It’s been a while since I’ve posted but it’s the new year so I want to let you know my plans for this site over 2011. Many of you know I keep a few blogs including TheDADvocateProject.com, Metzgerbusiness.com and now RoadToThin.com and Kevin-Metzger.com. Technically Kevin-Metzger.com isn’t a blog as I don’t post anything to that site and RoadToThin.com is a partnership with three other men. I also write at 5minutesForSpecialNeeds.com, DadRevolution.com, DadOMatic.com and soon the EastCobber.com. so you can see I’m quite busy. This site has lost focus over time and I had to think about how it fit into the other work I’m doing. Really this site and my work at 5MinutesForSpecialNeeds.com is very complimentary and I’ll be refocusing on issues related to ADD, Dyslexia and Cerebral Palsy specifically on this site. I’ll promise a weekly article to be published on Tuesdays and a reference to the article I write at 5 minutes for special needs on Thursdays. If my audience would like I’ll also point to any other articles I’ve published that week.

The one thing that I think many in this audience will miss is the Dad/family focus that many of the stories I write have. If you are among one of those readers please go over to TheDADvocateProject.com and choose to sigh up for the news letter. Most to all of my dad/family articles will be posted on that site moving forward.

Regards,
Kevin

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1) Metzger Baby #3 is on the way. We expect to have a little boy here no later than Thursday October 8th. We are very excited and had the room completely finished before some flooding made us move some toys into the room while we fix the flood damage.

2) Flood – We did have some minor flood damage but are so very thankful that it wasn’t worse. There are so many people who lost so much and we pray for them daily to recover. We are getting a new roof , thankfully covered by insurance,  and replacing some carpet not covered by insurance.

3) You have seen in some of my recent posts that Haley was called weird at school. We have worked with Haley to write a book. I am now in the process of getting it published. It will likely be self published and available for sale on this web site in the near future.

4) Haley and I filmed an interview about her writing the book and I hope to have the video posted before the baby arrives.  The video is currently in the editing room.

5) Articles for Cerebral Palsy Magazine. I was asked to write an article for the winter edition of Cerebral Palsy Magazine because of my election to East Cobber father of the year. I’m very excited about this honor and have written 2 articles. I’m trying to decided which one I like better. I’ll publish the other article here on the blog once I decide.

6) I have started on another book project. I’m going to be crowed sourcing a book about Dad’s by dad’s. I’m very excited about this book. It will start with a questionnaire that is being developed that I hope to have over 1000 dad’s complete. As the questionnaire is completed stats will be published to this site. One of the questions will be do you want to be interviewed for the book? I’ll set about interviewing all who want to be interviewed and compile the stories into a book. I have no idea how long this project will take but I’d like to have it close to complete by my 35th birthday in May, sooner if possible.

7) I could not tell if my Blog Talk Radio program was very good. I do have some additional guests who would be willing to do interviews but I’m just not sure if I should continue with the program. I’d love to hear some feedback. Please let me know your thoughts.

Finally as I expect to be very busy over the next few weeks until after the baby get’s here I may not have much of a chance to blog. Please be patient with me and continue reading as I will do my best to continue posting on a regular basis as my life normalizes again after the baby arrives.

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Please remember to look at our resource page as it is growing.

We have had some great interviews on the radio program and while the guests have been exceptional I think I’m getting better with each show. Check out the shows as there has been some great information provided.

I love feedback and comments so please don’t be shy. Sign in and leave a comment. I have finally gotten a spam blocker on my comments and it has worked tremendously well so I no longer filter every comment and they post immediately as long as they are not spam.

For the radio program please let me know if you there is anyone you would like me to interview or if you have contacts that I can reach out to. While I have a pretty deep guest list it will only be deep as long as I keep stacking it so I appreciate any input or contacts.

Please tell your friends and family about this blog. I produce it for 2 reasons 1) It’s therapeutic for me and 2) I truly intend it to help others. I need to know the value it’s producing. I know this by the visits it gets and the recommendations from others.

Finally look for an article from me in the upcoming fall issue of the Cerebral Palsy Magazine.

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Stats:
1) The first article written on this blog was on April 10th.
2) As of today we have had 993 visits.
3) In the first 15 days of May we have had 606 visits. I think this is awesome since we have not done any advertising in the form of dollars.
4) My favorite article that I have written “Seven Years.”
5) “Reading Dyslexia Laughing and CP” was written because I found a web site saying May 1st was Blog against Disablism day and I felt that I truly wanted to be part of that conversation. That article was posted on a web site with other posts that were written for the BADD Day and the most traffice to my site comes from those links.

Future articles – if I can get permissions:
1) Wheelchair Etiquette
2) Roots and Wings, A poem by Dr. Denis Waitley about raising children.
3) HBOT – Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy discussions

On Going Projects:
1) Blog Talk Radio – I am in the very early planning stages of introducing a regular radio segment to this blog forum. I am currently trying to line up guests on topics ranging from Inclusion, Special Needs in the public school systems, HBOT- research, Adult ADD, Dr. interviews, therapies, and interviews with disabled individuals that have had life success. I am hoping to begin this series in the July time frame.
2) I have one other project that I’m hesitant to say much about because it’s big, ambitious and I really don’t know what the timing will be like, but stay tuned for updates on this big ambitious project.

I’d like to thank everybody who has visited this site and shown interest, read the site and provided feedback. If anyone has a topic that they would like discussed I’d love to hear your ideas.

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So how does one stay focused enough to move forward in a career, business or blog? Well, I’m not great at it but this is the strategy I’m currently using:

Funneling Concentric Circles:

The idea is that you have something that looks like a 3 dimensional bulls eye or dart board that has a funnel shape. In the center at the bottom of the funnel is your major goal. As you go out from the center and up the funnel you want to include all the interests that might catch your attention. The important thing is that you need those interests to take a shape that will direct all your efforts back into the funnel and towards the bottom center ie. your major goal.

This approach allows you to follow multiple interests but still stay focused on the goal. Unfortunately the strategy does not keep you focused on any specific task at any one time but it does ensure that you are always going down a path that leads towards your main goal.

So an example of how this works is this website. My major goal with the web site is to inform and educate people on Dyslexia, ADD, and Cerebral Palsy. What are the difficulties, What are some lessons,What are the treatments, How do the disabilities impact the life of the person with the disability and how does it impact the family, Who are some of the people who have been successful with the disability and what has driven them to be successful, the list of course goes on but you get the general idea. This is the core goal and innermost concentric circle. Some of the circles comming out are the blog, marketing, a radio program I hope to be doing soon, useful advertising of products, and more. The idea is that each of these in and of it’s self is a different interest area but all are focused in a way to progress the goal of inoforming.

If you have any questions about how this works let me know.

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“I just love the flame broiled hamburgers from McDonald’s.” Everybody would think I lost my mind McDonald’s doesn’t make Flame broiled hamburgers Burger King does. The funniest thing is I thought I was talking about Burger King the whole time. I never realized I said McDonald’s. I never even thought about McDonald’s. McDonald’s was just the word my brain grabbed to say when I was thinking about Burger King.

Now I owe the above example to my friend because he used it to explain how he thought but as I said this happens to me all the time. I suspect that the reason for the mix up has to do with how our brains associate meanings to words and how we categorize the words in our brain’s filing system. Anyway it’s always neat to learn something about yourself.

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I’ve known I’ve had ADD since I was a child but I haven’t looked at the symptoms in the last 15 years or so. I had forgotten how much of my personality is based on my ADD. The funny thing is I love it. I think it adds character to who I am and sometimes I just can help being me.

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