2023: Closing Thoughts
Ode to an epoch.
While I’d like to say 2023 was unlike any other year, indeed it wasn’t, but can’t that be said of every year?
Similar to previous years, I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking over the year and putting together some of my closing thoughts. My focus this time around wasn’t on compiling lessons I’d learned. Instead, I’d like to think of this writeup as a list of collectible items — thoughts, moments or experiences that stood out to me during the year.
On Appreciating Learning
I spent quite some time thinking about and appreciating teachers. Part of what fascinates me the most about teachers is how they not only introduce us to new worlds, but consequently other teachers. By teachers, I don’t necessarily mean individuals operate within the walls of academia, although this also applies to them. I mean everyone whose job it is to coach or share information — regardless of the platform used.
In expressing the gift of teaching, I’ve come to appreciate that their role isn’t necessarily to “do” that which they teach, but to pass on the knowledge they have. This art of passing on knowledge in a deliberate, sometimes systematic way is an expression of their highest calling. So this year, I am grateful for all who spend time sharing what they know and in doing so have made me better.
Where are the Optimists?
In recent times, it seems like the world is overflowing with an abundance of pessimism. I think it’s sad that this appears to be the case. I don’t think we have fewer optimists, I think that perhaps the pessimists have gotten louder. I’ve always skewed more towards irrational optimism. Optimism isn’t naïveté. Even though I would rather be naive then a pessimist, this is a reminder, a note to self if you will to continue to create oases of optimism amidst the desert of pessimism.
Obsession vs Commitment
I used to be a firm believer in being driven by obsession. This worked for me until it didn’t. I’ve come to realise that commitment is more important. It’s not about living for the highs, but riding them when they come and trudging through the lows. If I were to plot both aspects on a sine graph then the wavelength for commitment will be shorter, with lower amplitudes — slightly less erratic.
Creativity & Permission
Everyone is creative. As children, we didn’t need permission to be creative — whether that was by reading a book and conjuring up worlds and rich imagery in our heads, or through structured lessons like Art and Music classes. As we grow older, what tends to happen is we find that there are hard lines being drawn which encourage us to edge ourselves into specific boxes — choose STEM or the Arts, excel in sports or focus on academics.
When we do venture into the world of creative expression, we’re often our worst critics, judging ourselves harshly as we compare our craft to that of ‘Professional Creatives’ who, expectedly, operate at a higher level. I use that term because I believe everyone has the gift of creativity, and it never goes away. It just so happens that some people choose to make a profession out of their creativity. It’s like comparing a Pro Athlete to a casual runner — you wouldn’t do that. So be kinder to yourself and give yourself permission to explore your creativity. After-all, creativity is all about expression, perfection is not the goal.
Cultivating Boredom
Curiosity and creativity need idle time to thrive. It’s easy to be overstimulated with constant notifications and a-hundred-and-one display screens all around. When the mind isn’t quiet it’s harder to be creative or to pay attention to the things you’re curious about.
In a bid to cultivate more pockets of quality idle time I worked on reducing my screen time. I tried different strategies, including multiple apps. The most practical thing I found was moving the major social media apps from my phone to a secondary device – my tablet. By reducing the opportunity to use social media I naturally reduced the frequency of use. The trade-off is having to bear slightly sub-optimal UI, but I’ll take that as a win for now.
The Voice in Your Head
At one point, I used to play badminton every other weekend. To improve the quality of my game, I worked with a coach for some time. Months would pass between my last lesson or game and the next time I found myself on the court. I knew I was rusty but wasn’t sure how well or badly I would do.
My first two games were not great, but as I continued to play, the voice of my coach from previous lessons echoed in my mind. ‘Eye on the shuttle,’ he would say every time I swung the racket and missed. Like magic, every time I focused on the shuttle, my chances of sending it back over the net increased. Remembering this mid-game significantly improved my performance. While I didn’t win any games that day, the points difference between my team and the others was much closer than when I had started playing.
The moral of the story is that coaching is a superpower I believe everyone should unlock. Having had various coaches in multiple areas of my life, it never ceases to amaze me how much clarity coaches bring. Another crucial concept I’ve learned from coaching is understanding the delta between our physical and emotional capacity. We’re usually much more capable than we think we are. As a typical Type A personality, the concept of training to the point of failure is still one I find myself learning to embrace more and more.
Interesting Concepts I Came Acros:
- Pioneers, Settlers & Town-planners: This is an interesting method of viewing complementary strengths within teams, but also a great way for evaluating what part of the spectrum you fall on. I especially love how, in Simon Wardley’s original article, he starts each definition with appreciating people for their strengths.
- Optimal Stopping Theory: also called the secretary problem. If you’re prone to over-thinking like I am then this is a useful framework for simplifying the process of making decisions. There’s a highly illustrative (pun intended) explanation of this here.
- The Capability Gap: this came across my timeline from one of my favourite Twitter (x) accounts — @SahilBloom. This is one of those concepts that you don’t consciously think of but practice in some way, but nothing beats learning more about how such concepts work and learning to apply them deliberately.
- Space-time Continuum: Physics was not one of my favorite subjects; it felt like extended math, which I didn’t enjoy. Not surprisingly, I also wasn’t a fan of science fiction. However, learning about the space-time continuum made me a bit more open — I can now see why people would be into sci-fi. I plan to add a few movies to my 2024 watchlist and see just how much I enjoy them.
- The 80/20 principle: otherwise known as the Pareto principle, wasn’t new to me. However, the realization that it’s not just a useful way to evaluate professional projects or problems but is also a great lens to view all of life was quite enlightening.
People I’ve Enjoyed Reading/Learning from and other notables:
- @ngozidozie: I’m a huge fan of the Prosperity Paradox and the concept of market creating innovations which is a simple concept that is sometimes hard to explain, but once you get it, it’s straightforward. I especially enjoyed the breakdown here.
- I went back to reading more of Paul Graham’s eassys this year. It’s hard to select a list of favourites, but I find his old articles are just as good as the newer ones.
- Naval: I got a copy of Naval’s book — The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. It’s been a slow read for me because there are many gems, but I consider this one of those books you return to often, years after you’ve completed it.
- Dr. Julie Gurner: being such a huge fan of executive coaching, I find Julie Gurner’s tweets and newsletter to be extremely insightful, packed with tons of powerful nuggets.
- Pharrell meets Maggie Richards: Yes, this is a post about creatives and entrepreneurs, which might seem unrelated. But there’s a lot to say from watching this video about preparation, authenticity & time and chance. I’ll leave you to listen and glean from it what you will.
- The Diary of a CEO: This year, I became a fan of DOAC. Despite the slightly click-baitish titles, I learned a lot from the different episodes. Steven Bartlett is a fantastic host and his genuine curiosity is refreshing.
- Song of the Season: Welcome to Our World (feat Chris Brown).
- Tip of the Year: how to switch your phone to Greyscale – another hack for reducing screen-time. This has been way for effective for me than the default screen-time app.
- Special Playlist: A playlist I created featuring new (and rediscovered) songs outside of mainstream music that I enjoy listening to. It’s not a list of my favourites or top songs, just music I might not have encountered otherwise, but ended up loving.
- Apps of the year: Rise – definitely worth every penny and Stretch Minder, since sitting is the new smoking.
If you made it this far, I’m glad you found this useful in some way, even if only entertaining. As we gradually inch towards the start of 2024, my one hope is that you live up to your best expectations of yourself.
Here’s wishing you a year brimming with beautiful moments in time. Cheers to the New Year and best wishes always.
2024 is here – LFG! 🥂🎉
