Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Stuff I Want, New and Improved for 2024
They say it’s better to give than to receive. I agree. So I make it easy for people to give me things. Too many people say things like, “I have everything I need,” or, “if I want something I’ll just buy it.” Last I checked, this is America. We’re a capitalist society. Almost 10% of our Gross Domestic Product is based on retail sales. Every company that makes a thing needs people to buy their thing.
This is like a public service, if you think about it.
In 2024, I’m taking my “Stuff I Want” list to another level and hoping to cash-in on that sweet, sweet Influencer money. Read More
How Not to Look Like a Ragamuffin (Do Laundry Correctly)
My Mom, when seeing what my siblings and I were wearing or how we looked, was very focused that we not leave the house, “looking like a ragamuffin.”
rag·a·muf·fin (/ˈraɡəˌməfən/), noun; 1. a person, typically a child, in ragged, dirty clothes.
NOTE: I did some quick research to make sure “ragamuffin” isn’t highly inappropriate or offensive and as best I can tell, it’s cool.
I Appreciate a Teacher
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. I’m married to a Teacher (pictured above teaching during the Pandemic in a tent while the kids on the other end of the remote learning were also in a tent). If you think you appreciate Teachers, my bet is you don’t appreciate them enough. If I wasn’t married to a Teacher, I’d probably think my level of appreciation was more than enough. It wouldn’t be.
ALERT: If you’re the type of person that doesn’t appreciate Teachers, the type that thinks they get paid too much and their Union is too protective, or you’re the type that thinks they get paid too much or that their job is easy …STOP …READING …NOW. Seriously. Go away.
Teachers who care, which is the majority of them (I know this because I interact with my Teacher-Wife’s co-workers and peers and have for 27 years), are angels on Earth. Teachers should be paid more (which still wouldn’t make them wealthy or among the 2-percenters or 1-percenters). Read More
Yearly Goals …startiiiiiiiiiing now!
No time like May 6th to set some annual goals. I’m straight up stealing this from Matthew Dicks because the man has great ideas (Homework for Life is another). Monthly, Matthew Dicks posts updates to his yearly goals. So here’s mine.
HEALTH
Lose 15 Pounds
Do 100 Burpees (with Push-Up) Daily
Do 100 Sit-Ups Per Day
Hike with my Rucking Vest 1x/Week
WRITING/CREATIVE
Blog Daily
Fix and Organize My Blog
Journal Daily
Homework for Life Daily (and get better at it)
Finish writing my “sales” book Read More
Be Creative and Fun, Not for You, But for Others
Why do I have a Blog? It’s not to monetize it or become famous. That might happen, but it’s not my “why”. My “why” is because I like to write and be creative. My audience might be ten people. Might be 8 people. Maybe a bit more or less, but mostly I write for 4 people … my wife, two daughters, and son. I wish I remembered where I read this writing advice, but the advice was to write everything as if you were writing it for one person. Keep that person in mind and make sure whatever you create and whatever you do, will make that “one person” happy and they’ll enjoy it.
Sometimes I write for my Mom (gone for almost 20 years) because she was my first editor and a voracious reader and always so proud of me. She would definitely read my Blog. Or I’ll write something to my friend Matt (gone 5 1/2 years). Read More
Use Better Words
Each year, Lake Superior State gives us a list of banished words. I’m usually in about 90% agreement. For example, at the end of 2023, they said we all need to stop using “GOAT”, “amazing”, “it is what it is” and about seven more. Spot on. But the list could be longer. Or, more to the point, we shouldn’t need a list at all because we should all work to be less boring.
If you hear people saying “lean in” and “at the end of the day” and you hear it often, it shouldn’t be your green-light to say those things, too. You should not want to sound like everyone else. If you hear a mother tell her daughter “I appreciate you” and then also hear a guy at the movie theater tell the person selling them popcorn, “I appreciate you” . . . well, the “feels” aren’t there. Read More
Podcast Efficiency (aka Podficiency TM)
Look at that… in two days, I’ve invented two words…
Lawnficiency (Noun): Mowing your lawn and doing yardwork in the most systematic and time-saving way possible
Podficiency (Noun): Listening to Podcasts and avoiding all the time-wasting pauses and slow talking
If you don’t read another word, just do this … put the App Pocket Casts on your phone and move all your Podcasting listening there and make sure you explore all the cool, time-saving features.
2024, for me, is gonna be about maximum efficiency in all areas of my life (the parts that are the must-do so I can spend more time on the wanna-do’s). Read More
Lawn Efficiency (Lawnficiency TM)
I’m obsessed with my lawn. There. I said it. Sometimes the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem but, the thing is, I don’t think it’s a problem. I call it a hobby. Or maybe a passion-project. Psychiatrists and therapists can determine whether it’s healthy or not.
The only thing that troubles me is this – is it worth my time? I read Matthew Dicks’ Someday is Today recently and loved it. Probably loved it for all the wrong reasons. My takeaway from the book was efficiency in everything because “time” is our most precious resource. I’ve been on a time-capturing kick for the past year once I realized how much social media was taking away from things I’d rather be doing like reading, writing/finishing a book, making more money at work, spending time talking to and being with my family in the moment, calling people and saying hello, or spending time with a hobby I enjoy. In this case, my lawn. Read More
Blogging About My Journaling (Sometimes a C+ Effort Produces A+ Results)
Social media and the Internet has produced, what I call, “Guru World.” Everyone’s an expert. Everyone has it figured out. Everyone is perfect, disciplined, has routines, and has 100% success rates.
No they don’t. And I certainly don’t. And that’s OK.
What is better? Running 3-miles a day, eating only lean healthy food, meditating daily, and never putting white sugar in your mouth and telling everyone you’ve lived this lifestyle since 2003? Or, taking a brisk, long walk four times a week, doing some sit-ups and push-ups and planks a couple nights a week when watching TV when you remember and feel motivated, and flossing 3 or 4 times a week? Or never doing any of the above and sitting on the couch every night watching TV? If you believe “Guru World”, it’s all or nothing. Only that 3-mile-a-day runner is doing it right. “Guru World” makes you think walking-sit-up person and do-nothing-couch-potato person are the same.
Read MoreAd Analysis: The Kia Ice Skating TV Ad
This will be unpopular, but I hate this ad. I know what Kia wanted and I know why. Kia, and their ad agency, made my wife cry. That’s what they wanted, right?
I hope you’re happy, Kia! My wife was already dreaming of a Kia (not an electric one) and this pretty much seals the deal, but for me …it makes me not want a Kia.
Why am I so angry at this commercial? Because the story it tells is not the least bit anchored to any common experience, realistic event, or feasible scenario. Not that commercials can’t touch the heart. Lord knows the cry-inducing commercial genre has been around a long time. Read More
Don Kowalewski 