New year

On this day, exactly one year ago, I spent a lot of time dreaming. I took several long and hard looks at the new year and thought a lot about what I would do with it: 365 long days, with 24 constant hours in each. These days, I am looking in the opposite direction. So far I have taken several long and hard look back on the year that is now spent. Some of the most important things I have realised is that the year was very fruitful for me. I made several mistakes but was not buried by them. I took several radical decisions but have not regretted any of them. And I have learnt, most important of all, that one year is a really long time during which a lot can get done.

Particularly today, I am looking ahead at the new year. The keys question I'm trying to answer are: 'What things do I want to stop doing, what things do I want to keep doing and what things do I want to start doing?' While thinking about my answers, I have noticed that the 'why' motivates the 'what'. 

As you also might be considering making some resolutions for the new year, I think you should consider the following:

1. Whatever you do not have a strong enough reason for, you will end up not doing at all, not doing well or not doing for long.  
2. Whenever it seems like you're falling short in performance, then think again about where you started from. It might well be that you're forgetting the 'why'.
3. Never resolve to do anything in the new year that you cannot convince yourself is right by EVERY standard. Being socially acceptable is not good enough. 

See you next year!

My work, so far...

Today, my stock taking went in the direction of my day job. For about a half decade now I've been a researcher - teaching, writing and publishing - in innovation, entrepreneurship and policy. I have just analysed the top 100 words that appear in the titles of my written output mostly since 2006 (excluding my BSc thesis which was completed in 2002). The resulting word cloud is here (reproduced below). 

Obviously, it's about Nigeria; it's about development; it's about innovation; it's about sustainability; it's about technology; and it's about learning. The people with whose support I've been able to do this much are arranged here (reproduced below). 

Chances are you don't know any of them, and that doesn't matter. The message I'm passing is that productivity needs support. It is extremely difficult for anyone to do anything meaningful with their lives without laps to sit on, shoulders to stand on, arms to lean on and backs to ride on.

MEN THAT WILL SUCEED 24: They just know...

This is a post long overdue. It's supposed to be the last in my 24-part series of the traits of people on their way to success. By success I mean the fulfillment of some transcendent purpose and not just the attainment of some trumped-up human standards.

A lot has been written about knowledge and how it is strongly connected to performance. I have even heard it said that you are what you know. That's true, of course, but I see a special dimension of knowledge that every serious mind should seek.

Today in some disciplines we speak of many types of knowledge: know-how, know-who, know-what, know-when, know-why...but one that is rarely ever mentioned anywhere is what I'd simply call 'just-know'. Call it intuition, unction, perception, instinct, inspiration or anything else you like. The name is not important, all I know is that you'll know when you've got it. How many times have you felt so convinced about something for no obvious reason, even when everyone else seems opposed, and you turned out to be right? That's exactly what I'm talking about.

People who can consistently demonstrate this level of consciousness are often the most successful, and history bears this out. They are the ones who just know that what they're doing is what they should be doing. You see, no matter how much information we could get about everything, there always comes a time when we have to proceed with limited info; that's when we need to 'just know' what is right. This has even become much more necessary because the world we live in today is becoming increasingly complex and uncertain.

How does 'just-know' come. Honestly I can't tell. I just know that it's important. I also know that it thrives in quietness and a consistent habit of useful thinking. Above all, I know that it thrives in the practice of seeking God.

According to Newton's first law of motion, an object just keeps standing still or consistently moving along on a straight path unless compelled to do otherwise by an external force. By extension, every object needs an exogenous force to make it useful, otherwise it will just keep doing what is most convenient for it even when it's totally nonsensical. Two major lessons I see here. First, nothing comes to its full potential unless moderated by an exogenous power. The force that causes a change of state or speed or direction is never internal to a body, it is always from an exogenous source. Second, what is being moderated cannot fully comprehend its moderator, just as car cannot by itself master its engine. Even the most intelligent robots today only know to connect themselves to power when they're running out but they don't necessarily understand how this power gets there.

What should you take away from the preceding paragraphs? One, nothing is truly exogenous to your world - however you define it - except God. Two, the fact that you don't seem to understand why there could be a God does not mean there can't be one. Arriving at such a conclusion would be as vague as claiming that your mum is not your mum just because you were not there when you were born!