Good morning my friend!
Inside this Sunday:
- I’m reading about a more peaceful existence.
- I’m working on podcasts on maths + music and our most popular YouTube video of all time.
- I’m thinking about being less judgmental and more involved.
Last Sunday we closed applications for the first cohort and I couldn’t be more pumped with the 140 incredible humans signed up to improve their ability as course creators.
You can see many of them on this Shoutout Wall.
Here are five things I’ve learned going through the process of filling the first cohort.
- Community is king
- I play a small part in whether or not this fellowship is going to be a success. My interaction with fellows will be a tiny fraction of the entire surface area of activity and relationships. It’s the culture and core values of the community that will ultimately play a bigger role in determining success.
- Community building is an intentional practice
- Luckily On Deck knows a thing or two about community, so I’ve been a sponge, learning from the best in the game at this practice. This tweet from Norman Tran is a great example of the ideas I’ve been exploring.
- Crafting a curriculum is hard
- There is so much I want to cover! The challenge is now condensing that into a meaningful story arc that takes people through the process of course creation. I’m on the flip-side now of the people I usually advise, it’s very meta.
- Nerves are energy
- I don’t feel terribly nervous right now, but I feel it building, and I’m very conscious of it being a powerfully positive force to harness for the benefit of the 140 showing up on April 11.
- Learning is a journey
- Going through this process as a course creator makes me realize even more how much of a journey learning is. I’m mapping out my 16 sessions with surgical care to ensure there is a golden thread connecting everything together. As a student of many courses like this, I know there is going to be The Dip, I know there are going to be fellows who fall off the journey, and it’s an intriguing challenge to design for.
Until I land in your inbox again, come hang out with me on Twitter.
Andrew
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MOST CLICKS
Once again, with more than 3x the clicks of the next most popular link, my article on being a Superstar Teacher is starting to catch on.
I’M READING
The Untethered Soul
I recently finished The Untethered Soul and took copious notes in the pursuit of a more peaceful and spiritual life to balance the insanity of running two businesses.
I tweeted this out this week:
Stress only happens when you resist life’s events
(I keep reminding myself)
— Andrew Barry 🦁 (@Bazzaruto) April 1, 2021
And got an interesting response:
This is the core of many philosophies: we suffer because we want reality to be different.
In Stoicism, this resulted in the dichotomy of control: constantly remembering yourself what’s within your control (and focus on that) and what’s not within your control (and accept that).
— Ramses Oudt (@rroudt) April 1, 2021
This really resonated with me because it’s so true. How I deal with my energy flow has a major effect on my life. I need to do a better job at accepting reality instead of raging against it sometimes.
This also reminded me of one of the best slam poetry performances of all time. In Buddy Wakefield’s epic The Information Man, he implores us to “stop inviting walls into wide-open spaces”.
This has stuck with me ever since I first heard it.
Watch Buddy Wakefield’s powerful 5-min performance
I’M WORKING ON
How Did You Learn That? (Podcast)
In ep 20 I chatted to Marcus Miller – a saxophonist from Harlem with a mathematics degree from Harvard. This conversation turned out delightfully as you’d expect with this interesting intersection of talents.
In ep 21 I chatted to Khe Hy in our first ever live audience recording of the show! Khe is the founder of Rad Reads and creator of Supercharge Your Productivity, an online course helping you spend time on $10K work. This was a no-holds-barred look behind the scenes of running a large cohort-based online course.
The Weekly Teach (YouTube Series)
Our 9th video has been our most popular by far. In it, I break down my approach to designing transformational online course curriculums.
Watch how to design a transformational curriculum
Hitting double figures on the journey to 52 videos this year, this next video is all about storytelling. I explain this 5-step framework with awesome facial expressions.
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Watch how I craft a narrative flow for my online course
I’M THINKING ABOUT
“To differentiate is to judge. To see, to experience, and to honor is to participate in life instead of standing back and judging it.” – Michael A. Singer
This email newsletter was originally shared with subscribers on April 4th, 2021. To receive the latest newsletters twice a month, sign up below!