The online home of
Scott Moehring
Scott Moehring
I love helping people think,
learn, work, and play!
learn, work, and play!
THINKING
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Clarity SpecialistI love helping people think through tricky problems. It's probably my favorite thing to do. You could call me a Clarity Consultant. Generative Guide. Idea Initiator. Strategy Steerer. Creativity Coach. Lateral-thinking Liaison. Problem-solving Pro. A Stumped Grinder! Ok, maybe not that last one. :)
I develop, collect and test thinking tools because they fascinate me. I can't get enough of that feeling of an "aha moment". It's especially excellent when I get to see someone else experiencing an insight that I have helped them find. Maybe that's why I collect these tools. I think it can be very difficult to think in new ways when you don't think you're creative, or if you are really close to a problem. My experience has shown these tools can help anyone approach a problem differently, and I love having them at the ready for when someone needs my help. |
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Instructional DesignI've spent 20 years building one pagers, lunch-and-learns, workshops and other educational tools in my free time. It was fun for me, and helpful for others. What I couldn't figure out was why I was so interested in researching and making things in so many different and seemingly unrelated areas. I just knew it was like trying to hold ping pong balls under water. They just kept popping up!
Most of them have their own section below, but there are still a few useful leftovers I will post later. |
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Think Inside the BoxMy workshop and unique 4-step process for working with creative people in a way that frames their creativity without limiting it. You'll stimulate their best work towards delivering the results you want. It uses specific tools for defining, refining, and aligning on project goals and limits in order to stimulate greater practical creativity.
Do you want a canoe, or just to get across the river? |
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The Never-Fail, Magic Effects, 99+ Idea Grid
My never-fail tool that uses the nine type of magic tricks to generate 99+ ideas on your subject of choice. It's one tool I use to help facilitate group brainstorming, but I've never had a group actually need to finish one. They always surprise themselves and create WAY more ideas than they need.
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Five Folders easy email system
I've taught my Five Folders email system to 600+ people. It requires no special software, and works equally well in Outlook, Gmail, Lotus Notes, Yahoo, or any others that let you make a folder. You'll finally have an empty in-box!
My 45-minute lunch-and-learn presentations have ranged from small teams of 2-3, to large rooms of over 100. Companies have included Nationwide Insurance, Abbott Nutrition, Lane Bryant, Owens Corning, PVS Chemicals, and the International Association of Administrative Professionals. |
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Natural Learning + BrainpowerMy set of 8 simple tools for powerful thinking, learning, writing, and presenting. It all started when I discovered mindmapping and taught it to my kids as a way to write papers for school. Then I started teaching others.
I have taught these techniques to kids individually, to an entire accelerated 6th grade class, to marketing departments as a way to collaboratively capture meeting notes, and to small adult learning groups within the companies I've worked. I promise you will surprise yourself if you unlock your own or your kid's abilities with these fun, natural, and effective tools. |
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Principles PrismI developed this as a tool to ensure all of the self-development areas of my life were getting regular focused attention. You focus on one main principle per week, and pair it with a different secondary principle every day. Effort + Growth, Effort + Empathy, Effort + Gratitude. Every week it's a new main principle, moving clockwise around the prism, and it forms an 8-week cycle.
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The Way - a book about adjusting your balance between the New and the KnownToo much new stuff, and we feel anxious and overwhelmed. Too much of the same stuff, and we feel bored and stagnant. When we are in a flow state, or engrossed in a meaningful and challenging project, or just playing, we are balanced between the New and the Known.
That balance point is different for everyone, and even different for the same person in different situations. This will be a book of techniques and tools to help you get back your balance, wherever your most comfortable set point. Overwhelmed or anxious? I'll have proven ways to simplify, de-stress, or regulate your life. Bored or stagnant? I'll have proven ways to find new things and add a little adventure. All the ideas on both sides will begin very simply (you can do some of them where you are sitting right now), and advance from there. I really look forward to writing this book! |
FITNESS
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Zombie-Proof fitnessGet fit, don't get bit.
This is my strength-biased fitness program with five levels of seven fundamental movements. It's based on three ideas -- that stronger people live longer (true), that achievement levels are motivating to reach, and that pushups are more fun when you're preparing for the zombie apocalyse. Be Ready When It All Goes Down. |
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Tabata music mixesA Tabata is a form of interval training named after a Japanese speedskating coach. One Tabata is 20 seconds of intensely hard work followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated non-stop for 8 rounds. Work, rest, work, rest. It only takes 4 minutes, and it's a very efficient, effective, and (I think) fun exercise protocol.
The trickiest part for me was watching the clock to know when to start and stop, so I built a couple of original music tracks that handle the timing for you. Beats a Gymboss timer hands down. |
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Six-weeks, six fundamental movementsFor several years I ran a six-week hockey preseason session for middle- and high-school players. It was a modification of my Zombie-Proof fitness program.
The goals:
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Fano Plane of Dan John's Fundamental MovementsDan John is one of the Great Teachers. He's a strength coach, multiple record holder, Fulbright Scholar, and all-around fantastic human being. If you've ever done a kettlebell goblet squat, or carried a slosh pipe, or done a round of "get back ups", you have him to thank.
I had the distinct pleasure of spending an evening with him at a discus camp. Over the course of a couple hours with him and two of his talented student coaches, I presented the Fano Plane as a possibility for a visual model that tied together Dan's thoughts on his six fundamental movements - push, pull, hinge, squat, carry, and groundwork. We worked out the details, and it seemed to hold together. No model will ever be all-encompassing or perfect, but for simple, effective and balanced exercise programming, this one is still pretty good and useful. |
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Moehr Better Years
This is my set of seven proven tools that help you fill your fountain of youth -- Move, Play, Learn, Create, Share, Appreciate, and Rest -- so you can live better, longer.
It's my latest program, still in development. It was inspired as an alternative mindset to what I believe are incorrect and outdated ideas -- that aging is automatically a slow decline, and that youthfulness is simply how you look. |
HOCKEY
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Ice Ace hockey skill achievement programI came up with an Ice Ace award in 2009. It was for achieving certain milestones in hockey skill development. I was frustrated that figure skating had clear progressions (must complete X, Y, Z before you get your level 3 patch, etc.) that seemed missing in hockey. I came up with objective skill tests that seemed to benchmark progression levels. The idea was to motivate players to improve, but also to give coaches objective targets for development.
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Bleacher Bubbles
Keep yourself warm with the power of 10,000 magic bubbles!
I invented these insulating cushions after freezing on the cold metal bleachers at a high school football game. I've sold hundreds at ice rinks with local team logos. They make great fundraisers, and I could teach you how to make and sell them too. Then I realized they had a much more important humanitarian purpose. Maybe you could help me with that? |
PLAY
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Trouble on the High Seas (2006)In 2003, my son Tim and his best friend Ben started a high school band. Tim on drums, Ben on lead vocals and bass. I was ridiculously lucky and ended up being the guitarist and backing vocalist, mostly because they practiced in our basement and needed someone to fill in. Their friend Jacob joined up on mandolin, and The Fedoras were born. This is our first album, and is the songs we used to play at shows. Bass, guitar, drums, and mandolin - Pirate Punk!
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The Tragedy of Admiral King (2008)This is The Fedoras second album, an epic hour-long rock opera about pirates. We recorded it track-by-track over 2-1/2 years on a Mac laptop. It has 23 songs, 25 volunteer performers, includes a couple dozen different instruments, and it's available on iTunes and Spotify.
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"My Life's Fishing Hole (Stoney Lake)"Every summer my aunt and uncle spend many weeks at a place called Stoney Lake, several hours north of Toronto. My uncle has been there every year of his life.
I joined them for a few days this summer, and he told me a story about how every major decision he's ever made had happened while fishing out on that water. On my long drive home, I wrote a song about that. |
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"Sunset on Inuksuk Ridge" (really) short storyMy mom asked me to read a book on the history of inuksuk, those striking Inuit stacks of rocks that are shaped like people and serve as directional markers. I learned that the name meant "that which acts in place of a human being", and I woke up the next day with the idea for this story.
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Kubb visual instructions
I created this one-pager to explain my favorite lawn game and to give to curious onlookers when my son Andrew and I were playing in local parks. It was then picked up by the Kubb US Nationals to help quickly explain the game, and it's the cause of weekly emails from around the world requesting plans to build my Viking longboat carrying case.
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Gluco-landerThis is a video game based on Lunar Lander that teaches the basic principles of blood sugar management. My son Andrew has Type 1 diabetes, and we thought this would be a fun way to help families understand how it works. We built it together in the MIT kid's programming software, Scratch. Five levels, and two mini-games too!
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The Play Pledge - Play Every DayAs part of a job search process, I began examining my personal brand. The word "play" kept showing up, and the theme had been in my notebooks for many years.
On 9/25/19, I had the idea of starting Play Every Day. It would be a nonprofit dedicated to promoting play and playfulness as essential for wellness and creativity in individuals, families, organizations, and communities. With the help of my friend Erik, we're going to first see if it can become a movement. The world needs this now. Take the Play Pledge. You can change the world today, right where you are. |
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Lego Treasure Quest, with a deck of cardsTreasure Quest was my favorite Lego party game. Sadly, it was discontinued, and old sets are now going for $60-80.
In 2014 I figured out how to play it with a deck of cards. I tested it on some friend’s middle-school kids, and it was a major success. If you know a small group that needs to burn off some energy, I highly recommend it. |
Safari
Fast, original card game using a normal deck of cards. I had the initial idea, and it was made playable and fun by my son Tim. I'm currently deciding if we want to do a custom deck.
White Elephant Unlimited
A fun (and free!) take on the classic gift exchange. Except this time, the sky's the limit!
Recommended
I like to recommend cool and useful people, products, and techniques. This usually means sending someone a text or email, which means digging up a link or typing a description. I have started pulling these together onto one page so it's easier for me to find and send. No searching through Gmail, no retyping, and I can send help faster to more people.