It’s been 2 weeks since a start-up update. I took some major time off for Christmas/New Years and I’ve only worked 6 days in the past two weeks.
Enjoy weeks 10/11 at a start-up!

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:

– I learned how to add users to our WordPress system. Along with learning how to give them access to specific programs.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:

– I learned how to use the Ventra App to renew my monthly ride package for public transit instead of buying a new card every month.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:

– I finished making program updates through our Formidable forms. A lot of the updates included making graphics on Canva, uploading them to the WordPress media library and using the HTML image source code to plug in the image URL so that the graphics show up in the program.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:

– I am currently in between projects. We are in the starting phasing of making my new project happen. Ama La Vida uses a lot of stock photos. I’m looking to shoot some brand-specific stock photos to help our content stand out when we share it on different social platforms.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:

– I recommitted to 25 pages a day. So far I finished one book, The War Of Art, and started a second, Think Like A Freak.

Weekly Wednesday Workshop:

What Praxis Wednesday session did you attend last week (ie. what was the topic & who was the guest)?

– The topic was alternative education; the speaker was Matt Beaudreau. This is his TED Talk.

What was your favorite highlight from the session?

– “Schooling and Education are not synonyms.” Matt couldn’t have said it better!

What was your biggest takeaway from that session?

– To be successful in life we should have a character contract that we hold ourselves accountable too. The example Matt gave us was his top 11:
1. Be honest, but start with yourself.
2. Be a copycat. Copy people who are successful at doing what you want to do.
3. Be an emotional ninja. Let that which does not matter slide.
4. Be the hardest worker in any room.
5. Be the nicest person in any room.
6. Don’t complain. Fix it.
7. Think.
8. Discipline = freedom
9. Memento mori. This is your moment, and it’s ending one moment at a time.
10. You are personally responsible for everything you do and everything you don’t do. Everything is your fault.
11. Doing the right thing is always the right thing.

How do you intend to apply that takeaway to your life?

– I came up with my own top 9 for 2019. I borrowed a few from Matt, but here is my whole list:
1) Never be “too big” to do the small jobs.
2) Telling the truth is the best policy
.
3) Empowering others only ever empowers yourself
.
4) Taking ownership is more important than always getting it right.
5) Doing is preceded by becoming. You first have to become what you want to do. (If you want to be nice you have to become nice, you feel me?)
6) Become a painkiller, don’t be a vitamin. People need someone to solve their problems before they need someone to enhance their life.
7) Don’t monopolize other people’s time.
8) Better to think first and speak second.
9) Doing the right thing is always the right thing.

What was the exercise assigned by the guest and what did you learn from it?

– The exercise was to come up with a list of the things we want to hold yourself accountable to. I would say the biggest thing I learned was that it’s really hard to vocalize what you value in life unless you have a model of how to do it. During the beginning of the exercise, I found it challenging to come up with language to describe what I wanted. After using the language in Matt’s list as a model for my own, I was able to do it; however, without an example, I don’t think it would have worked quite right.