Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
A Newer Morning Routine: 2026 Edition
I’ve obsessed over my wake-up and morning routine for my entire adult life. Stops and starts. Stops and starts. My problem is … I love my bed, love being warm and cozy, and when I’m laying their at 5:30 a.m. and I’m cozy and happy, I start to question, “what is the point of making myself angry and dragging myself outta bed?”
I know. I know. The daily grind. Focus. Chores. To-Do lists. Anxiety or lack of anxiety and worry. I know it’s all tied to sleep and routine and *gasp* some exercise. So, I’m gonna give this one a try.
2026 Resolutions (1st Month Update)
“Who’s this update for,” you ask? It’s for me. You know the old saying about goals … something, something … write them down … make them measurable. Something, something. Adjust, evaluate, and …something, something … don’t give up.
Smart guy Gary Vaynerchuk says it over and over again … “you have SO MUCH time.” I do (especially with football almost over). But I need to assess how I use my time and what better way than to look at the first 30-days of 2026 and see how I’m doing on my Resolutions.
I’ll do this monthly (there’s another Resolution). No way to know how I’m doing if I’m not tracking.
A Morning at WWJ Newsradio 950
I work in Radio. I capitalize the word “Radio” out of respect. I’ve worked in Radio for 28-years! Nowadays I guess I say I “work in Audio“, but between me and you … it’s Radio. Radio formats have come and gone. There’s no more Oldies, Jazz, or Classical radio stations. Classic Hits and Classic Rock are “oldies” now when you consider the music they play is from the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s, which means the music is between 30- and 50-years-old. And I’m somewhere between 40- and 53-years-old. I guess us Gen Xrs just don’t want to think of our music as “Oldies” (even if it is).
I’m not here to list all the Radio formats (even though I could … because I’m kind of a nerd when it comes to Radio), but instead I want to talk about one, specific format . . . Newsradio.
And one specific station … WWJ Newsradio 950 AM in Detroit. Read More
2026 New Year’s Resolutions
For the entire month of December, I pondered and meditated about my 2026 Resolutions. Then…bam! It’s the “new year” and I’m off to a slow start. Or am I? Some resolutions only work if you start immediately on Day-1 (ie “Exercise Every Day”), but most resolutions are year-long quests. At least mine are.
Sure, you can say, “in 2026, I’m going to quit smoking,” or, “I’m going to run a 5K,” or, “I’m going to write a book.” Whatever you promise yourself, it’s about “becoming” something or “finishing” something.
Like some of mine…
- Finish writing two books
- Perform 10 times at The Moth
- 150 Minutes of Exercise Per Week
What I Got!
I spend too much on lots of little things and flights of fancy, but I’m actually notoriously cheap. Frugal? Fiscally conscious? Basically, if I had a genie lamp and three wishes, one wish would be that every day I wake up and there’s a $20 bill under my pillow. Maybe $50 adjusted for inflation since college when my friend Rick and I came up with this.
With a $20 bill every day, I could buy a newspaper. Buy a coffee. Run to Books-A-Million and buy a book. Or, I could bank a few days and buy myself new work gloves or a pair of headphones. Or bank a week and buy a nice dress shirt or knives for my kitchen. Things I don’t need, but just kinda want.
But Don, you ask? Couldn’t you do this if you won a lump some $10-Million? Amen I say to you, I would rather have a crisp $50 bill under my pillow every morning than $10-Million. Read More
Don and His Podcasts: Ad Environment
I love Podcasts. I listen to 20+ hours weekly. My shows are all listed below, below. This project isn’t about the shows I like, but more about where I consume them and, because of my job, selling advertising and a growing interest in Podcast advertising, I’m going to conduct an experiment and examine the advertising environment inside Podcast Apps and platforms. For a couple years, I’ve exclusively used Pocket Casts. It’s beautiful in form, function and it’s ability to cut gaps of slience, or listen at 1x, 2x or customized 1.1x, 1.2x speed …whichever a listener prefers. Pocket Casts, however, is ranked #9 among Podcast listening-apps and while I don’t use Apple Podcasts and Spotify … most people do (see rankings below). Read More
Year of the ____________
Remember I already declared 2026 will be the Year of the Pen. Meaning, I switch from only using wood pencils for everything … work notes, journaling, sketching, etc … to using ONLY pens. Additionally, it’s going to be the “Year of” a few more things. These aren’t New Year’s Resolutions. These are themes. Total behavior change.
Allow me to explain the difference between “Resolutions” and “Year of the ___________”. Resolutions are activities I commit to doing or things I say I’ll stop.
- Workout 150 minutes per week
- Read 24 books
- Floss daily
- Don’t look at my phone before bed
“Year of the ____________” are things I already do and can’t avoid doing, but I’ll just do them differently and in a new way. These are declarations. As in, “I declare this year, 2026, the Year of the Pen,” and say if you say that aloud in a really exaggerated British accent, you’re getting it. Read More
The 2025 Kowalewski Christmas Card Letter
2025 marks the 6th annual Kowalewski Christmas Card Letter. I’ve now written five of them, and Ada wrote one (last year’s). I think I finally found my “audience” for these letters. My Mom. Why do I need an “audience” you ask? Because, if a letter-writer isn’t careful, they might talk about things no one cares about or their letter might sound like brag after brag after brag. The “bragging” has been the part I struggle with. I’ve always said, I love getting letters from others when they send me a Christmas Card and, personally, I don’t mind if they tell me about their 12 trips to Europe, their new Lamborghini, and include a picture that shows them with their arm around Jeff Bezos on Jeff Bezos largest-yacht-ever-built. Sure, that would be a little braggy, but if I have a close relationship with that person, and that person feels like my friendship is worth of getting their family Christmas card and letter, then there’s a pretty good possibility I’ll be happy to hear about their months in Europe, Lambo’, and their friendship with The Beez’ (which I assume is what Jeff Bezos’ friends call him). Read More
Resolutions Count-Down … 4-Days
Only 4-days until January 1st and another quest for the best-year-ever while pursuing the Best-Don-Ever.
Adding a few things to my list . . .
- Recommit to a strict Morning Routine
- Power Weekends (aka have a plan for each weekend and don’t just sleep in and do nothing … writing ths, it’s currently 9:52 a.m. on a Sunday and I haven’t even had breakfast or done anything)
- Work-Only while at Work (8:15 a.m. – 5:15 p.m. daily)
- Find a journal brand and make it my brand (you know I am big on “my brands” and I don’t have one for my journals … let alone pen and pencil brands, and boy oh boy do people have passion for journals and writing instruments)
- Restart my Journal Project
2026 Will be the Year of the Pen
Most of you know 2025 was “Year of the Pencil.” I journaled in pencil. Took work notes in pencil. I researched pencils and tried many brands, styles, and quality levels. I enjoyed the nuance of sharpening and shading. I liked it. It was a nice year. I’m not anti-pencil, but I think I need to revisit ink pens.
Do you think about your pens and pencils? Well… I do.
I like writing in my journal. I like making notes and sketching and doodling. But I didn’t like the bleed-through (or “bleeding” …which is the ink going through the paper and showing on the other side of the paper). Hence, the Year of the Pencil. Read More
Don Kowalewski 