Navigating a Whackadoodle World: Episode Alpha and Omega
A Whackadoodle discussion in which my student and I explain how our weekly email lessons work, so our subscribers can use them successfully.
“I have decided how to handle the next cycle of the rules,” she informed me as soon as she sat down.
“Have you now?”
“Yes I have. We have new subscribers who know nothing about them. We have old subscribers who have already read everything you’ve written about them. We need a way to bring the two groups together.”
“Good point, but I thought that we were no longer going to call them rules.”
“Guideposts then.” She flapped her hand dismissively. “Do you want to hear my idea or what?”
“I would love to hear your idea.”
“I’m thinking that each week, we provide links to past episodes, so your new subscribers won’t skip ahead and get lost. And in the same posts, we also post links to our newest episodes, so your oldest subscribers don’t have to read the same episode again. This is a story after all.”
“So you are proposing that once a week, we post an article about past links?”
“I am proposing that you give your readers a chance to read your work in it’s context. The context they need to understand what you’ve taught me. People can’t just show up in the middle and be expected to understand what’s going on.”
“So how would we begin?”
“Well,” she paused in thought. “We could start with the prologue, but that really wasn’t our best work.”
“Agreed, that was not our best work.” I looked at her thoughtfully. “Couldn’t we just keep pointing out that that if someone comes into the middle of story, we have a link to the table of contents?” I suggested.
“No,” she said emphatically. “We have been doing that for months and that is not working. I believe that is your first rule,” she closed her eyes before continuing. “I mean that your first guidepost includes the idea that if you keep doing the same thing expecting a different result, you might be insane.”
“That’s not quite what the first guidepost says, but I’m listening.”
“So we need a new strategy because what we have been doing is not working.”
“True enough,” I admitted. She was still looking at me expectantly, so I continued. “So you are suggesting a new format for what we have been doing?” Her head started to nod up and down, so I went on. “You think that we need one post a week with links to our previous episodes about that week’s guidepost, just to remind people to remember the guideposts?” Her head continued to nod happily. “So how would we organize it?” I asked tentatively.
“Oh,” she pushed at my shoulder. “Just move over and let me do it. It’s easiest if I just show you what I have been thinking.”
I lifted my fingers from the key pad and put my hands up. “Fine, have at it.”
“So each new episode would look something like this,” she said getting settled. Soon she was typing away, so I went to make coffee.
Navigating a Whackadoodle World: Episode X, or How to Navigate the Guideposts
A Whackadoodle discussion in which my student and I explain how our weekly email lessons work, so our subscribers can use them successfully
Click here is you would like to view the complete Table of Contents
“See,” she looked up happily, when I returned with my coffee. “This is where we would say something cool about that week’s guidepost. Maybe quote something from your books. Maybe write something new.” she shrugged. “Basically, it would give people a reminder of what that particular guidepost is about. Next we would give links to the previous episodes about that same guidepost. For example, since both the prologue, and the epilogue talk about how to use the guideposts, they belong on this page because it also explains how to use the guideposts. I suppose it could look like this,” she said and bent back over the keyboard.
Navigating a Whackadoodle World: A Prologue
“I think that we need to start talking more about your rules, and less about my lessons,” she said, slamming her algebra book shut. “How's that?” “Well, isn't the point of our website to get people intrigued by Navigating Life?”
Navigating a Whackadoodle World: An Epilogue
"What do we tackle next?" I parroted back, rapping my knuckles on the table. "I should have thought that would be obvious. We must imitate Ben Franklin's 'bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.'"
“Next, we could add a quick note about that week’s rule.” She looked up sheepishly. “I mean guidepost,” she corrected and rushed on. “We might even write a whole new article and include that for our most loyal subscribers. We could add pretty much anything we wanted. We could even add something like this:”
“Finally, we finish with all the usual. You know, Comment, Share, Subscribe. I suppose it could look like this:”
She sat back, stretched out her arms, and cracked her knuckles. “What do you think?” she asked with pride.
“What do I think?” I considered. “I think we should give it a try.”