by Dave Carlson | Aug 18, 2020 | Creativity, Life Hack
About 25 years ago, I sat across from Larry, a graphic designer. He sketched a pair of salt and pepper shakers in his sketchbook as we talked. He told me he used the book to write down cool ideas, draw sketches, and glue in samples of things he liked. And it got me... 
by Dave Carlson | Feb 28, 2019 | Perspective
It must have been odd for the waitress to see a 10-year-old boy seated at a table by himself. I don’t know what drove me to do this. I ordered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and made sure I had enough money left over to leave a tip. I know it’s weird for a... 
by Dave Carlson | Feb 8, 2019 | Digital Marketing, Perspective, Small Biz
Only 1,000 yards to go – a little more than a half-mile. Everyone else from my team was out of the water, heading to lunch. And here I was still swimming. I was part of a swim event called the 100×100. You swim 100 yards 100 times. This comes out to around 5.7... 
by Dave Carlson | Aug 16, 2018 | Coincidence
My wife is a reseller on Amazon and eBay. She was sitting at the table when she told me she got an order from Golovin, Alaska. She had heard me talk about Golovin a lot over the years. I spent a week there in the summers of 1981 and 1982 teaching Vacation Bible... 
by Dave Carlson | Aug 16, 2018 | Coincidence
There was a group of 10 of us heading back to Michigan from Alaska. We’d driven up there on a mission trip to do Vacation Bible School and work on parsonages in different Eskimo villages. Was a great trip and we were ready to get home. Through some connection, we... 
by Dave Carlson | Feb 27, 2018 | Coincidence
A beach in Hungary is different than you and I normally expect. The beaches are actually grass and you use steps to walk into the water on Lake Balaton, one of the largest lakes in Central Europe. In the summer of 1987, I spent the summer with a team of people on Lake... 
by Dave Carlson | Feb 27, 2018 | Coincidence
A wedding album. Pretty innocuous thing. I was thumbing my way through it on a rainy afternoon when I saw a surprise. My wife and I were spending a weekend in Newport, Rhode Island, with her best friend, Carrie. Carrie pulled out their wedding album since Lori was one... 
by Dave Carlson | Feb 24, 2018 | Coincidence, Perspective
My home office could feel stifling so every so often I would go work at Panera when I needed to be around humans. The closest Panera was on the edge of a mall, but I normally didn’t go into the mall because I wanted to keep an eye on my computer. I don’t think I ever... 
by Dave Carlson | Feb 24, 2018 | Coincidence, Perspective
It was the summer of 1978. My brother and I printed out a bunch of flyers and put them in the mailboxes of people through our neighborhood. We got several customers for doing lawn cutting and yard work. I did a bunch of work for Bill that summer at a couple properties... 
by Dave Carlson | Feb 22, 2018 | Coincidence
Casey worked at a digital marketing agency and spoke at a conference I attended. Because I was in the same industry I chatted with him afterward. I expressed an interest in open positions at his company. He said he’d look into it. Casey introduced me to the leaders of...