The Fabulous Learning Nerds

Hey everybody. Welcome back to another fantastic episode of Your Fabulous Learning Nerds. I'm Scott Chu, your host, and with me you love him. He's here again, although he has a new commute. Dan Konrad, everyone. Dan the man. Oh, oh yeah. Daniel son. What's up Scott? Drive him to work once again. Yeah, some, some Uhhuh Uhhuh.

It's good. It's good. It is good. So what are you, are you in the hybrid model, the full hybrid model, the three days out of the week model for work? I'm three days, uh, in an office right now. Mm-hmm. And, uh, two days from home. Oh, it's pretty good. Ha. Having worked from home for the last few years, how is this change?

Been okay. Are you okay with this chain? Does it make sense from a 100% person to a, now I'm in the office because person. So how does that feel to you? You know, I, I tell you, it's one of those things where, um, man, this is tough because I, I think like the novel of it right now is like, ah, yeah, I'm driving into an office.

Oh, I'm a big boy now. Um, but you know, Listen, there's just no replacement for work from home. Like I know that the, the, the big forces of the market and the workplace are like trying to like drag everybody back to the office. And I, I, I know I, some of the advantages, I can definitely feel some of the advantages there, but by the same token, like man, like work from home is like a.

Is a, is a job boon or benefit that is worth trading dollars for? No doubt about it. To have the opposite problem. Like I'm kind of hankering to get outta my house, right? Like that would be totally, totally cool. And I used to travel a couple weeks out of the month just to be in my office to people see and talk to and.

Forest Scott time is what it was like. I got to work, but I also got to get my Scott time in, which is pretty awesome. You know what else is super awesome. I got a rough idea, but I'm gonna ask what? Oh, it. It's our other guest host. Our regular host. Excuse me. Zeda is in the house. Everybody

zeda. Scott, how you doing? You know how I'm doing? Fear. Totally stole it. Totally stole. Stole it. Totally, totally stole it. Sorry, Dan. Somebody had to do it right. Sadness. I did it deep in my heart. Yeah, it's all right. Yeah. No, I'm doing all right. I'm doing okay. I, how are you my friend? I'm doing excellent.

How a really good weekend. Mm-hmm. Uh, looking forward to the new week. Doing good. Oh, that's right. The last time we got together was before the forest. Does everybody have all their appendages? No one lost anything. Lemme count. Yeah, didn. The fact that you have didn't say the, uh, the fact you have to count is very scary to me, but that is okay.

It's always good to check. Right. That is fantastic. That's great. I'm glad you're having a great time, Dan. I'm sorry I was told to drop, but that's okay. Um, folks we're not, it was well used. I know, right? Well played. Um, We're not alone. This week we have a very special guest with us in studio, and we're so excited to talk to him.

We're gonna learn all about him and our topic that we call. What's your deal?

Hey man, what's your deal, Jason? Hey, what's your deal, my friend? So Jason Watson, I have, uh, been in content development and instructional design for about a decade. Um, for over three of those years I've been leading teams, creating positive work culture and making sure the work gets done at a high level.

So how did you get into learning and development? What's your story there? Oh, I've been, um, I wanted to be a teacher growing up actually. And, uh, I got into college, started down that path and realized that, um, there's not a really, there's a high turnover rate for, uh, the four years of school you go into for the first year.

And I was like, Hmm, I don't know if this is for me. And so I entered the corporate world, started at the call center level, and worked my way up through a company and have been, uh, You know, just one thing led to the, another. I, uh, was doing some technical writing work and, uh, they started a, um, an instructional design, um, department, right in the section of new business that we were dealing with.

And, uh, it was like, how can this person who doesn't know anything about this job, um, have this job telling us? How to do the work. And so I talked to a wonderful lady, uh, who is fantastic and has been a mentor to me even to this day. Um, her name's Mary Nunnelly and she said, Hey, read these books. Learn um, what's going on, start applying some of these things.

And it turns out I had somewhat of a natural aptitude for this. Um, and I've been doing instructional design ever since I have. Over a thousand hours of e-learning development experience. Um, probably double that in, um, experience design and instructor led training and job aids and all of that sort of stuff.

Um, so yeah, that's where I have gotten into instructional design and a little bit about my story. Well, Jason, we're not gonna go, we're not gonna bury the lead. We're gonna go ahead and, uh, take the awesome that you're gonna bring to the show, uh, this morning. And, um, we're gonna get right into it with our topic of the week.

All right this week and I'm just feeling inspired cuz we're gonna talk about inspiration. Where does it come from? How come it alludes us? You know, all that other groovy stuff. So Jason, help us out like, um, I, let's just start at the top, like, what is this thing called inspiration and where does it come from?

So when I was, um, uh, coming on, um, Dan asked me if I wanted to, to join, and I was like, what do you wanna talk about? And I said, For some reason, inspiration and a design and learning is coming to mind. This is something that is very near and dear to me. Um, I, uh, I, I will always do two things, and those two things are I will help people grow and I will create experiences, and a key part of that experience is inspiration for those experiences.

And so inspiration, when I was looking at it and reminding myself what this was, is that it's that feeling of being mentally stimulated to manifest what we want to create is the definition that I looked at that I really wanted to focus in on. That was good. Yeah. Inspiration. I'm sorry. Inspiration is the feeling of being mentally stimulated to manifest what we want to create.

Wow. I love that. That's inspiring in and of itself. I read that and I was like, yes, that's the one. That's the definition. Yeah. We're done. It's a wrap.

It does beg the the question like, alright, fantastic. What if I'm not feeling it? Yeah. Well, and, and that's today. I'm just not feeling it. That's one of the things that, uh, I wanted to talk about today cuz I, I've been there, I'm there all of the time actually. It's actually a little bit of work in order to get inspired sometimes.

Um, but I remember when I first started and I was trying to build this like shelving of what is instructional design? What is design? How do I help people learn? I was inspired by everything. I remember being inspired by posters on the wall at a pizza place and a menu. And every story I read or the TV show I was watching, my brain was just consumed with inspiration because I was building and trying to learn it.

Um, and it was just easy to be inspired because I was so excited. And, um, do you, do y'all remember that feeling of just being excited all of the time and just feeling like inspiration is around? Dude, I, so, I'm, I'm super fortunate and I'm easily amused. Uh, and the side benefit of that is being like, easily inspired.

Like there's just so much good stuff in the world and in life. All the time. I'm just like, that's awesome. Um, you know, you talk about like being, uh, inspired by like posters and stuff. When I'm teaching people how to do id, one of the very first things I tell them to go do is go surf websites and find ads and, and see what those ads are doing, because those are tiny, tight, compact, little learning, you know, moments.

Obviously to try to get you to click on things sometimes for nefarious purposes, but nonetheless like that is like this great moment of like design and like when somebody's new and excited about instructional design, they're like, I just saw this great ad, this great banner ad on a website, which is a phrase.

You don't ever hear anymore, but nonetheless, yeah. Inspired by a banner ad. Yes. Oh, I, I have to admit something. Um, the other day I was playing a little web game on my phone and I actually screenshotted an ad because I was like, Ooh, I love how they did that gradient. I love how they did that. I'm like, I, I need, I need to use that.

And so, yeah, I, I've taken. Some screenshots of some stuff where ba gradients, well you find that's the thing is you find inspiration everywhere. You can find it in little places. You're like, oh, I like that. I wanna use that. I want to, I wanna, I wanna build on that. And it's those aha moments that really build that motivation.

Yeah. It's so funny. Even if I think that, you know, I love that gradient is a little bit blasphemous. I, I understand that feeling. That's right. That's right. Well wonder if you're like me, right? So let's be honest about life. Like I think this is fantastic. And in a Pollyanna world, all of us are like, yeah.

Ooh, look at that. Isn't that cool? And the younger I was right? The younger I was, the more, the more susceptible to joy my life was. Right? So that's fantastic. That's great. But you know, I live in a world where we're under the tyranny of now, and the tyranny of now is not a really great thing for inspiration because it's like everything's time-bound and everything is like, you know, get this done and when do you need it?

I need it yesterday. And so me, a lot of times, not that I don't keep myself open for inspiration and you know, my mindfulness and stuff like that, a lot of times I gotta go hunt for it. Like, hmm. I gotta go get this done. Now I gotta go on the hunt for inspiration. That, that's my experience is like, I gotta go find it.

And if you're like me, like I have some things I would chat about, but you know, Jason, I would love to hear from you about what do you do? Like, okay, you gotta design a training. Okay, I can go to the template we used every other time. But I really probably shouldn't. I wanna get some inspiration. Where do we go?

So where do I start? I, I felt that same thing. Um, and it is so crazy, um, that you talk about that because, um, as grizzled professionals who've been doing this for a really long time, it's like those rules start to come out and you're just like, I'm gonna do this thing. I'm gonna work on this thing and I'm just gonna continue doing it.

Um, and I've looked at, and I've interviewed people and looked at their portfolios of people who've been doing this job for 20 years and they've been just doing the same thing over and over again and passed on them because there wasn't anything different. And so, Um, I, I had to go after some of those experiences after, you know, seeing the people who I work with who are so talented, I have a team that is just amazing.

Um, and I have to stop them and say, you have to do something different. You can't just do the same template. You can't just work on this. And so I had to go back and say, well, how do I get it back? And, um, so. After I've gotten away from that kind of excitement of learning, I found that, uh, inspiration now comes from the things that you consume, the things that you are spending your time doing, the things that you spend your time watching or um, looking at or people you are spending time with.

That's where inspiration comes. It isn't something where you have to. Really go out of your normal, um, way. The things that are going to inspire you to use your gifts, um, the best are the things that you are already interested in. So for me, I spend a lot of time playing video games and I look at those systems and I look at the experiences and identify how can I use that and what I'm working on.

Um, I look at, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I watch YouTube shorts, some of them dumb, some of them funny, some of them inspirational. Um, I read stories, I watch stories. I consume media, and especially characters. I really am very fo person focused. And so that is one of the main things that you wanna focus on when you're looking for that inspiration is that you.

You have to go to the things that you know because those are the things you're interested in. And then you identify, well, what about that? You have to ask yourself that question. What about that inspires me and takes me there? And I, I have a story about helping someone grow, but I would love to kind of hear, is that what y'all have found or what you have found, Scott, when you've went to go find inspiration?

No, I, I think that, I think that's a good place to start. So for me, it's all about, there are two different kinds of inspiration that I'm looking for. Yeah. A lot of times there's the, um, there's layout and design. And so what I mean by that is like, there's the design and the learning. Mm-hmm. Right? So how do I want to put things together?

Um, a lot of that for me needs to kind of stay the same, so like, Begin with the end in mind. And you know, how, how are we gonna open needs can be a little bit different, right? But how I'm gonna open, the things we're gonna do to drive the whiff and what's in it for me are gonna be based on those objectives.

Mm-hmm. And that's where I can find creativity. Um, my standby is something I usually, uh, stand Standby is the minute to two minute funny video that people don't understand how it connects to what you're talking about. That everybody can relate to it. Yeah. And then it's Burns discussion. That is a Scott Chuy thing.

Yeah. And I probably rely on it a little bit too much, but it is kind of where I start. And then the layout is completely different. Like the layout for me is like, I'm going, I hate to say it, this is why I pay money for Envato. So I'm gonna go to Envato and I'm gonna go ahead and try to find something new and different there, um, and or look at other people's work versus here's your standard template and D, dump it in.

That's, that's my experience. I would love to hear everybody else's, but that's kind of where I start. Yeah, so looking at other people's work, that's also a way to like get inspiration. You're like, okay, I know how I do it. How does somebody else do it? And so that's really good to look at how someone else does it cuz you kind of get trapped in your own design, your own like wheelhouse if you're doing the same thing over and over.

So it's really good to like be able to digest. Other sources, other ways of doing it, maybe other like color, use other layouts and see what's more effective. And, uh, yeah, it's definitely a good way to do it. Uh, also iteration is a good way to find inspiration. Sometimes you can't just polish something over and over, you gotta start over.

That's, that's what I found. Uh, you know, I, I, I really, I joked about being, uh, you know, easily amused and simple-minded. Um, but. I have been in my life so, so lucky and fortunate to be able to find inspiration fairly easily. I think one time I struggled with coming up with a design for something for like a day, and that was just a horrible thing.

Just like a whole day, like beating my head against wall, like, what's this supposed to look like? Until finally, Just figuring out, like, get out of my own way and just start to build, you know, I think so many of us get into this profession because we wanna build cool stuff. I have literally hired somebody because when they were summarizing what they wanted to do, they're like, I just want to build cool stuff.

And I was like, man, that's it. That's the person. Uh, good news that worked out. Otherwise that would've not been so great. But, uh, That's the thing, like we get caught up in like all of this other stuff, all these other things. Obviously we have to build things that are moving knowledge, that are transferring, that are like clicking, that are making you feel like it's good and it's right and you're happy to have out there.

But at the end of the day, like when I'm building something, like that's the, the, the, the test, the only test. It's gonna sound a little arrogant, but I'm here now, so I'm gonna run for it. Is would I put my name on it? Like if I put my name on it and show it to the world, then yeah, it's good to go rock and roll, would I not?

Well then it's not done and it's baked a little bit more, but like there's so many awesome and wonderful things and good things in the world and it's easy to get caught up and twisted around. Like, I'm sitting here, my desk is a mess. But I was literally, as we're talking about inspiration, the thing I was grimacing about is I have a little USB drive and I was thinking to myself about inspiration and drawing inspiration from things.

I was like, that looks kinda like a spaceship. That'd be really cool to take that shape and like build that as like the background for like a space scene deck. Oh, I might do that. That sounds really cool. And then, oh crap, people are talking. I need to zoom back in.

Yeah. Very much a, a snowball effect. Sometimes inspiration to be what? Yeah, but sometimes a downhill snowball too, so be careful. Yes. Yeah. And I think it's interesting that we went into like inspiration of looking at like the visual design of our courses. Because that's what we think about when we think inspiration.

It's like, man, mm-hmm. I want this to look real cool and I want it to really focus in that's the learner's eye and wants to tell this story, this visual, uh, going forward into the next point in all of those things, and I have to stop the folks that I'm, um, chatting with, who I'm talking with, who I'm reviewing courses for and say, wait, but what about.

Like how you're drawing this story. Like is this actually telling a story to get you from one thing to the o other? Are you really, um, telling this? Does it just look cool just for cool sake? Um, are you doing something, are you inspired by something that just doesn't work? Or are you actually tying it into what this looks like for the learner?

And so that's the other thing that you need to do is like tie that inspiration and make it work, not just from the visuals aspect, but also focusing in on like what is the experience, big experience guy. I really care about driving that experience for the learner. And so what are you doing in order to drive that story through that whole thing with that cool visual thing.

Or like you said, Scott, having a template that you have to stay really close to is, uh, something that we struggle with on a daily basis in some cases, and how do we evolve that over time is something I'm always considering and thinking about. I. You know, one of the things I think really helps is listen to podcasts like this, in my humble opinion.

Right? So, no, I'm not kidding. I mean, honestly, I think that one of the things that's really important in this industry is you gotta stay on top of what's new and changing, cuz it's always new and it's always changing. And that can provide inspiration like mm-hmm. Oh my goodness. I was listening, listening to a similar podcast, and they were talking about, you know what the best way to learn is by making mistakes.

Oh my God, you are so right. How do I do that? How do I build in? Failure into my exercises. And I came, by the way, super hard, but it's super hard to do. Um, there was a post on LinkedIn from our good friend Green Gupta, asking that same question. Um, I haven't quite figured that one out, but it's still one of those things I know I wanna try.

Right. Um, on amongst a list of a, about a thousand other things that, um, people who I respect have said, I've tried this, it's really good. You should totally, totally try it. Yeah, and I've, I've been there where I've built something with the experience of failure built in and I was like, no, you gotta get to this point.

And it's funny to watch the, the learner react to it, cuz some of them were just like, what the heck? I got that wrong. I just, like, they're back in school again. They're like, no, I'm I, I'm gonna get a hundred percent on this thing, you know, and go back because it was built in with intention that you have to do the thing.

So if you don't know the thing, you're not gonna do it right. And so that's one of those interesting things, and I just remember that clearly, that person being so upset and then getting that feedback and saying, but you learned, didn't you? And they're like, Yes. Like how do we remind ourselves about what's unique amongst ourselves, our, you know, strengths, gifts, and abilities?

How, how can we do that so that can build an environment where we inspire ourselves, inspire others? Absolutely. So I'm gonna tell a little bit of a story before going into that, um, uh, about someone that I was, uh, chatting with here recently. Uh, and I've been going through this, uh, exercise of really identifying what do I want?

How do I want it, how, what do I wanna do? Um, how do I wanna do it the best? How can I be the best at what I'm doing as I'm doing it? And that's where all of this inspiration talk is coming from for me personally. And I'm helping, um, this person. Um, I try to learn, they're fresh outta school. They're trying to figure out what to do for next and all of those things.

And I was talking to her and she was, I was like, you're great at this. You're gonna do it. Everything's gonna be wonderful. You have these things, you have these skills, you have these gifts, you can do this thing, these things. And um, she, she let me know and she stopped me and she said, People have been telling me that my whole life, that I'm really, really good at stuff.

Um, whether it's people that she's worked with, her former bosses that she's gonna go places and she would lay in bed at night and wonder why. And in that moment when I was thinking about what to I tell this person, I was inspired by. Shown an anime of all things. Um, and, and in that moment, I, I let her know that she needed to have a statement of truth for herself.

And I said, those and shown an anime, one of the things that they all have is a statement of truth that nobody is ever gonna tell them different. I am the Hoka or whatever, right? Mm-hmm. And she's like, that is the most adjacent thing that I've ever heard come from your mouth. And I was like, yeah. Because that's what I'm inspired by.

That's when I go and I watch these things or I look at these things. I'm inspired by the, the, the, the story beat. That, that one thing is so relatable, that statement that I am going to work on and I am going to do. So when we talk about what are your unique gifts, strengths and abilities, it's really important to have that statement of truth for yourself.

What is it that you do and how are you going to do that thing? And. The important piece of that is you're not gonna let anybody else, you know, sever that truth for you. And so think about when you are trying to get that, um, think about what it is that you do well and how you do that thing today. And can you simply state that thing in a couple of words or less?

Do y'all have that statement? I do. Oh yeah. Do I wanna make, make beautiful things. Mm. Aw, that's, that's wonderful. That's the one thing I, I, art, I love making the world beautiful. Mm-hmm. So, and that's your truth. Nobody's gonna stop you from doing that. And No. And if I said, Zeda, you can't make beautiful things.

You just, you know, and I'm like, you can stop me,

because that's what I wanna do. Indeed. Let's, let's hear somebody else with you. Like I have like my, uh, my core statement, my core. And you know, like when I coach people, I, I tell them something very similar. Like, Hey, at the heart of you is, is this, yes no switch is this core statement, this core belief. And like, what is yours?

And I know mine, uh, I absolutely, positively feed off of and need helping people to like be ready to make. Pivotal life decisions. Like, not like everyday stuff like which grocery store should I go to, but like those difficult life defining choices. Like, I love to know that I have played a part in helping somebody be ready to make the decision that's right for them.

Like that's, that's, uh, that, that's, that's me. Yeah. I agree. You've been there. Cool. Thanks. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, for sure. You know what's really interesting that you bring this up? The very first thing that popped into my head is something that I had to recently develop for myself. So if you think about the world that we live in, um, just having a sidebar conversation for this podcast with people, like, I'm not looking for a new job.

A lot of people looking to transition, right? A lot of lot of listeners looking to transition, Hey, I want to go to K-12, I want to get into id, or, I'm sick and tired of Id, I wanna get into coaching, whatever. Like, you have to have an elevator pitch for yourself because in the interview process we all get this question, which is, Ooh, tell me about yourself.

And nine times outta 10, what we do is say, here's the long, um, a bridged version of my resume. Ma'am or sir, which is boring as I'll get out and not great. So having that elevator pitch that is, um, associated to your truth is really, really important. So the abridged version of mine is that I'm a learning architect and coach who um, really loves to inspire others to develop engaging, relevant, and, um, Fun learning activities that help others grow and provide impact for those they serve.

That's my truth. And for me, the most important part in that is that, that is that personal growth part. Cause I think far too often in our sphere of influence, people are like, well, we gotta deliver results to the bottom line. We gotta make things happen. Like I, I really want people to grow through that process.

If you're, if you're. They're not mutually exclusive. I said it a thousand times. They're not mutually exclusive. You could deliver impact, whatever that impact needs to be. But there needs to be that human growth people need to get better. I don't care what you're training compliance on, why they should change their password, still has that human growth potential in it that I really wanna unlock.

Yeah. And, and mine's similar like mine is, I, I have two statements, but like my, my purpose statement, my one, my truth is I help people grow. That's, that's what I do. Like if I can, uh, go and, um, the people around me say, yeah, that Jason Guy, um, he relentless, he's relentless in the pursuit of helping me grow.

Like he just, he's on me. He's telling me about it. He's talking to me about it. Um, he wants me to get to that. He's helping me figure out what I need to do next. Like, he's helping me. Like that's, that's what I want to do for the people around me. Whether they report to me, they're a friend that I talk to or, or whatever.

Like, that's, that's important to me. And so that's what I gear my strength to. That's what I, that's what I gear my, uh, my gift and my abilities. I, I have a, another one where I create experiences just cause it's fun. That's more passion based, right? That's my passion statement. I create experiences and that's just fun for me.

And I lean into that and I study those two things. In my day to day, I study how can I help people grow and how can I create experiences? And that's where I find my inspiration. All right, so we're getting to that, uh, point in time in the show. We're gonna start to think about wrapping things up. Before we do, Jason, this has been great.

Like I think we could talk all night and you know, oh yeah. Get you back and talk some more. Cause I think it's really thought provoking, which is great. What are some, what are some things, or maybe just that one thing that you wanted to make sure that our listeners. Really take home with them today that either you didn't get a chance to talk about or you would like to spend a little more time talking?

Um, the one thing that I'll say, um, is that when you are feeling that things are becoming normal and easy, that's when you need to reach out and realize that maybe things are not, um, as they should be. Um, if you've gotten to a place where you're like, Hey, This is very rigid and I'm not growing. If you're looking at something that you created today and it looks the same as what you created six months ago or a year ago even, you need to look at it and identify, okay, I've, I've gotten into a rut.

What is next? And so that's the main thing that I wanna make sure that we. Takeaway today is I've, I've been there. I'm, I, as I said, I'm a grizzle professional. I will do it and do it the same if I can because it's easy. And if it's easy, it's not necessarily wrong, but it doesn't mean it's your best.

Alright, Jason. Hey, thanks for, uh, showing up, um, amazing things. Could you go ahead and do us a favorite or. Audience know how they can connect with you? Absolutely. You can, uh, find me on, um, LinkedIn. I'm a manager of instructional design. There's a lot of Jason Watson's out there, but I think I looked and there's only one that is a manager of instructional design.

Uh, and then you can also email me at, uh, jason bo smiles gmail.com. No, I am not a dentist. I am just very happy person. That's, that's all that is. Woo. That's right. Promoting positivity, which is a good thing that to do. And I don't care who you are, what you say, it's a really good thing to do. We all need more of that, so thanks for being on the show, Jason.

Fantastic stuff. Daniel son. Yes. Scott, could you do us all a favor and let everyone know how they can connect with us? Absolutely. All right. Party people. You know the drill. If you haven't already, email us at nerds@thelearningnerds.com. Email us any questions you might have. Join in on the discussion. Tell us what keeps you inspired to keep doing what you're doing.

We would really love to know and we would love to share it with others. If you're on Facebook, you can find us at Learning Nerds for our Instagram folks, fab Learning nerds. And lastly, for more information about us, what we do and updates we've got coming up www.thelearningnerds.com. Scott.