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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my neighbors surprised our family with the Doctor Who Lego set over the weekend, and I believe if you are learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I talk about something that is sure in life besides death and taxes.
Today’s fun fact:
Today’s Fun Fact: Today seems to be a good day to talk about change, so here are some fun facts about the piece of change known as the twenty-cent piece.
The shortest-lived circulated coin in U.S. history, the twenty-cent piece only lasted from 1875 to 1878. The coin was made as America was attempting to keep parity with Europe—France, in particular. Their twenty-franc piece was approximately the same size and material as the twenty-cent piece, and so the two could, in theory, be exchanged equally.
In reality, this was almost never done. Though francs were a popular reserve currency at the time, the average citizen didn’t have much of a need for a twenty cent coin, especially since quarters were already well-established.
Twenty-cent coins are now quite valuable. Low quality ones are selling for $20-$30 on eBay, while high quality rarer varieties are going for as much as $68,000.
What I learned yesterday.
Today I will once again be talking about change, but not the kind that you can carry around in your pocket. I’ve spoken about change a few times on this podcast, and I expect that it will be a topic that will continue to be a point of discussion with some regularity. Why? Because change is inevitable. It affects all of us in various ways at various times, and it continues to be a relevant topic.
Today’s focus will be this very podcast. That’s right, Stuff I Learned Yesterday is just as susceptible to change as anything else is.
Before I go any further, I want to ask you to do something. If you have not yet heard Mark’s episode from last week, please go listen to it before you continue this episode. It’s episode number 369 entitled, “Memories and Souvenirs.” Also, if you have not heard last week’s Friday Flashback episode (episode 370), please go listen to the first part of that one too. Once you’ve done those things, then come back and pick up where you left off here.
Mark is really going through some changes right now, isn’t he? Mark will be missed for sure.
About 6 months ago I had a conversation with Mark, former host Derek Olsen, and few other people that I’m close with that I can bounce ideas off of. I had some ideas on how I could change Stuff I Learned Yesterday, and I wanted to get their opinions. Before I tell you about those conversations, let me back up a little bit.
On March 17, 2014 I launched Stuff I Learned Yesterday. I had long desired to do a podcast that allowed me to share my perspective on the world, create unique content, engage with listeners in new ways, and help make the world a better place. Stuff I Learned Yesterday has done all of that.
I knew the podcast would be challenging, but had no idea just how challenging it would be for me. I put together a list of over 30 ideas for episodes so that I would have a head start on creating the content. At the time, I really envisioned Stuff I Learned Yesterday to cover any sort of topic or item that I learned. Items could include tricks I learned in Photoshop, all the way up to parenting tips.
However, what I soon realized is that the things I learned needed to be wrapped in story, otherwise the format of the show just wouldn’t work. While learning new tips for Photoshop are great, it just didn’t seem like a good fit for the podcast format.
This realization was great actually. It allowed me to have a clearer focus and be able to better define what Stuff I Learned Yesterday was all about. It wasn’t an unorganized miscellany, it was simple and practical stories to help each one of us grow and help make the world a better place.
However, I had no idea how much this introspective story format would cause me to grow, and challenge me to look at myself more deeply than ever before. While that has been more difficult than I ever imagined, that difficulty has been incredibly rewarding.
Of course, this new focus also made it more difficult to sift through ideas. Like a multi-leveled sifter, many ideas were poured in, but very few made the cut. I soon realized that I could not sustain this 5 day a week podcast on my own. Fortunately, Derek Olsen had already expressed an interest in joining the show if I ever needed help. So in the summer of 2014, Derek officially joined me as a co-host. Of course, Derek had his own set of changes that came along and he eventually stepped away from the show.
After that, Mandy Wichert joined the Stuff I Learned Yesterday team. Mandy did a wonderful job as a host of SILY, but then life changes happened and she had to step away. And now, of course, Mark has found himself in the midst of changes that require him to step away.
I absolutely love that this podcast has been able to feature these great hosts and the impact they brought to everyone. I can also totally understand their need to step away from the podcast. I feel that need too.
Wait, what? Did I just say that I need to step away too?
Yes I did.
Don’t worry, it’s not what it may seem. As I’ve mentioned several times over the last few months, life has been crazy and incredibly busy since I returned from Podcast Movement. That event had a much bigger impact on my business than I expected and I’ve been working some crazy hours. For the first time since I quit my day job 2 ½ years ago, I can see the first signs of burnout coming on.
Burnout isn’t the only thing I’ve observed. Much like the days when I was scrambling to find the mental freedom to ponder and create 5 episodes a week, I’m now feeling that same way about coming up with just 1 episode per week. Change is needed.
I’ve seen this coming. I saw it coming over 6 months ago, which is what caused me to reach out to Mark, Derek, and others to talk about it and discuss ideas for change. A month or so ago I decided that with the new year would come a new format for Stuff I Learned Yesterday. I know it’s the right thing to do, and I believe that these changes will make Stuff I Learned Yesterday stronger and more relevant than ever.
So here’s what’s changing.
After the Friday Forum episode that will be released on January 1, 2016, Stuff I Learned Yesterday will be taking a hiatus. The show will return on February 29, 2016. When it returns, it will be back in full force. It will return to a 5 episode per week format. I will still only do one episode each week, probably the Monday episode. The other days each week will be filled with contributions from 6 other hosts, who will contribute an episode every other week. The Friday Forum will remain the same as it has always been.
In addition to these changes, the podcast will begin a season format. That is, beginning on February 29, the podcast will release new episodes 5 days a week for 12 straight weeks. The podcast will then take 4 weeks off. This time off will give each host time to decompress, refocus, and even step away from the podcast. After 4 weeks off, the show will return for a new 12 week season featured some familiar voices, and some new voices. So the show will follow this 12 week on, 4 week off format for the rest of the 2016 calendar. As the end of the year approaches, I’ll evaluate how things have gone, and consider how the show can continue to improve.
And that’s what I’ve learned.
Whether we’re talking about a podcast, career, designing an aircraft, or any part of your life, the principles are the same.
Make time to be able to see the big picture.
Take a sabbatical if needed so that you can get refreshed.
Always do your best to look for ways to improve
Continue to make incremental changes that will advance and improve
Note when burnout is approaching and cut it off before it can grow
Know which items in your life are most important
Be willing to walk away from things that aren’t essential
Understand that change is inevitable
Accept that change will come and use it to your advantage
Enlist the help of others to help you achieve the best outcome
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be talking about how we can apply these principles to our lives and make 2016 the best year ever. We’ll take a look back at our 2015 goals, and think about goals for 2016. I can’t wait to share those things with you, and I’m excited about the future of this podcast. Thank you for joining me on this journey.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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You can Follow Golden Spiral Media on Twitter at GSMPodcasts and Facebook.com/GoldenSpiralMedia. If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I would be grateful if you’d leave a review in iTunes.
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