its end.

So my lesson this week is: sometimes things we build have their season, and it’s OK to let them go when they are past their usefulness. File this one under my annual mantra “Bless and Release.”

KWFR24 Las Vegas Restaurant Recs from Trusted Locals

Did you know I went to high school in Las Vegas? And my parents lived there from that decade all the way until 2020. So I have contacts there. I know people… 🤨🥸🙃

And those people know local restaurants, both on and off the beaten path (the strip). If you’re also heading to Vegas for the KWFR24, here are links to restaurants less likely to be frequented by the other 10,000 convention-goers. Please note I have not personally eaten at any of these places, but people I know and trust have recommended them. Be sure to check the restaurant sites for info on reservations, to confirm address, etc.

Lamaii (Thai)

4480 Spring Mountain Road, Suite 700
Las Vegas NV 89102

Main St. Provisions (New American w seafood + steak)

1214 S. Main Street
Las Vegas NV 89104

Cleaver (Steak + seafood)

3900 Paradise Road, Ste. D1
Las Vegas NV 89169

Weera Thai (… Thai)

7337 Rainbow Blvd. Ste. 101
Las Vegas NV 89139

Sparrow + Wolf (New American)

4480 Spring Mountain Rd Ste 100
Las Vegas NV 89102

Al Solito Posto (Italian)

420 S Rampart Blvd
Las Vegas NV 89145

Elia Authentic Greek Taverna (Greek)

8615 W Sahara Ave
Las Vegas NV 89117

Graze Kitchen (Vegan comfort food)

7355 S Buffalo Dr Ste 2
Las Vegas NV 89113

Tarantino’s Vegan (… Vegan)

7960 S Rainbow Blvd Ste 8000G
Las Vegas NV 89139

2024W8: KW Family Reunion 2024

7 Pro Tips for a Festive Family Reunion

Keller Williams’ annual convention Family Reunion is an event like no other. It’s 3-4 days of constant motion, excitement, and good vibes. At the end of this month, I’ll attend my 24th Family Reunion and of course I have some ideas for how each of us can make it a stellar experience.

1. Treat your feet right

   If your body is able, the conference conditions will implore you to walk miles and miles each day. You’ll be in one breakout and get a text from someone to meet you someplace else in the convention center, which may be a 15-minute walk away. In the earlier years of FR, many of us decided fashion would win out over comfort, and we suffered and suffered. As the convention got more casual, our footwear got more comfortable, thankfully.

   Pack your most comfortable walking shoes and plan your clothing around them. If you are presenting and want to wear dress shoes that aren’t great walking shoes, bring them to change into before your 75 minutes of fame. Then switch back to walking shoes for the walking.

2. Pack and unpack mindfully each day

   There is a short list of items you want to have at the ready each morning, like your name badge. Makes sense if, at the end of each day, you put that name badge in the same place (near your hotel room door, with your hotel room key, maybe).

   (My short list includes name badge, hotel room key, water bottle, snacks, phone, iPad, writing implements, portable battery / charging cords, and a scarf / wrap. Make sure your list includes the things you know you will reach for every day you’re there.)

   Give yourself that extra couple of minutes to make sure everything gets put away in its rightful place. Future you will thank you.

3. Travel light at the convention center

   It’s tempting to want to pack everything you think you will need. Chances are you won’t use half of it, and you will get tired lugging it around the convention center. Plus, many times we need to go through a security and bag check on our way into the convention, and bringing more stuff means stopping for longer to get checked in.

   Keep your on-site gear simple and minimalist. I don’t carry a separate purse / handbag at KWFR — just one bag keeps it all.

4. Keep a running list of a-ha’s

   You are going to hear so much good stuff at this event! You will hear quotes that you want to repeat with the same power and magic to someone else. if only you had written down the actual words…

   Keep a document on your phone Notes app with a running list of great quotes, ideas, conversations, etc., and who said each thing so you can attribute correctly later!

5. Meet new people

   It’s tempting to stick with the crowd you run with. Definitely take advantage of this opportunity to deepen relationships with people who are valuable to you, and reconnect with folks you maybe only see a few times a year.

   Also introduce yourself to five people each day you have never met. It’s not hard to do — just approach folks who look like they don’t know anyone or might be lost, and say hello. Introduce yourself and ask questions to get to know them. Surprising connections get made this way that can last for your entire career!

6. Plan your sessions and arrive early

   The most popular sessions can fill up before the session begins. And on occasion, monitors are posted at the door to prevent the risk of a dangerously overcrowded breakout room.

   Spend time on the plane, heading to FR24, to decide which sessions you plan to attend. Normally you can do this in the KWFR event app on your phone. Once you get to the convention center, pay attention to where groups of breakout rooms are located, in relation to the exhibit hall or main event ballroom. This will allow you to mentally (or you could just literally) map out your routes so that you get to your sessions while there are still great seats available.

7. Treat your body well

   Yes, yes. All of this should be bolded. Go out and have fun and also get enough sleep! Pack your own good snacks and a refillable water bottle so you don’t end up on-site hungry and thirsty and standing in line for Cheetos and a Coke.

Family Reunion is the place to be, and can still be valuable even if you don’t take care of yourself. But you will be much, much happier if you do.

Safe travels and see you there!!!

2024W7: Popular Storytelling Models

Breaking news: The first episode of Instructor Notes podcast is live!!! I’ve loved the conversations I’ve had so far. Connecting with people is THE BEST!!! For this first episode, I am so proud to interview one of the most compelling and successful leaders I know, Colette Ching! Her energy is just <chef’s kiss> — it will keep you going for days! And my co-host, the stupendous Lisa Teichner, helps me to introduce Colette. Please give the episode a listen and let me know what you think!

I’m one day late posting this weekly blog update, but that’s OK. Seven weekly posts is more than I’ve been able to sustain before, and it’s feeling habitual so that is very, very positive. I outlined a 20-minute presentation at the Keller Williams Family Reunion convention later this month. The topic: Storytelling.

I’ll post the outline and maybe some resources from the final presentation as it gets closer to finished. For now though, I took stock of storytelling models I’ve learned over the years and want to share them here:

• The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell
  This storytelling model itself is mythologized IMO! It’s way too complex for my needs, but people who use it love it.

• The Story Spine by Kenn Adams, re-popularized by Pixar, as included in Pixar’s 22 Rules for Storytelling
  I have found this model useful when planning a story that serves as a through-line in a presentation, from start to finish.

• Public Narrative by Marshall Ganz
  You might recognize parts of this (the story of self, the story of us, the story of now) but all of them together are known as Public Narrative.

• Three-Act Structure by Syd Field
  This is taught in probably every single screenwriting class out there!

The model that works best for me for storytelling in training and presentations is the Three-Act Structure. It’s simple, it’s recognizable, it’s the best choice for me 95% of the time. Stay tuned — I’ll share more of the presentation itself soon!

2024W6: New podcast or nah?

My short answer is… it depends.

I don’t think a podcast is a quick way to fame and riches. It’s a notoriously “slow burn” for most hoping to monetize their podcasts.

But if you want to add a content-rich social media element to your business or personal brand — especially if you are a podcast listener yourself — I don’t see any reason not to try.

I am working on my third podcast at the moment. The first two were definitely “hobby” podcasts, so the new one is the only one to cover territory that I’m immersed in professionally, day in and day out: workshop facilitation (aka training, instructing, presenting, speaking, adult learning).

Look at the new artwork for my Instructor Notes podcast 👀 Won’t hurt my feelings if you follow / subscribe…

Despite the fact that my first two podcasts were mainly done out of about my need for personal expression and my desire to learn how to produce a podcast — and never about subscriber numbers and monetization — I am asked for a fair amount of advice about podcasting. So here’s some of the advice I share:

1. Know why you want to podcast.
   

   If you want to get rich and famous, skip the podcast and hire an agent and a publicist. But podcasting is probably better for expanding your reach and influence, establishing credibility, exploring new ideas and approaches, finding like-minded or similarly-interested individuals, and expressing yourself. Not to mention that if you love your work and you want to podcast about work stuff, your passion will show, and people connect to passion.

   For my Instructor Notes podcast, my main goal is to build a community of facilitators. I love working with facilitators, but my work often means leading a workshop and then flying home. Staying in community with those folks takes effort, and the podcast is one way to reach a lot of people I meet that I might not otherwise see in between workshops. Also, no one loses when surrounding themselves with enthusiastic, positive, growth-oriented individuals as facilitators usually are. Win-win-win.

2. Find out what other podcasts cover the topic you want to cover.
   

   Listen to them. Understand the gaps: Do current podcasts miss specific perspectives, so you immediately know an angle to present that is new and fresh? Do current podcasters all go for an interview format, whereas you have a strong and distinct point of view and can podcast solo, as The Expert? Do all the current podcasts on your topic run over an hour in length per episode, so you can add an entry that comes in bite-size pieces instead of entire meals each time?

   There is still probably plenty of room for you to fill a niche in the podcasting world, so a little competitive research can go a long way.

   In the facilitator podcasting space, there are many resources geared toward public speakers, generally those who aim to keynote at conferences. Instructor Notes podcast will center workshop facilitation first and foremost, and other types of public speaking only tangentially.

3. Consider what kind of investment you want to make in your podcast.

   If you self-produce your entire podcast, you will invest a lot of time. You’ll probably end up doing things you don’t like to do, or aren’t skilled / confident at doing (for me, that would be typing up show notes haha). But there are also reputable services out there that can do some or all of the pre-production, production, and post-production for you. This will require less time of you, but more money.

   My first two podcasts were entirely self-produced, though the first was co-produced with a partner. That was nice because we agreed on division of labor and each of us took on tasks we were naturally more comfortable with. My second podcast was a solo effort and I did it all. I was glad to learn all the pieces, and grateful for the experience of setting up a system that ran smoothly over the course of the season. Also, I was glad when it was over because it was a lot of work!

There are so many free resources out there if you feel like you’re ready to take the next step. The resources that help me are easily 3-5 years old now, and I’m sure there are more recent and relevant sources out there. One company that produces a lot of free content for aspiring podcasters is Buzzsprout, who we chose to host my first podcast. They are still big in the podcasting space and just updated their “How to Start a Podcast” guide on 1/1/24. So go check it out! And let me know if you decide to start a podcast so I can give it a follow!

2024W5: New Year Mantras

Hi, welcome back to the longest month EVER. January 2024 started on a Monday, and thus has 5 Mondays in total! And that means 5 blog posts on the theme of a new year. Luckily, I have a couple more things to say…

Do you have New Year mantras? As I mentioned in previous weeks, I pay close attention when the universe sends me the same message in different areas of my life. These messages feel clearer at the ends of calendar years. Maybe because I am quieter and listening more?

Here’s a sampling of current messages guiding me:

• You are a work in progress

• Say the quiet parts out loud

• Chaos but make it cute

I’ve written these (and a few other mantras) on the front of my "ideas” notebook. And they keep me grounded with all the projects I’m undertaking, people I’m connecting with, and ideas I am bringing to life.

What about you? Any messages from the universe reaching you, loud and clear?….

2024W4: New Year FOCUS (an annual project with daily-ish tasks)

I’m no spring chicken, so I don’t have a lot of excuses to not be doing things every day that I should be doing every day! In other words, I am old enough to know what I should be doing, and do them! Exercise daily? I only need to work out a couple times a week, and the other days I am active so that works for me. Eat better? I’ve been “plant based” aka vegetarian for almost 20 years, which is enough time to figure out how to get all I need nutritionally, calorically, etc. etc. and still enjoy junk food occasionally.

But obviously I see the value of an annual project to commit to daily. Last year I chose to draw and post on Instagram daily. It was perfect to explore different digital workflows as well as to get in the habit of putting my work in the social media sphere every day.

This year, it felt like the right time to take on something I’ve considered for a while now: I call it my 365 Notes project. The idea is to write 365 snail mail notes over the course of the year, which comes out to an average of one note a day. I have hoarded collected stationery for years, I love to send snail mail, I have been studying and practicing calligraphy and hand lettering since 2017, and I think about other people a lot!!! All the ingredients are there for a successful annual project like 365 Notes.

I’m still refining the system to support this project. I have a place to write down the name of someone I’m thinking of, and a tracker so I know who got a note and how I’m progressing toward 365. And I have a little kit with note cards, stamps, stickers, etc. that I can move around to whatever is my workspace at the moment.

So far the system is working! I’ve sent 18 note cards so far this year. I feel a surge of energy every few days, I’ll write and mail out several notes at a time, and I have been hearing back from folks already who receive my mail. It is SO MUCH FUN to stay connected, and in some cases to reconnect, with people this way.

U.S. friends, yesterday the rates for first class letters went up again by 2 cents, to $0.68 for a regular ol’ stamp. It’s nice that you can order stamps online very easily and quickly, and you can access the full catalog of stamps online and not just what your local post office has left for you. I recommend these if you’re ready to order, which are seasonally suitable for the weeks to come:

• Year of the Dragon stamps — I’m so stoked about Lunar New Year!!!

• Love 2024 stamps — Valentine’s Day is near

• Winter Woodland stamps — it’s still cold in many places in the U.S.

• John Lewis stamps — order now to be ready for Black History Month, but also order a couple extra books because every month is a good month to think about civil rights and people who inspire us to step up for civil rights and human rights