The last year was a very hectic year. I compromised my health. I compromised my well-being to focus on work. I had surgeries, I had hospital visits, and through all of this, I literally worked the whole time. I took no time off. And I thought, as long as I’m committed to the company, all will be well. And in reflection, I realized my 60 to 100-hour work weeks did nothing to push the company forward.
And that only when I took a step back and looked inward and focused on my health and well-being was the company able to move forward. I say this again and again, and I lost it for myself. And don’t worry. I’ve come back. I’ve learned my lesson. You are the generator that powers your business. If you do not go for regular maintenance, if you are not investing and putting fuel into the generator, it cannot power the house.
Your business will be nothing without you as the generator. Take it from somebody who’s just learned this hard lesson that I’m always preaching. Rest. It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. Take the time you need to spend the time being absolutely sure and gaining conviction around your target so that every time you shoot, you hit the bullseye.
Would you rather aim well and shoot one arrow at your target, or not be able to aim, just look at a glance, but have 20 arrows and hope that they go and hit your bullseye? One requires much more time thinking and planning and care – precision. One is quick and haphazard but requires significantly more energy.
Which one do you want to be? So this year, my lesson is to leave space every day for rest and reflection, to ensure that I’m coming to business to be the best colleague, the best decision maker, the one aiming to ensure that we hit the bullseye every time. Sometimes we can find that we get into the cyclical thought patterns where we are on a loop.
Do you ever sometimes start thinking about something else as you’re driving? And then all of a sudden you’re at your destination. For those who live in Lagos and don’t like the wahala of this traffic – you ever find yourself walking somewhere or in the middle of a conversation about something you’ve talked about repeatedly time and time again.
And all of a sudden you’re at the end of the conversation and you don’t remember the time in between. Your brain went into autopilot that can happen in increasing spaces around your life. And sometimes it’s okay, but especially when it comes to business and especially when you have to operate on first principle thinking, It’s essential you don’t go to that place.
And so something I do on a weekly basis that really helps to make sure that I’m always shaking things up in my mind and that I don’t fall into the place of habitual patterns and thinking, is I make sure every week I do something that I haven’t done before.
And that can be as simple as walking up the stairs backwards or drinking water out of my left hand. Or it can be something as big as doing public speaking at an event I haven’t been to before. Just make sure every week you are giving yourself, and also, the reason that this is important is the mind naturally reverts to things that we are comfortable with, not necessarily the things that are best for us.
If you don’t practice conscious thinking, you will naturally be drawn to the things that are familiar. And not the things that will push you ahead. Because growth is always uncomfortable, it’s always sticky, it’s always icky, it’s always kind of hard. And so you need to be actively keeping yourself in the mental framework, in the mental capacity to push yourself ahead and to get into those uncomfortable spaces.
So what are some things that you do to ensure that you are keeping your mind fresh, that you’re allowing yourself to be in the uncomfortable space where growth happens, love to hear it in the comments, and also feel free to reach out to us in our community at www.ingressivecapital.com. Thank you.
