Cedar Knolls Man in Retirement Finds Mission in Education and History
Nov 29, 2022 04:23PM ● By Steve SearsSince his 2017 retirement, Cedar Knolls resident Michael Czuchnicki has authored a few books and, as of early November, has produced almost 170 YouTube videos about history and more subjects with always an additional lesson to be learned at the end of each one.
He explains his background, and how it fed into what he does currently. “My life has been projects that have multiple parts, and as for my education, I went to Stevens Institute of Technology, which is an engineering school, and they never talked about that Stevens was the place where the first American railroad was tested on the field that I played on,” Czuchnicki says. “Stevens came up with the idea that engineers were becoming too narrow, and so they said, ‘Let's invent the type of engineer who knows a little bit of this, a little bit of that. I thought that made a great deal of sense. When you do something, you really need to know a little bit of this and a little bit of that: a little bit of financial matters, a little psychology, a little bit of management, and ‘How does it work?”
The former engineer is founder of the “Be More Better” series which currently has seen to publication two books, Stuff to Know and Use and More Stuff to Know and Use. Books three and four are in the works. The series of books and videos does exactly what he states in the prior paragraph: they give you a little bit of this, a little bit of that. “I try to tell little stories that you will not forget because they are interesting,” Czuchnicki says. “And then having put that in your head so that you can't forget it, I then happen to leave behind something which might actually be useful for you.”
Czuchnicki’s videos are no longer than 10 minutes, sometimes as short as five or six minutes, because he realizes people’s attention spans in the current, immediate digital age we live in may not extend beyond. His videos indeed do focus on history, but some on finance, profiles, and more. Czuchnicki even peppers his videos with his own personal tales (watch his video about Moscow when he comes face to face with a Russian soldier) and riddles to get you thinking. “Every video tries to give you a thing that might be interesting, and then leave behind something that is of value,” he states. “And if people then actually share it with other people, what I've done is achieved something called synergy. I am trying deliberately in my retirement to leave behind something that will improve the world and make that more powerful. I'm not political. I am not religious. I am merely saying here's an interesting thing and, by the way, maybe this little thing will actually make your life better. Now share it.”
Czuchnicki has got a good number of subscribers who view his videos, and many take the knowledge or fun beyond their computer screens. “Believe it or not, the videos are actually used in a Moscow high school to teach English,” he says. “I periodically used to Skype into the classroom, which meant I had to get up at three in the morning to teach or talk to the students. The riddles have gotten to the point where people I know are sharing them with each other.”
One interesting fact about Czuchnicki’s videos is that they have a “But” at just about the early or midway spot, when he’ll stop and emphasize a key element or point. He calls it a ritual, and he knows now that people are awaiting it. Czuchnicki likes to keep you thinking. “99% of them,” he says with a laugh about the number of videos where he says the word “but.” “For whatever reason, it occurred to me that it was funny to do it that way.” It may halt the video for a moment, but the viewer’s attention span is further ignited.
With regard to his videos, Czuchnicki says he is not an entertainer (that may be, but his presentations are entertaining) or a social media expert, but he is being “instinctual,” giving his viewers something fun to think about. He’s educating others in a fun way, but is also getting an education himself. “All the time,” he says, mentioning that he also for the last several years has spoken to groups. “The next one I'm going to be doing is about Queen Victoria, and I knew nothing about Queen Victoria. Nothing. But…but!...it's just unbelievable the stuff that I'm learning. Every time I learn something I say, ‘Wow!”
For more information about the books and videos in the Be More Better series, visit www.bemorebetterbooks.com.