I Wanna Be Me When I Grow Up
I'm Kara. I create content about personal growth, productivity, and technology, faith, and my well lived life. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a fresh new article, a roundup of anything I published this week, and other fun stuff in your inbox (most) Monday mornings.
Play your way to motivation
Play your way to motivation Later this week, I’m running my “Meet Robot Kara” session live for the first time. (It will be recorded if you cannot attend live so sign up to get notified as soon as the recording is available). I doubt I’ll speak much about this in the workshop, but one of the biggest reasons I’m enjoying the work with the robot is that it feels like play.In last week's newsletter, we talked about challenge calibration — finding that Goldilocks zone where a task is just hard...
The Challenge Restart Button
The Challenge Restart Button As I've shared before, the scale and I have a complicated relationship. I know I'm not alone in this. For months, I was doing the all right things - eating less and moving more - but the numbers just sat there. Or even moved in the wrong direction. I wasn't trying to run a marathon. I just wanted something to shift. What ended up shifting wasn't the number. It was me. I went back to the pool. Not to train for anything. Not to become a competitive swimmer (though...
Pushing yourself just enough
Pushing yourself just enough Some days, I sit down to do my work and I just don't want to start. There is plenty of work on the list, but none of it is interesting or even remotely challenging to me. I can blow through a list of bill payments, phone calls, and meeting schedules like it's nobody's business. But, it's boring as crap and - sadly - even when I do go through a big list like that, I rarely feel any sense of accomplishment. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to explore...
Writing to Think
Writing to Think As I mentioned recently, I've been playing around with Claude Cowork to build "Robot Kara". Just like with that newsletter, the robot did all the behind-the-scenes publishing and tinkering to get this post delivered to you — whether on Circle or via Kit in email. That technical stuff probably doesn't matter to you — but for me, it's the "boring" part of what I do. It's not hard, but it isn't exciting either and so it doesn't hit me with the right level of challenge (a topic...
How does Kona know it's Sunday
How does Kona know it's Sunday Hi everyone. Thanks for indulging a couple-of-weeks break as I enjoyed some great family time in Australia. The trip was fantastic and I hope to add some blog posts about it soon. I planned to put together a quick video highlight reel but my video editing software had other ideas. So instead, today's video is just my favorite picture from the trip and a few notes about the trip as a bonus. Now, on with today's newsletter...A few weeks ago, I noticed something....
Who Are You?
Who Are You? Even though my life theme is "I Wanna Be Me When I Grow Up", I still struggle with what I want to be when I grow up - or rather with how I want to spend my time on activities that really matter to me. And whenever I spend time pondering this, I come back to the idea of roles.When I read and study productivity, many systems take a roles-based approach. When I start listing out my roles, at a high level, I can summarize the most important ones to me as a best friend, daughter,...
We're a product of our time and place
We're a product of our time and place While flying home from Portland last week, I finally watched Good Night and Good Luck. George Clooney originally did this as a film in 2005. He took it to Broadway in 2025. It was then broadcast live on CNN for one night. That broadcast has now been made available as a film. There was a scene in the film that made me think about how lucky I am to be in this time and place. In the scene, one of only two female actors who are featured (since the play is set...
What does it actually take to stop?
What does it actually take to stop? Before we dive into today's article, I want to thank everyone who took time to respond to last week's newsletter. While I hate that body image and weight issues plague so many in my community, I'm grateful for all of you who spoke up in community with such kind words. I love hearing from you - whether in email or in Circle. As I mentioned two weeks ago, I'm working on a reboot of the Facts of Life Book course. Last night, I worked on some planning and...
How are you present in your body?
How are you present in your body I've been doing a lot of reflection lately on two topics: How time is the most precious resource we have The mind-body connection Part of this thinking has been around taking care of my own wellbeing and health. My doctor prescribed one of the weight loss drugs for me (Zepbound specifically) to use if I want to do so. I've battled my weight since I was eight years old. My school picture in 2nd grade and my school picture in 3rd grade don't even look like the...
A Place for Everything...
A Place for Everything... Facts of Life Book Manifesto There is something beautiful about having the perfect thing in the perfect moment. Maybe its my fascination with LEGO coming into real life, but I love it when two things fit seamlessly together or when something slides perfectly into place. I feel like much of my adult life is really about trying to figure out where things fit. When can I do this task? How am I going to get that done? Where do I put this thing I just bought so that I...
I'm Kara. I create content about personal growth, productivity, and technology, faith, and my well lived life. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a fresh new article, a roundup of anything I published this week, and other fun stuff in your inbox (most) Monday mornings.