Whew! Year 2020.
A look back at a year like no other.
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It was some minutes past 12 am. I had a wrap of suya on one hand and a bottle of Fanta on the other. With arms wide open and the harmattan wind caressing my black shirt:: “Yesssssss! 2020! This is the year!”, I said to Pius. We were walking down the lonely UI gate-Queens Road on campus. We had just ushered in the new year and returning from cross-over service as they call it.
2020 was gonna be the year of everything: leaving school, NYSC, first job, maybe visit a country or two.
Despite the turmoils that happened during the year, I grew so much and I have a long list of things to be thankful for.
Sure, 2020 was one long crazy year. Gosh! The pandemic, a full-blown social revolution around race, horrendous deaths of Kobe Bryant, Chadwick Boseman, Oke; #EndSARS, #LekkiMassacre, oil prices went negative, and three trimesters of ASUU strike. Not to mention millions of others who lost their lives to COVID globally. The year was nothing like we’ve ever experienced. I mean, I bought a new face mask this morning.
Evidently, things didn’t go the way I expected, but they still turned out fine, or better put: the way they turned out made me a stronger person. It’s so easy to focus on these big events and miss out on the lessons or experiences we have through them. I dislike not being in control which means I plan a lot, 3 months forward sometimes. But I just had to flow with the tides at some point in 2020. I did lose control: I was waiting for University to resume, I had no stable job or income — not even looking for one. Just waiting for tomorrow to happen. I really hated it then but maybe I needed some dose of it.
For me, what determines if one’s growing or not is how much you‘re learning. And oh boy! I learned a heck lot this year: from the books I read, the wins I had, the Ls I took, podcasts, movies, discussions with friends, documentaries. I bought my first stocks mid-year, won an international competition alongside a rockstar team, got a new job lately et J’ai commencé à apprendre le français -I started learning french.
2020 happened to be the year I also got involved in real stuff. The school environment kinda feels like a simulation environment. There’s a fixed schedule of learning, immediate ‘feedbacks’ in terms of grades, and the tasks are usually less complex.
I participated in several contests in school but I handled real problems in 2020: from managing a 5,000+ attendee student event to preparing — alongside a senior colleague — a business plan and pitch deck for a $30M Canadian firm. I did most of these things afraid. Today, I might feel like I’m a badass, and the next day I start asking myself if I know what I’m doing at all. But I’ve learnt to flow with it. To hell with imposter syndrome.
Yeah, so if you ever feel like that too, just know that you’re not alone. Be kind to yourself and ask questions. Most often than not, people are willing to answer and guide you.
Super grateful for my friends. I really don’t deserve them honestly. I was on a call with Seun on a Sunday evening and he said ‘So, Marcus, do you have anything you want me to pray for you this week?’. I was scared of taking a particular test because of what people were saying and Grace was like ‘Don’t listen to people jor. Just prepare’. These little things are the most important for me. I had an hour conversation with a senior friend at 3 am one day and that call somehow changed my outlook for the year. It’s often said relationships define so much of where you'll get to and I’m glad I have amazing friends always nudging me in the right direction.
Career
Omo. I hustled in 2020. Rejection emails here and there. I wrote an aptitude test for one company like that, I was quite sure I smashed it that I was blasting Fireboy’s Champion in my room. The next thing, HR replied they had issues with the test partner site. They didn’t get my test result. So, I had to re-write. The rejection mail for the second test I wrote came on my birthday, aha. The second test was so different from the first and I got destabilized.
There was a week I had 5 interviews back-to-back. I’m both surprised and proud I passed all my interviews — at least the firms that are kind enough to invite me for one — except for JP Morgan that aired me (I might just start an interview coaching business next year sef). You might start wondering if that means I had plenty of offers. The answer is: not really, although I turned down 2 small offers — interpret that the way you like :-). The thing is recruiting isn’t a straight line as many people think.
For example, I passed my first-round interview at Microsoft but couldn’t move on to the next round because someone else passed his/her final round just at the same time and the number of folks they’re looking for was complete. So they need not move further with me to the final round. Funky, right?
Thankful for where I’m working now. Typical of what you’ll expect from a Fortune 100 company: the work I do matters and impact millions of people, new challenges to crack every day, and massive learning opportunities — both online resources and on-the-job experience. And yes, I have a super great manager.
I read a lot. So, let’s talk about books.
I have an issue picking ‘bests’, but I’ll mention two notable books I read in 2020.
Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Duke: Shoutout to Batel for the recommendation. I was having regrets over some of the decisions I made but reading the book lets me see that the ‘wrong’ decisions were indeed the right decisions. What makes a right or wrong decision is the process that led to the decision and not necessarily the outcome of the decision. If that sounds spooky to you, then you should read the book. I also became more confident in saying I don’t know or I’m not sure.
An excerpt:
“The most successful investors in start-up companies have a majority of bad results. If you applied to NASA’s astronaut program or the NBC page program, both of which have drawn thousands of applicants for a handful of positions, things will go your way a minority of the time, but you didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. Don’t fall in love or even date anybody if you want only positive results. The world is structured to give us lots of opportunities to feel bad about being wrong if we want to measure ourselves by outcomes. Don’t fall for it!”
If you’re curious about the business of tech, you should check out Swipe to Unlock: A Primer on Technology and Business Strategy. I don’t know why these books have long names but the authors are masterminds.
Why does Amazon offer free shipping with Prime if it loses them money? Why did Facebook acquire Instagram? Why did Blackberry fail? You’ll find answers to these questions in plain simple English.
I don’t often read fiction books but Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and Chimamanda’s Zikorah were absolute gems. I really enjoyed them.
Other mind-openers
- I love reading new articles on the Collaborative Fund blog every weekend. It’s filled with timeless advice that applies to any aspect of life.
- I watched Netflix’s shockingly disturbing The Social Dilemma documentary and learnt a great deal of social engineering, technology (social media) addiction vis-a-vis the dopamine rush effect explained first-hand by Silicon Valley whistleblowers.
- Favourite podcasts are Techish, MyWallSt’s Stock Club, WSJ What’s News, Business Casual, and The Michelle Obama Podcast. I guess the names already tell what they’re about. Those hyperlinks are for Google podcasts but you can find them anywhere you listen to podcasts.
- Stayed updated on happenings on the continent via Bloomberg’s Next Africa Newsletter
- Yeah, my favourite TV show: A Million Little Things. I love love love it. It’s all about friends, relationships, and just life in general.
- And of course, I listen to God’s word regularly from my church on livingwordmedia.org
Just remembered: I didn’t attend any Owambe this year sha. Not a single one! Na wa o.
So, what’s for next year?
In 2021, I’m gonna be intentional about everything. About my spiritual growth, my relationships, my personal development, my financial independence, my career growth, about attending owambes. Every single thing. Not leaving anything to chance. You should adopt that too.
And remember:
There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
-Nelson Mandela
Cheerio!
