“A year from now, you will wish you had started today.”
— Karen Lamb
Happy Friday! I hope you’re new year is off to a great start. I’m very grateful for our holiday activities this year. I was able to visit Karl in Louisville, explore Cincinnati, discover some authentic Belgian waffles and watch our kids (from afar) march at Disney. Lots of things that put drops in my bucket!
As always, thanks for reading.
What I’m Listening To: Karl turned me onto Dirty Heads while I was visiting with him last week. They’re one of my new favorites. Here is a nice playlist with them and other similar artists for you to try
Last Week’s Most Clicked:
How to Fill Horizontal Slides With Vertical Images
📰 News & Notes

Learning Design 3.0
AI is already impacting how we create content. Thanks to Ai, writing, creating images, creating video is becoming increasingly quick, cheap and commoditized. In this article, Dr Philippa Hardman explores how to get & stay ahead of the learning design game in a post-AI world.
“The winners in the online learning space will be those who focus not just on getting to grips with AI-driven content creation tools but also dedicate time to understanding an emerging field unknown even by AI – learning science.”

6 Ways AI Can Support Your Content Creation
AI is no longer just a pipe dream. It’s here & it’s ready to help you create killer content! This article from the Buffer blog shares 6 ways AI is already supporting content creation & some of the top tools in the game.
Learn more about how new AI tools can help you level up!

Creating Custom Graphics in PowerPoint with Kevin Thorn
Tired of paying for custom graphics or struggling to find the perfect image online? It’s time to take matters into your own hands and learn to create your own! In this TLDC webinar, Kevin Thorn shows how anyone can use PowerPoint to make custom graphic elements that will elevate any project.

How to Read a Book: The Ultimate Guide by Mortimer Adler
Part of a series on reading by Farnam Street. this guide dives into how to read a book using the classical framework provided by Mortimer Adler.
By the time you finish reading, you’ll have a framework for reading at different levels that you can apply right away.

RSS: The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving Time & Staying Informed
Tired of visiting multiple websites daily to see if there’s any new content? An RSS feed aggregates all that information in one place, saving you time and energy.
Plus, you can customize your news feed to only include topics that interest you and receive updates as soon as new articles are published.
- Shrink Your Files, Not Your Productivity
Sick of breaking a sweat trying to send large files via email? Over 3 million people have discovered the solution with NXPowerLite. With a 4.9-star rating and named the “best file compressor money can buy,” it’s a no-brainer. Try it for free for 14 days and say goodbye to those pesky file size limits
. - A Better Way to Read Your Newsletters
Reading newsletters in the inbox is frustrating – it is noisy and easy to lose control of subscriptions. Now you can enjoy your newsletters outside the inbox with Meco, an app built for reading.
Try Meco – it’s completely free!
. - 2.6 million people wake up to this newsletter every morning
There’s a reason over 2.6 million people start their day with Morning Brew – the daily email that delivers the latest news from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Business news doesn’t have to be dry and dense…make your mornings more enjoyable, for free.
Check it out!
🎧 Podcasts

Learning Science
101
Join Dr. Philipa Hardman for an enlightening podcast on the science of learning and course design. Explore what the research says about the most effective ways to design courses and the five key things you need to know and do to incorporate the science of learning into your course design.

Thriving amid
Information Overload
Gloria Mark discusses what attention is, how email can be a main source of stress, and what the study of Informatics is. She explains how being an artist prepared her for studying psychology, how well-being should be prioritized over productivity in the workplace, and how self-interruption is a major culprit of distraction.

Is Training The Answer?
.
Get ready to be inspired by Christopher Lind, VP and Chief Learning Officer at ChenMed, host of the Learning Tech Talks podcast, and founder of Learning Sharks. In this episode, we chat with Christopher about his revolutionary approach to L&D at ChenMed, his thoughts on ROI, and how he created an ‘invisible learning organization.’
🧰 Tech, Tools & Tips
Snipd
A podcast player that gives you an AI-generated transcript & summary of your favorite podcasts.
Upcarta
Curated knowledge base that helps you discover great books, videos, podcasts, articles, tweets & more.
Phosphor
Phosphor is a flexible icon family for interfaces, diagrams, presentations — whatever, really.
OOO Message Generator
Next time you take some time off, use this site for a personalized and playful ‘Out Of Office’ email.
🧳 Where’s Mike?
- Central Ohio ATD, January 18, Dublin Library
- Mid-New Jersey ATD, February 21, 2023
- New Zealand ATD Conference, March 15-16, 2023
Expert Webinar: Making Self-Directed Learning Engaging for a Variety of Learners
In this webinar, Patricia Regier, Online Expert and L&D Specialist, will share her valuable experience of how to make self-directed learning online courses engaging and pro tips on how to reach the various learning preferences of your group.
When: Friday, January 13, 11:00 AM EST
Friday Finds is an independent publication that I produce in my free-time. You can support my work by sharing it with the world, booking an advertising spot, or by buying me a coffee.