The eLearning Companion to Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal

With a pandemic looming and lingering, a long period of sheltering in place presented an opportunity to move back-burner projects to the forefront. With a pause in client work, both this business owner and employees could focus on some fun stuff. Long-time employee Julia expressed an interest in learning Articulate Storyline 360 to create eLearning content. The question was, “What existing content could we use?”

For 35 years, Shenouda Associates Inc. has created technical and business publications for clients, from guides that show users how a product works to manuals that service engineers use when installing equipment, replacing parts, doing adjustments, and more. Over the past 10 years, I have authored and published my own books, both in print and eBook formats. With the help of my extraordinary employees, these books have been inside jobs, from writing and editing, to designing and publishing, to distributing through online stores. One book, Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal, proved to be the right candidate to use for eLearning content. Thus, the process began.

Julia explored the capabilities of Articulate Storyline 360. Early on, she wrote, “My first goal was just to see how well the tool could handle users answering the types of questions in the Career Success book.” She found that the tool could handle the book’s essay, multiple-choice, and fill-in-the-blank questions.

Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal includes a Self-Assessment in which readers begin to explore their strengths, their likes, and their current work situation. The book also includes My Evolving Story, a series of 12 stories (each aligned with one of the 12 steps to career success) in which readers fill in the blanks to write their own story for moving forward at work or in other life endeavors. The Self-Assessment and My Evolving Story are the backbone of the eLearning companion.

Julia continued to learn the tool and communicate her progress. Throughout the development process, I set the direction, reviewed drafts, and offered feedback.

With the eLearning ready to share, the focus now is finding organizations and groups that can benefit from using it as a standalone tool, a companion to the book, or in preparation for an instructor-led workshop.

I applaud Julia’s desire to learn Articulate Storyline 360 and consider the resulting eLearning product impressive and useful.

If you would like to try the eLearning companion and feed back how it worked for you, please provide contact information below.

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A little of this, a little of that

With second editions of my three books now published, I’m launching them! Ready or not, world, here they are. Happily, there are some occasions to introduce them.

What’s happening?

October 6, 2018, Irondequoit Library’s Local Author Day, 1 to 4 p.m. Along with other authors, I′ll be there discussing, selling, and signing my books. If you’re in the area, please stop by. For more information, click here.

October 7, 2018, Hosted by The Shift to Wellness, 5 to 6 p.m. EDT. Kirstin Kurtz Pinit interviews me during this online discussion and reading of Living Well in Froggy′s World of Plenty: Sweet Talk to Read Aloud. If you missed the discussion, take a look here.

December 2, 2018, at the Irondequoit Public Library, 1290 Titus Ave, Rochester, NY, Room 113. Author meet and greet at 1:30 p.m., author reading and talk at 2:00 p.m., and book sale and signing at 2:30 p.m.

I’m ready, willing, and able to participate in events and tell the story of these books, including why I wrote them, who influenced me, and how they came to life. I’m eager to share bits of wisdom learned about living well that, in one way or another, found their way into my books. My intention is to inspire you and others to live with abundance.

How can you help?

Take a look inside these new 2018 second editions:

Career Success in 12 Easy Steps, A Journal

Living Well in Froggy’s World of Plenty: Sweet Talk to Read Aloud

A Bisl of This, A Bisl of That: Eating Our Way

If you like what you see, write an Amazon review, ask me to be a guest blogger, and invite me to participate in your events. Tell me where I can share a little of this and a little of that about living well at work, in nature, and with food, family, friends.

Reach out to me at Shenouda@easescommunication.com. I would love to hear from you.

 

Meet the second edition…

A new cover, refreshed content, and a larger page size greet you in Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal.

First edition

Several years ago, I was spending too many hours in front of a computer, writing manuals for clients and managing a technical writing business. Working from a home-based office, I missed being with people. I remembered my teaching days and the exchanges that take place in group settings. I wanted to get out more to talk and listen and learn, and created a plan to transition from computer time plying my craft to sharing my work with others. Thus, the motivation for Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal was born.

Authoring, publishing, and marketing the first edition of my first book had its rewards.

Others enjoyed journaling their way to career success as evidenced in reviewers’ comments:

“Using it as it’s meant to be used, as a journal, you’ll be amazed at what you reveal to yourself.”

“The magic of this work-book is that it can be used by people at any stage in their career to help focus on what they want to be doing—a key ingredient to being successful.”

“It’s an unassuming little book that will not intimidate young people preparing to go forward with more confidence. It’s a good way for experienced adults to mentor them without preaching!”

“Quite unique to this book were a fill-in-the-word story at the end of each chapter and a complete story at the end of the book. These are not just silly Mad-Lib stories! Each section asks you to own your own dreams, successes, skills, etc. I feel like my story of career success has been written, and it is now up to me to live it and make it a reality!”

“The question ‘What are you wearing?’ led me to my ah-ha moment. I pictured myself in casual sporty clothes, holding a patient chart. Combining this with other pieces of the puzzle I had put together with the help of this book, I have found my new passion.”

Second edition

Over the past several months, I have worked on a second edition of Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal. Like the first edition, this new, improved edition is intended for those in transition from school to work, from one work experience to another, or from work to other meaningful pursuits. The scenarios and guided journaling activities offer readers time and space to think, explore, doodle, draw, dream, and create success stories. Parents, teachers, and other growth coaches might just find this book the perfect tool to support those who are journeying toward a productive, fruitful life.

This second edition of Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal has refreshed content, a new cover, and a larger page size, allowing readers to journal away. Go ahead. Take a Look Inside. I hope you like what you see.

Living well

Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal offers a path for living well at work. The living well theme finds its way into each of my books.

Living Well in Froggy’s World of Plenty: Sweet Talk to Read Aloud, through Froggy and his critter friends, explores living well in nature.

A Bisl of This, A Bisl of That: Eating Our Way has recipes and stories for living well with food, family, and friends.

Here’s to happy reading and happy living.

Looking good

Back cover for A Bisl of This, A Bisl of That: Eating Our Way

A new look

This week, I dressed up my blog! The old header, which highlighted Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal, my first book, is gone. A new, impressionistic splurge of colors now appears. Just above it, there is a new menu item, Eating Our Way. Just above that, there’s a new book title, A Bisl of This, A Bisl of That: Eating Our Way. And to the right, there’s a new image, showing off one very tasty dish―part cookbook, part inspiration, part memoir―that is now hot off the press! With this facelift completed, I sit back, look, and enjoy it.

A new book

The reason for this new look? I wanted to include my new book in this blog. The original blog focused on how to transition successfully from one phase of work or one phase of life to another, based on the process detailed in Career Success in 12 Easy Steps: A Journal.

This refreshed, revitalized blog retains the existing blog entries and categories and additionally showcases the results of paying attention to the many earlier postings in this blog. Being mindful of Capabilities, talents, and strengths; Decision-making, problem-solving, and organizing; Motivation and inspiration; Self-discovery and self-actualization through exploration and reflection; and Work and life balance; I now have A Bisl of This, A Bisl of That: Eating Our Way as an addition to my Products, services, and offerings. It is now among my Success stories!

A new opportunity―for you

Look over this blog. See what resonates. Let the postings, the comments, the books, the menu, and the categories evoke something positive in you. Let the impressionistic dots, patterns, ripples, waves, and colors splashed in the new header allow you to picture an opportunity that is waiting just for you. Perhaps it is a project, a product, or another creation. Tell us about it. Tell the world!

Gratitude. Generosity. Sustenance.

Next weekend, I am attending my high school reunion. Many, many years have passed―more than I care to admit. I will be driving a relatively short distance, just 70 miles or so, to the place I forever consider my home and will be staying in the bedroom I shared―from my entry to kindergarten to graduation from high school―with an older sister. At just about the same time, we both moved to new digs. She got married, and I went to college. Until recently, my mother (Ma) lived upstairs, along with one of my three brothers, and other members of our family have occupied the downstairs. With Ma now playing “Pennies from Heaven” and other favorite songs on a piano in her celestial abode, returning home is no longer the same, but with family there, it is still very, very good.

For me, this upcoming trip requires no extensive travel arrangements, and I’m all set as far as attire, since that is not a primary concern. For any occasion, including this one, I simply put myself together and am presentable. After a glance in the mirror to adjust anything that might obviously be amiss, I move on.

Yet, this occasion, this milestone, this high school reunion does cause me to pause.

Wood works wonders.

My writing desk is a work in progress.

While you are looking at this photo of a work in progress, I am marveling over the real deal—the varnished, cherry writing desk, now with knobs on the two drawers and a panel that goes over the drawer on the left to provide additional surface.

From the unfinished writing desk that my brother Larry and my cousin Marty are modeling in the photo, you can likely tell that this is homemade. Larry, our family’s very own woodworker and furniture maker, asked me what I’d like at the start of this very tough upstate New York winter. Answering Larry’s question was easy. I wanted a writer’s desk.

Take a first step. Let the momentum unfold.

Sometimes, we look at the end result of a new endeavor and get stuck. The effort needed to start and the energy required to persist are just too much. So, what can we do? We can take a first step. We can take a second step and a third.
I recall hearing a new year’s resolution a while ago, in which someone wanted to start an exercise routine. She committed to taking this one step every day—after getting dressed, she would put on her running shoes. The next thing she knew, she was outdoors every day and walking. As the days wore on, she picked up her pace, making good use of those running shoes.
For all of us, in time, the momentum builds, and the results become apparent. Making progress and achieving a goal no longer seem difficult or insurmountable. I took a first step a few months ago on a family project.

Inspire thyself

You, too, can inspire thyself!

In-spire. Yes, breathe in. Take in some fresh air. Become refreshed. Become renewed. Look, listen, touch, smell, taste from the many creations in art, crafts, literature, movies, music, and nature that surround you. Many of these sources of inspiration are others’ creations. Yet, some sources may come from you—at an earlier time, perhaps in a different place. Look back at your work, and let it move you to something better, something great, maybe even something profound.

In the two plus years that Career Success in 12 Easy Steps—A Journal has been available, I have written blogs and presentation material for seminars and webinars—all intended to inspire and motivate others—and myself—to move their life in a positive direction.

And now is a time to pause, to reflect  on my own words.

A granddaughter remembers

In early 2013, while reading Shifra’s Story, written by my book club colleague, I recalled writing some of Kalman’s Story and discovered my handwritten pages, likely written around 1980. This story is my recollection of how my grandfather, my Pa, started a journey at the turn of the 20th century from Must, Poland, that led him, eventually, to the United States. With the passing during the last days of 2012 of Pa’s precious daughter, who was my dear mother, I treasure the many family stories that live in my memory. I will do my part, now, to preserve them by writing what I consider to be sacred texts.

Comment: It’s now 2019 and an unexpected introduction to a cousin on Kalman’s side of the family caused me to look into the sparse notes taken so many years ago from family members long gone. It appears that Gittel’s sister (Kalman’s maternal aunt) was named Leah. Kalman had a paternal aunt named Chani and a paternal uncle named Ellie.

“Mmmm. Ouch. Ugh.” moaned Kalman. His little legs ached as he ran. His little arms hurt as they held on to the wagon. Running—literally—to freedom and safety meant holding on to the back of the eggman’s horse-drawn wagon and keeping up with a horse’s four legs that were much longer and speedier than his two.

“What’s that I hear?” murmured Reb Mayer. He stopped the wagon. “Who’s there?” Reb Mayer stopped the wagon, sprung to the ground, walked to the back of the wagon, and found Kalman. “What are you doing here?”

No answer came from the eight-year-old boy. A pleading, pained look said, “Please offer me a ride.”

“Come on up front. Have a crust of bread. And tell me why you’re here.”

Kalman began, “I know you stop at Bialystock. I want to go there.” To Kalman, Bialystock meant Mama Gittel’s sister and her children. It meant an end to Must.

Advice can be your Valentine’s Day gift

It is said that advice is cheap. We know that many people give it freely. So freely, that those of us on the receiving often end pay little attention. Since this month includes Valentine’s Day, I started thinking about how advice is sometimes a precious gift. Let me introduce you to Thomas Transport, Star Singer, and Polly Politico. Consider how their advice can inspire you to dream about your career success, give you high hopes, and motivate you to take some next steps!

Like Orville and Wilbur Wright, Thomas Transport is an inventor. He dreams of combining technologies from land, sea, and air transports into a brand new vehicle. Others say that Thomas’s new vehicle can’t be built, because the design he envisions has never been built before. Yet, he continues to tinker with the many scrap parts he collects from builders of traditional modes of transportation. He persists. His advice? Keep at it. Accept others’ discards. Experiment. You might just transform what appears to be junk into a real treasure.

Star Singer lost her job and her home. Yet, she continues to dream that someday, one of those homes she sees with a “for sale” sign will be her home. As she looks at the smoke coming from a chimney, she envisions a day when she will be warmly snuggled inside. Though hungry, Star finds it difficult to ask for help. The solution? She volunteers to work in a community cupboard as payment for food. She sees others with needs, offers a smile and a song, starts entertaining for free, and then finds paid gigs. One day, she will have a home and fill a community cupboard for others. Star’s advice? Whatever your current circumstance, pick up the pieces, start over, and remember to give back.

Polly Politico dreams of one day being President! Still in her 20s, she runs for mayor of her town and dreams of empowering all constituents—young, old, disenfranchised, and privileged—to revitalize the community.