Can’t believe we’re in the third quarter of 2019 already.
Wasn’t it just yesterday we ushered in the year 2019? From the first day of the year, the weeks came fast, then the months ran and now we are gradually bidding 2019 farewell. How time flies!
As expected, 2019 came with its ups and downs. But I must say I’m a better person now.
I may not have achieved all of the goals I had set for the year 2019, but generally speaking, I will say I have not done badly.
More importantly, I am willing to improve on myself, set more goals to achieve in the coming months and years and help others learn from my experiences on their way up too.
And talking about helping others, I am super excited to share with you the little but powerful lessons I have learnt in the course of the year 2019 so far.
I hope you can learn a thing or two from it.
- Try New Things and New Ways
For a long time in my life, I was doing the same things over and over again expecting a different result.
Well, this is quite understandable. I am a little strong-willed and I believe in achieving whatever I set my mind to do – good or bad. lol.
But I have discovered especially this year, that it is not only good but wise to also be a little flexible. I have learnt to try and experiment with new things and different ways of doing things.
The fact that I have decided to go a particular lane does not mean it’s necessarily the best or only way to go.
There might just be another amazing way of going about things or another route entirely which may equally lead to the desired destination – success.
I have learnt that is good to listen to the opinions of others and look into their suggestions. I never want to discard other people’s views and opinions henceforth, who knows? here just might be some wisdom in it.
Long story short, I am now open to trying new ideas and more positively disposed to accepting a wide range of suggestions. So, bring it on.
- It’s Not Too Late To Discover Myself
If I ever doubted there is a certain age one can discover oneself, the year 2019 was a confirmation that it can never be too late to discover oneself.
It was a rude awakening for me upon hearing Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin’s story at an event Google had organised earlier in the year. Her’s is a story of very unusual upbringing and rough adulthood.
Prior to that, I had followed Abisoye on Instagram since I got to know about her in November 2018 when she was named one of the CNN heroes.
Like many other amazing African women that I have intentionally followed on social media, Abisoye has been very fantastic; she seems to have so much up to her sleeve.
But the best and coolest gift from her to me was the release of her book: I WOKE UP AT 30: How I utilised Inertia for Global Impact which is a loud affirmation that it doesn’t matter how long and rough the process of finding oneself maybe, it will always be worth the while when you finally ‘Wake Up’.
I had been worried over this age and achievement thing for a while now. Seeing Abisoye achieve such a great feat despite having gone through all she had just gives me the right dose of motivation to keep me going.
- I learn the power of rising early
If you work from home, rising very early will really work for you. Otherwise, it will really work for you. Yeah.
As a writer, I create contents for a couple of other platforms apart from writing for ideaslane.com and trust me when I say I have a crazy passion for writing – I may not be your best writer by any standard. Once I get into writing, I sometimes find it difficult to stop, even when it’s very late into the night.
When this happens, I find it difficult to rise early in the morning to start the day’s work and at the end of the day; it’s really difficult to be any productive.
Once I started sleeping earlier so I could rise earlier, I saw a drastic increase in my level of productivity.
It’s really amazing. Like anytime I wake up at 4 am or latest 4:30 pm, I find that I achieve my goals 50% more than I do on the day I wake up much later.
I have read and heard that waking up early is one of the open secrets of success but until this year, I have never really paid much attention. Now that I know, I’ll recommend waking early for anyone who wants to achieve their goals 100%.
- Riches isn’t really an achievement
Most people are working so hard just to make so much money. Yeah, that used to be many months ago.
True, am not Dangote yet –and I don’t want to be – but I can tell you that richest doesn’t and cannot ever really amount to any meaningful sense of achievement or satisfaction.
I talk to a lot of young people and everyone seems to just want to ‘hammer’.
Maybe it comes with age, but I have learnt that true happiness comes from helping others achieve their goals in life and not how fat your bank account is.
Like bible rightly says, true happiness comes from giving and not receiving.
- Invest more than I save
It’s cliché to say that it’s a good thing to have some savings some from one’s earnings but this year, I have learnt that the true test of savings lies in how much I save as compared to the amount of money I spend.
So the personal finance lesson for me this year is that cultivating a saving culture means saving a reasonable amount of my earnings BEFORE spending the rest on other things.
Arese Ugwu’s Smart Money Woman has been very instructive I must say and I am greatly looking forward to the adaption of the book into a movie series which is already on its way.
Long story short, this year is the ‘save money’ year for me.
Rounding off
Toast to goodness, good health, peace, success, fulfilment and happiness for the rest of 2019 and of course in coming years.
There will always be room for improvement and of course so much to learn for the rest of the year and in coming years.
Am grateful for where I have come so far and even more excited about the future.
Was this any useful to you or should I not have shared?
What has been the greatest lesson you’ve learnt this year?
What are the ultimate goals you would want to achieve next year?
Feel free to share and let’s tap from some of your ideas. Too.
Bukola Owo-Bello is a spirited storyteller, content creator and YouTuber who loves sharing amazing opportunities, inspiration, and ideas with forward-thinking African youths.
Follow her on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram on @BukkiTalks
