A Good Year

Ordinarily, I would be the last person to write an end of the year review, but given the events of the year on a personal and larger scale, I think I owe it to my future self to write how my 2020 was. So this is me throwing myself forward so that I can come here in a few months or years and laugh(probably gawk)at how goofy I was.

On a general note, apart from the departure of a few loved ones and childhood heroes, 2020 was a remarkable year for me. It was my first full year into this career thing and honestly, it was not bad. So my EOY review will be based on aspects of my life that I hold most dearly, career, family, friendships and love.

Career
2020 was the year I was supposed to be done trying to be a lawyer, but COVID 19 happened and It was a bittersweet experience for me. I work with a startup keen on helping top talent find jobs they love. On the surface, it feels herculean but I strongly believe that we could revolutionise the African approach to jobs and career. I consider my career path in 2020 as drawing on a canvas, I had the brush and the paint and it was up to me to make it a masterpiece but on reflection, I think I drew like a 10-year-old on the canvas. I had some wins careerwise, I helped people get jobs, I got a raise and a promotion but I feel I could have gone harder (way much harder) but there’s no point moping on the past.

One of my failures in the year was DeviantsHQ, I had a vision alongside two of my friends to build a community of user experience, marketing and product enthusiasts and we got off to a good start, we had a few impactful conversations but it just fizzled off. Deviants taught me a lesson in starting small in terms of resources and people, reading Zero to One I got better clarity on why Deviants failed at the time. A startup is actually the largest number of people you can sell on an idea and I think we ignored that part while building deviants. As at the time of suspending deviants, we had PMs from Latvia and UK who were interested in what we were doing. We’re rebuilding deviants into something more fun for a larger audience. Will definitely share more about that later on this space.
Fun fact: We started Deviants on April fools’ day.

Family
I became more family-centric in the year, mostly due to the lockdown. Staying home with my family for about 6 months at stretch (for the first time in my life) gave me more clarity on the sacrifices made for me while growing up and also opened my eyes to the fact that I have family members who were looking up to me, grew up with the thought that I was always in my lane. 2020 also made want to be a stay-at-home dad, guess I enjoy the company loved ones much.

Friendships

2020 made me develop the ‘bottomline principle’ which allowed me filter friends and relationships based on their longtime value and where I saw the relationship in a matter of years.

2020 was a year that I reconnected with friends from childhood and teenage years. I’m glad for where we all are in life and the magic we’re creating individually.

I apologize if I ghosted on you or I was an a**hole to you at some point in the year. I hold friendships dearly and I hope we can start 2021 on a beautiful note. Big shoutout to the friends I made this year (can’t name y’all). Really want to see all of you b*tches win hugely in 2021.

Love

Love is never enough. I think being in love takes resolve on our part. Wake up every day and show yourself and others you love them (this is my biggest take away from the year).

I think my reflection on 2020 will not be complete without mentioning how the events of the year shaped me.
#ENDSARS gave me a new picture on my citizenship as a Nigerian and I’ve recalibrated my future based on the picture. ( lmao: I just pulled an aspire to perspire).
On gender wars, I think we should be more conscious of the struggles women go through and make it a duty regardless of your gender to ensure women have safe spaces where they can blossom. As a side note, We should all be feminists.

Doing the most in 2021

I saw ‘doing the most’ on Patricia CEO’s Instagram page and it resonated with me, doing the most means you want to do aseju(overdo) and I think that's how I want to approach 2021. I can't recall anybody who failed while doing the most so I’ll be doing just that in 2021.

Femi, Chuka, Francis, Moyin, Segun, Oyetayo, Oyinda, Motunrayo, Jadesola, Tosin, Adepeju, Tolu, Ifeoluwa Oseni, Temidire, Ochanya, Eniola, Kabeerah, Tawakalt, Miracle, Oyinkan, Aanu… THANK YOU!!!.

Cheers to doing the most in 2021 guys!!!!.