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Lessons from strangers.

Two weeks ago I put up a new blog post. Those who read to the bottom were rewarded with a 30 min free call with me—if they acted fast enough. It was an exercise in spontaneity, adventure, and paying attention. I ended up having 13 calls over 2 days, and it was one of the most energizing and inspiring things I've done. I loved every conversation, and those conversations have directly impacted the work I've put into the world ever since. I realized many of the questions weren't unique to those conversations. Today's newsletter is one little look and exploration of many of the themes that came up.

My Venn diagram has already been updated multiple times from when I first posted it. Here's the latest iteration. The updates are subtle, but impactful. This week's newsletter may be light on "travel" but who ever said that to travel you need to go somewhere anyway?!? ✈️

Listen. 

I told a friend about my calls with strangers experiment and she recommended the podcast Beautiful/Anonymous. "1 phone call. 1 hour. No names. No holds barred." Despite having a comedian as a host, life gets real before it gets funny. The first one I happened to listen to was a mother headed to the hospital to hear the latest scan results for her 10 year old daughter's rare form of cancer. Just wow. Every call is different, and your empathy for how someone else lives grows with each one. (Warning: There is more opening talk + ads than most pods, but stick with it. Listen for the awkward silences and embrace them.)

Read.

It's really easy to always have an answer for everything. During my calls, I found myself focusing on listening and not immediately trying to interject. In fact, the simple act of listening was one of the most inspiring things I've done for myself in a long time. Each of my posts in the section below was inspired by conversations I had during my calls. Instead of writing for myself, I was writing responses that could really be useful to someone else.

I recently discovered the work of Bobette Buster who is known for work in storytelling in cinema. I picked up her latest book Do/Listen and couldn't put it down. Listening is a topic we could all learn to be better at, especially in the state of the world we live in. The book takes a social activism slant and also integrates exercises for better listening. The secret: it's about listening, really listening.

Write.

It's NaNoWriMo aka National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write every day and every little bit adds up. So much so that you have a novel at the end of it. While I have plenty of ideas for books and screenplays (one day), for now I'm just trying to write more (and having a lot of fun with it). My goal is to post something on one of my many channels every day this month inspired by real life conversations.

Just because we're a few days into the month, don't let that stop you for starting a project you've been talking about doing for too long! Allez, go!

Vote.

No matter what country you live in, it seems that the U.S. elections are something on everyone's mind these days. It inevitably comes up in conversation with everyone I talk to. I've even taken to following some of my favorite candidates who have nothing to do with the state I'm from on Twitter.

Last winter at UX Camp DC I heard Dana Chisnell speak about the design of voting systems. Dana worked as the "generalist problem solver” for the United States Digital Service in the Obama White House, and co-founded the Center for Civic Design whose slogan is "democracy is a design problem". They do amazing work and share great case studies on their website. As Americans prepare to vote on Tuesday, I recommend checking out the epic journey of American voters. 🇺🇸 Everyone VOTE!!!

⚡️ N E W S F L A S H ⚡️
I started a second blog. It's all about business stuff. The direct link is anneditmeyer.com/biz-blog. The entire website is long overdue for a refresh as my work keeps pivoting, but for now you can also find it (slightly hidden) by scrolling down to the footer of the website.

On the Anne channels.

Inspired by FAQs.
One of the unexpected ways my "calls with strangers" tended to start was with the person on the other side telling me how/when they first started following me and my work. It spanned everything from reading an article I wrote for a print magazine years ago, to my Skillshare classes, or someone else's social media post I was tagged in. I was pleasantly surprised that people mentioned projects that I didn't even feel like people knew existed.

As a creator you often put things out into the world but there's very little feedback to know you're on the right track. Having spent the past year and a half of my life teaching UX design, I've learned more and more despite all the distractions and hype around us, it's really ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE.

So that brings us to you. While I know you feel like you signed up for a one sided newsletter, I'd love to know what brought you here. How did you "meet" me? What side of my work did you first discover? When? How? Where? What side do you want to see more from? I'd love to hear from you! Just hit reply to this email. Don't overthink it. Just say hello. 📬🤗

Like much of my work at the moment, this newsletter is an experiment until I see what sticks. I give you full permission to unsubscribe at anytime. No offense taken. On the flip side, if you did enjoy it, please consider passing it along to a friend who you think would enjoy it (they can sign up here), or share your favorite part on social media so others can discover it too. This is how I find all the best stuff to share with you.

p.s. You can also join the conversation online where I'm @pretavoyager on Twitter and Instagram.

p.s.s. If I do another round of "calls with strangers" priority goes to this list. 💌
🌍The work of Anne S. Ditmeyer is ever changing and evolving. This week she's calling herself a creative coach and design consultant based in Paris, France. 📍
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Copyright © 2018 Anne S. Ditmeyer design + communication, All rights reserved.


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