Category: Uncategorized

  • First Attempt At Habit Tracking

    This month I decided to make my own habit tracker in an effort to get my ass doing the things I say I want to do.

    I listed out 7 habits. Then I was advised not to add too many so as to not set myself up for failure. It was a good idea. Then I was advised to add an entirely different section called “Boundaries”. This was an interesting category and I listed out two things that I DONT want to do. yes you guessed it – use my phone less damnit. Easier said than done I tell ya.

    Then I added a 3rd second called weekly goals. This turned out to be a very fun addition because all 3 of them are new to my life, but they all will help me reach my goals.

    Here, check it out:

    THE GOOD

    1. Ok lets be nice to myself for just one tiny moment: I’m really proud of myself for getting 10k steps almost every day this month. its truly been a dream of mine to be consistent and im getting better at it every month (Ive wanted this for years).
    2. I posted to insta once a week as one of my weekly goals, which is less about playing games with an algorithm and more about testing my own capacity to be disciplined and consistent and prove to myself that I have shit worth posting. its been fun and ive been liking video filming and editing. its all new to me.
    3. Also in my weekly goals was to go for a run and make one piece of art. Running is the one thing that intimidates me in fitness and I avoid it. Always have. Well, a month and a half ago I had this incredible day, and on my daily walk I just felt the desire to run and i started running. It felt exhilarating. A few days later, I did it again, and ran further. So I set it as a weekly goal to keep myself at it. Im off this week so I need to do it asap. Oops. And making art has been eye opening because I dont consider myself an artist, more of a doodler. So its been very fun to just doodle.
    4. 50 push ups a day- this one has been super powerful. Don’t tell anyone but im going for a bigger goal to do 100k push ups. yep thats right. it will take years. However, ever since i set the goal in dec 2025 I have slacked. so when i made the habit tracker, in an effort to make up for lost time i set the high goal of doing 50 a day. This has been really fun and actually i think i did more than is marked but didnt fill in the boxes. (unfortunately im bad at tracking lol) but after a few days of consistency i started to feel really sore so i let myself skip some days.

    THE BAD

    1. Writing every day just doesnt happen. Recently though I decided to make this the priority of my morning practice. So I will keep this for June and see what unfolds.
    2. Editing too – I’ve not been dedicated to the youtube channel! I need to be.
    3. Phone usage has been high ever since driving cross country and living back home. boo. circadian rhythm is off here. I used to sleep and wake with the sun and now im watching tv at night. Welp.

    THE LESSONS

    1. Will maybe need to use a “brick” to stop phone usage late at night. Willpower doesnt work.
    2. 100g of protein is so much food ew
    3. I dont actually need to lift every single day but I want to keep it as a daily habit so that I can track how often im working out when I look back on these.
    4. Be on top of weekly goals and dont put them off until 2 days before.
    5. I’m getting jacked – on my upper body lol. Ya 50 push ups is kinda a lot for a lil girl. im not gonna remove that for next month but I will add “100 squats” daily so that we’ve got a dumpity dump dump in the making.
    6. Writing is very important to me and I want to be better about it in June. I learned this from how much I craved to write and then didnt, and how good it felt to sit down everytime i forced myself to this month. so I feel confident that I will love it and be better about it next month.

    Thats it, Team!

    -Ariela

  • A Timeless Truth

    In every generation for all of mankind, every person eventually believes THIS is the most important thing. The thing its all for. The thing better than all other things. That takes and gives from your heart and time and energy beyond any unit of measure. The thing that provides fulfillment- meaning, DEEP happiness. True happiness.

    Its the one thing you would sacrifice everything else for. Its the thing you take for granted. Its the thing that helps oyu understand your purpose.

    Its of course, relationships. Healthy relationships.

    Love to travel? I bet you love your family more.

    Love your house? and car and things?

    Struggling with addiction? its probably because you don’t nurture your relationships enough.

    Call your family members. Tell them you love them.

    Call your friends, share something vulnerable, and see just how much they love you. Feel the power of that love.

    Studies show that all around the world, having deep, meaningful connections is what enriches our lives more than anything else. And its true for the past and it will be true for all of humanities future.

  • Strategy Over Tactics

    ever thought to yourself – hey, shes posting cool videos, i should post cool videos.

    or, They have a huge successful business, I’m gonna make one too!

    or, I need to raise capital to get me going

    Well congratulations bc you too have fallen into the trap of tactics over strategy.

    Your videos will not be anything worth watching unless theyre interesting. so instead, your strategy should be – what kind of message do I have to share. The medium might be videos but it might not be.

    Secondly, instead you should ask yourself – what is the business doing (of that persons with the big business you admire)? What service are they providing? Who are their clients? how much are the clients willing to pay this person for this service? Then your strategy should be – what service could I offer people?

    Third – You will raise caital by selling a product that people are willing to pay for. period end of story. youre not a silicon valley junkie and you dont need to attempt to recreate a business model of that of the unicorn companies.

    Do the tough part – come up with a real product based on peoples needs. dont be the person that creates videos about nothing and buys 1 million followers and sadly discover that one of those account holders has purchased your -whatever you were trying to sell them.

    -AL

  • Everybody Should Write a Blog

    Ok Seth (GoATin), I hear you.

    In a podcast ep. with Tim Ferriss and Seth Godin, Seth recommends a bunch of books that all sound amazing (really excited to read the one about the professor-turned- co-founder of Occupy Wall Street) and it reminds me of how much time I need to set aside for reading. I can slam audiobooks all day in the commute and at work, but man, sitting down with a book in hand…that takes time.

    Ok so you want me to start a blog…I can write about stuff. I a’int scrrd. I’ll just have to… ya, ill just have to keep it clean enough for my permanent record. I can do that. Totally…! I think anything thats in between clean enough for my permanent record and boring is ok.

    Let’s come up with some points of focus. Constraints. Dare I say rules..

    1. Tell a story, stay on topic
    2. Humor is inevitable
    3. Don’t cross the boundary between a journal entry and a message that could potentially ever be shared
    4. Swearing is ok

    Ok I’m bored of making rules those should work for now. I wonder if I can edit this in the future.

    Heres a link to this podcast with Seth Godin and Tim Ferriss that got me here, right now, creating this blog.

    -AL

    update: great news, i can edit.