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A warm welcome to anyone reading. My name is Maxliam Logar, and this is ML Adventures. This blog will contain all my business ventures, weekly blogs, and any notable assignments for BTM 116.

3/12/25 A fresh start:

I want to start with a quote presented to me this afternoon by Prof. Micheal Philogene during his Btm 103 lecture.

“Know where the world is going before you get out there. That way you can operate at the same speed as the world”

This quote rattled in the back of my head during the duration of class and on the rocking train ride home. Something about it stuck with me. Maybe it’s because of my nonchalant nature and how I rarely ever plan things out, or maybe it’s because I decided to change my major a few years ago because I wasn’t prepared for the real-world art industry. Regardless I realized that trying to live life at my own pace wasn’t optimal anymore. Going with the flow only got me so far in this life and the spring cleaning of my own mind was long overdue. So I decided to get organized. It began with planning for the rest of the month, so I could use my time more effectively. Afterward, I began to scroll through YouTube to find self-help videos to boost my productivity. After scrolling for a few hours and watching a lot of content, I gave myself 30 minutes to think.

In those 30 minutes, I mentally analyzed my habits, my strengths, my weaknesses, and my distractions. I plan to get a journal to handwrite everything so it can all be committed to memory. But some notable things I realized were that I was not getting enough sleep, I wasn’t exercising enough, and I spent a lot of my time doing what I pleased instead of what I needed to do. In simple terms, I was not locked in. The next thing I did after this realization was ask myself how could I improve my motor function and productivity during the day. This is where all the planning, watching, and reflecting came full circle. I made a regiment that could be executed on a daily basis, planned out all the goals I wanted to set, and adopted a DO IT NOW mindset which would rid me of all procrastination and burnout. Though at the moment these things are all just written-down concepts, I plan to enact everything I’ve learned and analyzed tomorrow.

3/13/2025 Will be my fresh start and I’m excited to finally start living my life at the same speed as the world.

3/20/2025 An Update:

Trying to stay organized has been difficult but it’s definitely been paying off. I feel like I can spend my time more efficiently now and my interest in old hobbies has returned now that I have more time. Additionally, I’ve been trying to spend my time more efficiently by researching possible future careers or places I can live since I plan to move out in the next few months. Getting a planner was game-changing and though it’s not something I’m used to, It helps me be more effective in my day-to-day operations.

Next Steps:

I’m starting to try to figure out more things I could implement so that way I can live my life more efficiently and feel better in both a spiritual and physical sense. The first thing that came to mind was my sleep schedule. Currently, it’s a bit all over the place, and I admit that I haven’t been giving my body the proper rest it needs. So with all of that being said I decided to make a plan consisting of a few steps that could help.

1. Set an alarm 30 minutes before downtime.
2. After the alarm, isolate from all devices that emit blue light or emf that could disrupt my sleep.
3. Prepare the next morning’s clothes just before the next day.
4. Drink some tea, and replace scrolling with reading tactile text (Could be books or printed-out journals, just no electronics )
5. Journal new goals until exhausted
6. Sleep for at least 8 hours – 8 hours 30 minutes each night.
7. Wake up at 9:30 every morning.

Though I have yet to act out on this next plan, I’m hoping that it will allow me to maximize the time I spend being productive. My bed is a place of rest and nothing else. It is not a couch or place to lounge around, or a workplace. It is a place of downtime and I feel as if I have forgotten this.

The next things I plan to implement into my daily regimen are a balanced diet and more time for researching/ work. But first I need to get my sleep in order so that way I can attempt to implement these things

3/26/2025 getting the money moving

This week I had an opportunity to meet up with a buddy of mine from high school. His name is Carlos. He is a man of god, he is honest, hard-working, ambitious, and pure of ill intent. He is someone I and beyond grateful to call my friend. Every now and then when I feel lost or unsure I confide in my dear friend and he gives me actionable advice, that is sound and beneficial.

This week I asked him what I should do with the money in my retirement account. For a while, I have been gathering money and adding holiday money to savings that I have not touched. Recently after checking it for the first time in a long time, I realized I had a considerable amount in my savings and decided to start researching what I could invest my personal funds into. That is where “I ran into a wall.”  

After hours and weeks of researching what to invest in, I was stuck. I had no skin in the game. Though my knowledge of what to invest in had grown significantly, I was not confident in myself, my knowledge, and the market. That is where Carlos came in. Though I did not initially plan on discussing my finances with him in our conversation, I decided to briefly mention it. What followed was a long insightful conversation about his portfolio, his investing strategies, and advice that could help me grow financially. Here where the main takeaways.

1. He told me to invest in one thing which was ETFs and to put good amounts of money in to gather more shares.
2. He also told me to come up with a saving strategy so I could consistently invest monthly in the same ETFs I bought.
3. He told me that risks are inevitable and research helps lower financial risk.
4. He told me not to be afraid to invest and to always speak with others before I do so to get fruitful opinions and thoughts.
5. Lastly, he told me not to put all my eggs in one basket and to diversify my portfolio to have options.

All of these things seem simple, but as someone new to investing at the time, this helped a lot. Currently, there is a lot of instability within the market because of the current presidential administration, and though it may seem scary to invest now, now is the time to do so. Because mistakes can be the greatest teachers in life and to learn mistakes are inevitable.

4/4/2025 discovering worth

This week was extremely insightful. I finally got to visit an old friend of mine, and we caught up over a cup of tea and some candies from my job. As someone who recently turned 21, I expressed this feeling of being lost and unsure of the path I’m taking. Though I have learned a lot through college and from my work experiences, I felt that something was missing. Weeks later, after reflecting, I found what I had been missing was purpose.

Life these days can be miserable with everything going on in the world, especially with access to so much information. It’s easy to get swallowed by our cellular devices and become engulfed in all the suffering across the globe. But when we become slaves to our phones and slaves to information we as human beings give up the most important trait we are born with: free will.
Every day we live is a choice, an opportunity to have a day better than the last. Life is not about the purpose you are given, it is about the purpose you choose. Life is precious and we all only get one opportunity to make something grandiose of it.
So live life to the fullest. Don’t let some past commitment or current job stop you from living a life full of wonderful moments and memories.
I want to end off by answering a question asked by Prof. Philogene in one of his other classes. He asked us “Who in this room here wants to be rich?”

My answer to this question is simple. Yes, I do want to be rich, but not because of the cars I drive, the estate I live in, or even the money I make. No, I want to be rich in the steps I take, the memories I make, and the happiness I feel. Because money will never amount to what I’m worth.

4/20/2025 Trying to live life disconnected and focused

I did not get to input an entry right before spring break. However, I think this is a wonderful opportunity to speak on an experience during the break that transformed my perception of life and nature. Being connected and outside is a rare combination to see these days, especially with so many places to charge your cellular device in NYC.

However, during the break, I got an opportunity to truly disconnect from all devices for a full 24 hours. I was lucky enough to go on a trip to the Catskills upstate to hike and reconnect with Mother Nature. Though initially a bit on the fence about the trip with my girlfriend since I’ve never been an outdoorsman, I reluctantly agreed, knowing the trip would be highly beneficial to my physical and mental health. It turns out I was right and so much more. Though my feet and legs were sore the next few days, the trip had rekindled a spark for nature I had as a kid. Scaling mountains and being in the wilderness brought me an inner peace I had never felt in my years as an adult. It was the first hiking trip I’d done in a very long time, and I had realized up in the mountains I had no worries about the expectations held by others.

I was liberated Free from responsibility, free from fear, free from the watchful gaze of society, free from all my devices and the internet. I was finally free of all the manmade constraints and limitations that keep this society running. The feeling I had gotten up in the woods was liberating and euphoric, nothing could recreate the high I felt. So my takeaway for all of you reading is to find something that makes feel free. Truly free. There is so much beauty in the world waiting to be explored and conquered so search for it, find it, and seize it. Because you only have one life.