Table of Contents

35 Reasons this L&D Professional is Thankful this Season

The holidays are upon us, and it's a great time for reflection. Here are 35 things I'm thankful for. What are you thankful for?

Thanksgiving 2015

Tomorrow, millions of Americans will sit down to watch football and fill up on turkey. Then they’ll fall asleep on the couch.

It’s Thanksgiving!

Before the turkey and the football (and the nap on the couch), I wanted to take a little time to share my thanks for so many things I’m grateful for in my journey through the world of L&D this year.

I’m thankful for: 

  1. An awesome job
  2. At an awesome organization (we cure blindness!)
  3. With awesome co-workers who make me smile
  4. And awesome leadership who allow me to engage people with creative, fun, engaging (and hopefully effective!) training
  5. ATD taking a liking to my blog
  6. All of you who actually read the words I write. Without you, I’d just be some dude journaling brilliant thoughts, to myself, online. Thank you for reading, sharing, commenting, questioning, challenging and sometimes even rolling your eyes at what I’ve written. It keeps me going.
  7. Tyrod Taylor (true, he has nothing to do with L&D, but he gives me hope on Sundays, and having hope for a Buffalo Bills fan is something to be thankful for)
  8. PollEverywhere
  9. PowToon
  10. Storyline
  11. At least 97 other online tools that Jane Hart has compiled in this list.
  12. The Elearning Heroes community that has helped me out of a Storyline jam on more than one occasion
  13. An opportunity to get much more involved with my local ATD chapter
  14. The opportunity to share some lessons learned in a presentation at the eLearning Guild’s Performance Support Symposium
  15. An impromptu dinner with Tom Spiglanin at that conference (previously, I had mainly interacted with Tom only via Twitter)
  16. The creation of Project: Soapbox (follow Soapbox on Twitter if you want to get in early on a tool that will transform the way people present; it’s not quite ready yet, but it should be come spring 2016)
  17. An awesome partner in crime who’s helping transform Project: Soapbox, an idea that I first dreamt up in 2012, into a reality.
  18. Stumbling upon Melissa Marshall’s TED talk (why would you not watch something called “Talk Nerdy to Me”… especially if it only lasts 3 minutes; that’s shorter than most cat videos on YouTube!)
  19. Then having the opportunity to work with her in person!
  20. Being told about the tv show Black Mirror (if you’re in to technology AND The Twilight Zone, you ought to Netflix it… though you may wish to skip over the first episode)
  21. Getting invited to exchange thoughts and ideas about L&D (among other things) through a HipChat group organized by Melissa Milloway. (Want to join our conversation? Drop me a note.)
  22. The opportunity to write an article for TD magazine (stay tuned – a second article entitled “Think Inside the Box”  should be published in the January 2016 edition)
  23. My mother who faithfully reads my blog twice a week and sends me notes about what she likes. Hi mom!
  24. My wife who now refers to herself as Mrs. Flipchartguy and who shoos the kids away (often distracting them with freshly baked cookies) when she sees that I’m in the zone, pecking away at my next blog masterpiece. A while back she even wrote a guest post about John Medina.
  25. My two kids who remind me daily what it’s like to be excited to learn new things, and who have inspired several blog posts over the past few years.
  26. A Twitter network that never ceases to amaze me with links to eye opening information and resources that I’d otherwise never be exposed to. (Feel free to add to my Twitter network by connecting with me here)
  27. Like Tracy Parish’s list of 340 online resources for… well, there’s pretty much a resource for anything you need to do – project management, slide design, fonts, rapid authoring tools, screencasting, scheduling, color scheme picking – you name it.
  28. A running partner willing to chew up and spit out a few miles with me at 5:30am, rain or shine, darkness or light, crooked pavement or smooth track. With my heavy, ongoing addiction to ice cream and an uptick in my Frappuccino consumption this year, those morning runs might be the only reason I don’t weigh 350 pounds right now.
  29. 16 trips to India and not a single case of Delhi Belly.
  30. Wood to knock on after bragging about good health.
  31. Mr. Sketch (did you really think I’d get through a list of anything L&D related without a shout out to my #1 training buddy?)
  32. Matchbox (the pizza place in Washington, DC)
  33. Dan Jolly, who gave me my first job with “training” in the title back in 2006
  34. An opportunity to screw up… and then learn from it in order to hone my craft and get better at my job.
  35. AC/DC, the band that knows how to get a guy going on the morning of a training session

There’s my list. Anything in here resonate with you? What are you thankful for as we head into Thanksgiving and the holiday season? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comment section.

Articles Similar to 35 Reasons this L&D Professional is Thankful this Season

How to create a training plan in under 10 minutes

Using a lesson plan template (which is the most downloaded resource from this blog) can help give you structure. Using Soapbox can save you all sorts of time (and still give your presentation some structure)!

Does training actually change behavior?

Does training actually change behavior? It’s a question we should be able to answer honestly. (And the answer is: No, not 100%… and yes, but seriously, not 100%)

Hybrid Learning: When to use it

Recently I had an opportunity to talk with the folks at Mimeo about hybrid learning and when to use it. In today’s post, I share a link to that podcast, which is one in a series of podcasts they did with industry leaders on hybrid learning strategies.

Subscribe to Get Updates from Endurance Learning

Brian Washburn, Author

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll send you the latest updates from our blog. Thanks for following!

activities cookbook

Download the Training Activity Cookbook

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Endurance Learning Activity Cookbook.

Download the What's Possible in L&D Worksheet

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the What’s Possible in L&D Worksheet.

What's possible in L&D

Let's Talk Training!

Brian Washburn

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll get back to you soon.

Download the Feedback Lesson Plan

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the lesson plan as a PDF.

feedback lesson plan
MS Word Job Aid Template

Download the Microsoft Word Job Aid Template

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the Word version of this template.

Download the Free Lesson Plan Template!

Enter your email below and we’ll send you a Word document that you can start using today!

free lesson plan template
training materials checklist

Download the Training Materials Checklist

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Training Materials Checklist.

Subscribe to Endurance Learning for updates

Get regular updates from the Endurance Learning team.