The Lab
The Lab is where I think out loud. These are my raw notes, half-formed ideas, scripture observations, clinical patterns I’m noticing, things I’m working through, and who knows what else.
I also like to make things, so The Lab is my way of holding myself accountable.
This is where it happens before it gets polished and market-y. Newest posts at the top.
Simplifying Your Scope Beats Perfecting Your Process
/in The Lab/by loriQuite the on ramp to yesterday’s video. 😂
My camera roll will always call shenanigans on my perfectionism.
I realized I was struggling because I was trying to cover too much ground.
The more complex, the harder it is for me to do it smoothly without any notes.
These shorts are designed to be one idea, narrow and easy to explain.
Things I know like the back of my hand.
Publishing is the metric right now.
So I simplified my scope. And it turned out okay.
The only way through perfection is to have the courage to do the imperfect thing.
There are no hacks with this one.
— LRM
Why I’m Posting a YouTube Video Every Day
/in The Lab/by loriLast week I launched a series on YouTube called “Wisdom from the Wellhouse,” so named because I mostly office from a 10×10 wellhouse shed.
These videos are short, quick takes. The idea is to just get started on YouTube.
For many years, video has been my nemesis. I’ve shied away from it for a long time.
I think my best work is in my written words, and I really struggle to get my point across when my words have to come from my face.
But the best way to learn how to do it, is just to do it (thanks for the reminder, Nike).
There’s precedent for this. I started posting on X (formerly Twitter) a little over a year ago. My task was simply to write at least one post every day, one I put some thought in.
X has been a marvelous sandbox. I not only achieved that goal, but I also found my voice. A voice I hadn’t heard since high school.
So I wondered, could I do the same with YouTube? If I just post a video every day, one idea, one shot, would I actually do it?
I created a track record on X, so I’m hopeful that I can now do this on a bigger stage.
It’s only been a week, but so far I look forward to making them every day. I’m making a lot of mistakes, but I’ve already identified a few things to improve.
Next stop is longer videos. Here’s my most recent short one if you want to take a look. Good heavens, look how big my face is!
I’d be over the moon if you subscribed, too.
— LRM
Welcome to The Lab!
/in The Lab/by loriThis is a new effort to capture some of my daily raw thoughts. It’s a callback to the old-school blog approach.
Back in the day, web logs were a way for developers to capture changes to their projects over time. They were a series of quick notes in reverse chronological order. This made it easy to track progress and also troubleshoot.
The marketers got a hold of web logs, gave them a fancy name — blogs — and they became something to court attention.
Once you start courting attention, things change.
You give more thought to how something comes across because you’re trying to appeal to readers instead of capturing something you want to remember.
Now, in the social media era, we’ve lost the concept of sharing as creating a body of work.
Everyone is a marketer now.
Everyone has an audience.
Everyone is a broadcaster.
In this world, metrics are king.
If you can’t measure it, it isn’t real. If it doesn’t hook attention and appeal to the fears and longings of the populace, it’s not worth doing.
A sad state of affairs because the deep thinkers get lost in this shuffle. We need our deep thinkers now more than ever.
The Lab is my stake in the ground back to that space.
I’m building something, and I need the belief to make it happen. I’m cool if you guys are along for the ride. In fact, it would be enormously helpful to me.
The Lab is where I intend to record my humanity along the way.
If you want to follow me these are probably two of the best ways:
My lab posts won’t all be this long, or maybe they will be, but I wanted you to have some context.
I will turn on commenting and social shares if you find something you want to put into your own spaces.
— LRM