What is your Windshield Conviction?

I had an interesting conversation with an Uber driver recently and while I was genuinely interested in his story, he triggered a different pattern of thoughts in my subconscious – unlocking a series of questions. Will you ride with us for a minute?

Me: So why do you have 2 Canadian flags on your windshield? Not Nigerian flags? Or that of any other country?

Uber Driver: My brother, I am tired of this country and I want to leave. I bought 2 and put 1 up there but my son put up the other one. That country is just the best place to live in, the environment is so…, the people are so…, work there is so… etc

Me: How do you know all of these? Have you been there before? I know of many opportunities back here in Nigeria. For example, I once met an Uber driver who has bought a fleet of cars from the business.

Uber Driver: I have a friend who lives there. Just after 5 years he started sending money, cars and other items to his family back here. I have another friend who just got a Federal Government job here too but he got it by divine intervention – everyone else had to know someone. When I try to save to buy my own car, something just takes the money up. I am tired of having to know someone to make it – I am leaving for Canada, soon.

Me: So what have you done about this? Do you know the process? Cost? Have you started working on this?

Uber Driver: It is capital I need now o! It is very expensive. I know I have to do one test…ermmm ILTS…

Me: You mean IELTS – Test of English? So do you at least have an idea what it will cost? Have you found out about the process? or other requirements?

Uber Driver: I haven’t o but I will travel soon.

Your guess is as good as mine.

This man has 2 flags stationed on his dashboard (owning his view daily) because he is convinced about a better life he hopes for, solely based on stories he got from a friend who claims to have experienced a better life while being in that environment.

He rarely has other validations besides his ‘current state’ of finding things 'hard'. Yet he hardly has information on how to go about his lofty dreams but he affirms that he would achieve this dream soon.

So I asked myself…(and you should too)

What lofty dreams do I hold so dear that I have coloured the space of my everyday view with? What are the basis of these dreams? Have I validated the authenticity of this basis? Have I taken steps to find out what it requires to birth reality of these dreams - If I have duly validated them? Or am I clutching unto this dream with the thread of ‘hear-say’? 

You may say you do not have a dream per say but what subconscious desires have you acquired from another person’s experience without adequately validating if these should be yours too?  

Will you take a minute to clean, re-access or have a WINDSHIELD CONVICTION? 

Or are you contented with obstructing your current journey with an unfounded, shallow rooted dream? Will you be intentional or let everything else control your plans?

WHAT ARE YOUR WINDSHIELD CONVICTIONS? WHAT IS YOUR JOURNEY ABOUT? It indeed is a good time to check through and be realigned as the new year beckons.

Will you share other questions that this conversation sparked up in your mind?

 #Goals #PersonalDevelopment #Inspiration #StoryTelling #Future #GettingThingsDone #Strategy #IntentionalLiving

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Privileged to have worked across the high-capital construction, fast-paced e-commerce & the precision-driven outsourcing industries; 'Kayode KOLADE is a Business Strategist and Project Manager with experience in People, Process & Operations Optimization, a Soft Skills Trainer and Mentor with a creed to continuous improvement. A Fellow of both The Institute of Leadership & Management and The Learning & Performance Institute.

YOUR HEALTH IS A CURRENCY

Incessant visits to the doctors for those lower back pains, increased risks of heart diseases, diabetes, obesity or just general musculoskeletal pains are far from the kinds of expressions you would want to live out after contributing your quota to making corporations great while building yourself an amazing career and retirement haven. Indeed, it is all worth it to ensure that beyond fulfillment and passion, you make enough money to fund your dreams, raise and support family and live life to the fullest.

Yet my question is - Should this be at the detriment of your health?

How long would you live life to the fullest for if your health is a battle zone?

I am privileged to have parents who have invested an upwards of 20 years of their work-life working for present day top-tier banks and besides the fact that I have learnt that my kids deserve a balance of both currencies (the me and money), I have also learnt that these interesting careers - and the sedentary lifestyles they lavish us with, can have long-term effects on our health - now and in the future.

I try to own my current health status and that of my future by doing the following

1. Taking short 5-minute walks after every 2-hours of sitting (you should try walking to that colleague’s desk instead of using the phone or email). Set reminders to help you do this amidst your busy schedule. I actually walk around within my office when I have to make calls as well.
2. Taking lunch breaks. You need to build the habit of taking lunch breaks even if you are not eating, which should not even be the case. It helps a lot to get some time away from the work-screen-stare and possibly watch a video, play some music or speak to someone, talk to family over the phone etc.
3. Ensuring that I sit upright and constantly snap myself out of slouching.
4. Dimming the brightness of my laptop screen. Our eyes suffer from the prolonged flooding of bright light as I feel this while I try to shut my eyes from time to time while working.
5. Placing my laptop (keyboard) inwards on the desk to allow me at least rest my wrists on a platform – laptop or desk. This takes out the pressure of suspending my palms and hands.
6. I start out my day with a to-do list and nest my email reply times amidst my schedule to ensure that I maximize my work-time and avoid extensive unproductive hours.

Kindly add your tips in the comment section

You should do some research, yet for starters - May I quote some part of a doctor friend’s recent article on the effects of prolonged sitting?
Dr Chris wrote

“During protracted sitting, large muscles in the lower limbs are inactive and this reduces metabolism. Also, there is a decline in muscular utilization of blood glucose in the body. As a result, the excess body glucose is converted to fats which deposit in the blood vessels. The accumulation of fat in the blood causes a plethora of health risks if left unchecked”

It is also very crucial (that for those of us who are privileged to have some decision making responsibilities that influence the productivity of our teams) to ensure that we keenly focus on ergonomics while designing or improving the work spaces for our teams constantly. Remember, you are as strong as not just your team but your team’s weakest link.
People say time is money. My teams must be tired of hearing me say this…

What you give your employer is your time. The time within which you use effort (skills, abilities, energy etc) to convert tasks into the deliverables that feed the bottom-line. Without good health, you would not have the time nor sanity to deliver the effort. This is besides the pains and travails that accompany ill health. Your time contains everything it carries – skills, ideas, solutions, good health etc. The money you earn is your time in your hands, your good health afforded you that time.

Are you intentional on how you spend the time (money) you can never recover?

YOUR HEALTH IS A CURRENCY. HOW DO YOU INVEST IT?

PS. I look forward to learn some of the ways you create a balance in your health as well. Kindly share in the comments section.
#Management #Future #HumanResources #Careers #HealthCare #Investing 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Privileged to have worked across the high-capital construction, fast-paced e-commerce & the precision-driven outsourcing industries; 'Kayode KOLADE is a Business Strategist and Project Manager with experience in People, Process & Operations Optimization, a Soft Skills Trainer and Mentor with a creed to continuous improvement. A Fellow of both The Institute of Leadership & Management and The Learning & Performance Institute. 

Have you checked YOU?

I have had the rare privilege to support a lot of people in their quest to unlock the next level in their career – whether in finding a job, switching between jobs or career paths, or simply around unlocking their X-factor (as my friend and sister Dupe tagged the last #CareerBrainStormingSession).

On the heels of this, the shocking & limiting perspectives we tackled (with the help of these amazing speakers - Tunde, Seyi, Adebola and Dinma ) on Saturday at the CBS 3.0 and the several people who reach out to me daily, I thought to share this – The most basic and important ingredient you need to unlock ‘YOU’ is WHAT YOU CURRENTLY HAVE ACCESS TO !!! And I have heard a lot of people echo back – ‘Oh, I don’t even have a job?’ , ‘My current job has nothing to offer’, ‘I do not have any skills’, I do not even know where to start from’ among several other lines.

You need to step back and think through these –

1.What about your person, past and current tasks can be of value to other people, a prospective employer or the world around you?

I have been both angry and amazed at a lot of people after spending time with them asking the right questions around what they do and how they have expressed these. For example I interacted with someone who had his role abbreviated into 3 letters on his CV and LinkedIn profile, 3 letters that I could not make sense of. 3 letters behind which he buried away the amazing things and results he brings to his employer daily. Employers look out for value. Abbreviations hardly convey this. What are the key results you are recording? Communicate these with the use of metrics - for example, 'I developed a customer management tool that cut down the waiting time per customer by about 50%'

Once discovered, then ask…

2. Are you properly articulating this – in your daily encounters, your CV, your LinkedIn profile etc? What exactly are you doing with the minimum of 4 hours daily (5pm – 9pm) left after you contribute to your current employer?

Why get off the bed shortly before the time you are required to be at work when you can gain an extra hour to add an extra skill to yourself? You invest not just your working hours to your employer but the other hours it takes to prepare to get to work (including your commuting hours), yet you expect to grow at the pace your current company grows at?

You seek a job yet you spend less than 1 hour a day actively working around this forgetting that your only job at that moment should be preparing and seeking for a job? Consistently researching companies, identifying requisite skills and adding them to yourself and ensuring you follow closely the people who currently do the jobs you aspire to be in.

One of the speakers at the CBS mentioned that s/he was recently seeking for someone with a required set of skills who s/he was going to pay $1000 DAILY to engage. YES, there are jobs out there irrespective of where you are. The question is - Do you have or are you building the requisite skills?

Preparation meets opportunity. There are people out there who you can have assist you in getting there (around articulating your details etc) but the question is,

Are you showing enough grit? 

#CareerDevelopment #HumanResources #JobInterviews #PeopleManagement #PersonalDevelopment

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Privileged to have worked across the high-capital construction, fast-paced e-commerce & the precision-driven outsourcing industries; 'Kayode KOLADE is a Business Strategist and Project Manager with experience in People, Process & Operations Optimization, a Soft Skills Trainer and Mentor with a creed to continuous improvement. A Fellow of both The Institute of Leadership & Management and The Learning & Performance Institute. 

PUZZLING OR SCALING?

CAVEAT – THE PURPOSE OF THIS POST IS NOT TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE.

I found this puzzle earlier today, shortly after I shared with my contacts via WhatsApp status with the tag ‘Where are the smart people on my contacts list?’ . I got over a hundred feedback within 2 hours. A few of the answers I got were 28, 50, 14, 11, 35, 10, 70, 12… etc from this same image. Feel free, take your shot and drop your answer as a comment below.

THIS POST IS ABOUT THE SEVERAL LESSONS THE FEEDBACK STIRRED UP.

A lot of people reacted too quickly. Some people reacted with such speed depicting that they were trying to validate their smartness. Most people were very pressured by the caption, hence lost the attention needed to pick the details. A few people just wanted to give it a shot. I know a few people who were trying to get my puzzle right ‘this time’. There were few people who waited and then coasted on the answers others gave. Several people rapidly changed their answers, they kept seeing some new information after their last reaction. Very few people took their time, reflected on what the puzzle was anchored on and then responded accurately.

I insisted on a show of workings and eventually asked for lessons learnt.

THIS POST IS ABOUT THE LESSONS LEARNT and a few were…

1.      Be aware of subtle pressure points that take your eyes off the goal

2.      Attention to details and how you interpret them matter a lot

3.      You will have better outcomes if you respond rather than react

4.      Own your mistakes and grow on them quickly

5.      Have the basic skills (in this case knowledge of mathematics) you require

6.      A successful attempt is still an attempt. Make an attempt, it is the only way to know if you will succeed.

Are you still trying to solve the puzzle? Feel free to share your answer.

What lessons did you glean from this?

#RandomMusings #PeopleDevelopment #Success #Training

COURSE CORRECTING

If you live and drive in Lagos, you will have had your fair share of other drivers veering into your lane – whether with honest ignorance or with intentional ignorance (I term this arrogance). Depending on your level of togetherness - as a culture or at the time of incident, your response could range from a silent swivel of your puzzled head to the seeming nerve-calming expressions of your vocal cords. I could never explain this phenomenon to (one of the best line managers money cannot buy -) Josselin while he was Nigerian.

Pathetic as it seems, some of us who are fully aware of the dangers of veering off your predefined lane still have our moments when we live in the reality of being the culprit – whether as a protest to the initiating culprit or for some ‘explainable’ reason on losing ourselves momentarily.

How many people will arrive at destinations if everyone veered off - every time? How more chaotic will it be if everyone was driving at a 100km/hr while veering off?

Can we take this notches higher? Considering the speed of an airplane, the plethora of other items pilots deal with (lets tackle turbulence some other time) ; would you imagine how catastrophe in a plane veering off the its coordinates by say 5 degrees?

Thankfully, a car has a steering wheel designed to give hints on what direction the wheels are facing per time. A lot of times road markings and signs, kerbs and sometimes a simple glance out the windshield helps nudge the mind on how straight or curved the road ahead is and thankfully alignments always ensure positive results. An airplane is blessed with the inertia guidance system (INS) and air traffic control that always ensures you and I arrive safely, on time and at the right destinations.

A lot of times a good and careful driver has to make consistent and slight adjustments to the steering wheel in alignment to the course of the road set ahead. This is similar to the concept pilots achieve flying with. I call it COURSE CORRECTING!

We are indeed the drivers or pilots of our lives. Our daily necessities deaden the need to course correct every once in a while. Our loaded, strength and time sapping routines loudly silences the rationality of a course correcting moment or the energy required to have one. Slowly but steadily, we drift away from having consciously solid relationships. Intentional and undistracted time pockets to edify our mind and spirit are rarities. Healthier food choices elude us. Our personal inhibitions and emotions per time robs us of deeper contacts and results. That momentary decision to be unconcerned with our deep yearnings or right action beyond the hurt or personal discomfort felt. That one piece of item littering your space that adds another until it has a name – clutter.

As drivers or pilots, how do we retrace our steps?

A non-exhaustive guide to course correcting

1.      Get a source of inspiration and stay connected. The project manager in me likens this to the Initiating process group. A driver or pilot usually relies on an ‘inspiration database’ of some sort. Be it the driver’s knowledge of the routes, google map or plain old simple road signage and markers. Airplanes usually have air navigation databases and coordinates to begin with. Define your source and stick to it. It could be an overall source that gives overarching direction or you may need to localize this. My only caveat is that one never gets inspired beyond the capacity of one’s source.

2.      List and organize the areas you would want to be more effective at. Get the right metrics to measure yourself by. This reeks of the Planning process group of project management. With the source identified and the specific destinations and navigation pathways aligned, you are in business. It is critical to gather and determine what your critical success measurement factors will be before you set out as this will ensure that they are unwavering due to situations along the way. How else would we measure success if we do not set benchmarks? Set course correcting reminders for yourself on the listed items. Surround yourself with people who help you get critical devoid of those emotions that could cloud your thoughts. Set markers around you – vision boards, images and audios of your destination as constant reminders.

3.      Act, measure and correct. The executing, monitoring and controlling process group all play in this number. The driver and pilot will first need to objectively compare the degree of alignment. This would have to be done with a clear mind, no wonder there are alcohol limits for pilots and people are generally advised not to drive when drunk. Being drunk impairs one’s sense of judgement just as our emotions does. To accurately course correct sobriety is a necessity. The real work here is to find what jolts you into the right frame of mind as without the right frame, a picture is less defined. Adjust on the move. It would not always be painless. True sacrifice bleeds. Triumphing over your inhibitions will birth one thing - the you no one else can be.

The strength of an illusion is inherent on how convincingly it mirrors normalcy. Do not let your goals elude you. Course correct – constantly!

#PeopleDevelopment #Goals #CareerGoals #CareerDevelopment #ProjectManagement #PersonalDevelopment #Strategy #Management

Please feel to share some of the ways or ideas you course correct with.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Privileged to have worked across the high-capital construction, fast-paced e-commerce & the precision-driven outsourcing industries; 'Kayode KOLADE is a Business Strategist and Project Manager with experience in People, Process & Operations Optimization, a Soft Skills Trainer and Mentor with a creed to continuous improvement. A Fellow of both The Institute of Leadership & Management and The Learning & Performance Institute.