You Might As Well Stay Home - How Being Chronically Tired Affects your Productivity and Creativity

I used to be one of those people who would boast of how little sleep I needed, frequently working till 2-3am and waking up before 6/7am. Now however, I seriously evangelize against it even where I'm not paid to do so. I can only say sorry for the number of deadlines I missed and the errors in my work that my bosses and colleagues had to deal with.  

If you compromise your sleep or diet, you can come to work be at your desk between 9 - 5, but because your are chronically tired, you might as well be home. There are times when we have to spend our time outside of work to do more work to sustain ourselves, this is perfectly understandable and even necessary but should never be allowed to compromise the quality of the work we have promised to deliver. 

As a biological organism, your brain prioritizes your safety, so especially for those of us doing intellectual work, your productivity for some 'employer' is not your brain's first priority from a biological point of view. To be creative requires your brain to dedicate resources and processing power to the tasks you are engaged in. Your brain cannot think creatively to come up with new ideas if you are chronically tired and malnourished. 

As a side note, I believe many of the illnesses and sudden deaths you hear about, may not always have to do with witchcraft; too many people are running their bodies to the point that one small illness shuts the whole system down.

The reason this is hard for people to understand is that, God gave us very a strong machine called our body, it can sustain a lot of pressure and it will take a long time for it to snap under the pressure, even with very extreme lifestyles. Habits such as little sleep, too much caffeinated drinks (especially when we are on too little sleep - coffee, energy drinks etc), alcohol, smoking, eating junk food - the porsche food we buy.

The point is, your time outside of work determines to a great extent, how productive you will be when you are at work. Take care of your health - try to eat well (which is not the same as eat expensive), sleep well, keep healthy. Note that you can eat expensive food and still be deficient in essential nutrients your body needs to perform at its best. 

Have a great end of week...

Young People in Africa Simply Don't Have the Luxury of Being Average!

Several months ago I was addressing a large group of final year students at the University of Sierra Leone (FBC) at a career event. I was listening to the speaker before me encourage the young people present about the importance of taking responsibility for reaching their goals and driving their careers. I started off my pitch by reminding them that, the state of our country and so many other countries in our continent, means that they cannot be happy with simply being average. 

They were soon going to graduate from university and it's easy for them to feel entitled to a high paying job but I reminded them that they actually need to go beyond just getting a job and staying at one. They need to see themselves as a beacon of hope and transformation in their communities and places of work. It is not enough for them to just do the minimum at their jobs, they must go beyond the normal call of duty. If you are a young person in our part of the world, you do not just do your job, you do the best job you can do.

I was in a conversation a few days later with my colleagues and I was hearing the horror stories of young people drowning in the Mediterranean sea for hopes of getting a better life in Europe. Any where you turn, there's a problem that needs fixing! Take the state of our healthcare systems, take poverty, take our legal systems, take the state of technology, infrastructure etc. Each of these and countless others need a young person who will say "I pick this problem! It's mine to tackle!". I will spend my time learning everything I need to learn and engaging with the individuals, groups and institutions that can help tackle this problem at scale. 

If you're a teacher, don't just be an ordinary teacher; be the best your village, community or country has ever got! Don't just graduate from the College of Medicine and become an ordinary doctor, be the best doctor we have ever seen. Don't just be an engineer, be the best there could be. Don't just be a tailor, build a team of tailors making the best designs in the country! You do this because if don't then who will?

Everyone has a unique advantage, if you nurture that advantage and tap into it to the fullest, you and everyone around you will benefit from it. If no one is doing something about this problem you roll your sleeves and do something about it!

There's too much at stake, you should not be happy with being average. Be the best at whatever you do. You will be proud of your success but we will all be happy that you made the sacrifices to tackle the challenges around you.

5 Lessons from the Generator Mechanic's Problem Solving Approach for life and business

Today I took our generator to a mechanic at Cockle Bay. The moment we dropped it, he checked the fuel gauge, he checked the oil and checked that the spark plugs is well placed. Then he tried to start it. 

It didn't start, so he tried cleaning up the plug area, still didn't start, he took out the air filter. He then opened the uppermost compartment of the engine. As he kept trying to start the engine, he could now see how key parts are moving together. He noticed that the spark plug is new but doesn't seem quite the right one. He asked that we replaced it. I asked how much, he gave me 3 different types one 15k, one  25k and a third one 35k. I asked what's the difference, he said 'quality'. Being frugal I chose the mid-level one at 25k - bottom line I settled for less quality. 

What lessons can we learn from the generator mechanic's approach to solving problems? Here's some that I took from the encounter:

1. You have got to discover the problem first before you start providing solutions. Sometimes we provide solutions rather than taking an objective  step-by-step approach to situations. Our hunches and intuitions can be true and insightful but they can also be deathly misleading as they carry with them our ego, biases, weaknesses and desires etc. These are all great allies, they have their place but they can interfere with our objectivity, especially in situations where it's most needed. 

2. In trying to discover problems start diagnosing from the most common problems before starting the search for more advanced and extraneous ones - common problems are common. Often problems have their roots in the open but we get too hung up on going deep that we forget to pick the low hanging fruits.

3. Trust the professional and let them discover the problem themselves  - but check. The mechanic brought a spark plug It came in an oldish looking box. I objected, he said that's not the point; 'the key is that it proves itself'. The other thing is (as is usually the case), I have this inclination to explain what I think the problem is before the mechanic diagnoses it. Today, I held my self tight from doing so, I answered questions but nothing more. For instance they  discovered that there was oil spillage as the repair was going on. I had a hunch that there was a seal that we inserted some months back, that it may have gotten loose. The point is that there may even be other problems; you will interfere with this natural discovery process if you inject your views of the problem too early. Let professionals do their job. 

4. Solve problems in a modular fashion. Most things/systems are made up of independent parts that work together in a harmonious manner. After diagnosing the whole system - then take one part out (the one that most clearly seems faulty) and try to fix it as an independent element, then test the system again. If the problem continues then move on to another part. It's impractical to try to reform a whole system at once but in life and in business we try to do it.

5. The breath of the tools available at your hands can impact the quality of your problem diagnosis and solving. While the number of tools is important, the range of areas those tools can be applied is also of great import. 

What are your thoughts on these lessons from a seemingly ordinary encounter?

Have a great week.

Alusine Barrie - Where did my time go? - A successful week is planned!

Once you are clear about where you are headed, your time will become 10X more valuable

Am I spending time on the right things?

Someone asked me the other day what they should do to make the best use of their time and deal with their fears. Let's focus on how to make the best use of our time first as this is extremely important. 

Once we become aware of the amount of time we waste every week, it is difficult to not feel guilty about it. The amount of time we spend scrolling through Facebook, traversing WhatsApp groups, watching movies (of other people becoming successful), chatting about mindless matters etc. is time stolen from us and the kind of people we really want to become. 

But how do I have a great week this week?

The first thing I would like you to do is consider the previous week and make a note of the major activities on which you spent most of your time on. Is it watching movies, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, video games, chatting about mindless matters with your 'friends' over things that don't really add value to you or them? You owe it to yourself to know where exactly your 168 hours (that's the number of hours in a week!) went. The truth is, our lives will be headed in the direction of the activities we are most engaged in. Once you do this, then ask yourself these questions:

 "Is this what I want to spend most of my time on?", "Are these activities benefitting me or the people I am engaging with?" "What kind of person do I want to become? [and] Are these activities taking me closer to this person or are they a barrier keeping me from becoming my best self?" Try to answer these questions as honestly as you can - at the end of the day you're your only judge, so judge well!

Once we are clear where our time is and checked whether this is what we desire deep down, we can now talk about having a successful week. To have a successful week, you need to have an aim for the week. Take 15 minutes (that's all) to consider your three biggest goals and ask yourself "What three things  can I do (one for each goal or however you want really) this week that will help me drive my most important goals forward and bring me a step closer to becoming the person I want to be? Have a notebook, find a diary if you  can. Once you've decided what activities you want to spend your time on, decide which day and at what time, you'll engage in each of the activities. The more specific, the better.

Once you do this, your time will become 10X more valuable. People see you and say why do you move so fast, it seems like you're always rushing to somewhere. That's what you ideally want, you're on the path to becoming your best self, all the time.  

Pro tip: spend as little time as possible doing mindless things. If you enjoy chatting about football/watching movies fine, but make sure to put a time to do that and discipline yourself!

Now go plan your week, and let me know how it went. Wish you a wonderful week!

Best regards,

Alusine Barrie. 

Alusine Barrie - Build your career through skills and expertise first - then optimize through networking

Bonus: the people who end up recommending you for opportunities will be proud they did so.

With our culture of 'sababu' (as we call it in Sierra Leone) - getting jobs, career opportunities or getting your way primarily because you have ties with someone wielding the decision making power can have the tendency of making young people optimize for the wrong thing. And of course, this also creates a dynamic that discourages young people from becoming skilled professionals, contributing to their communities and the organizations they're part of, especially those whose families are not necessarily 'connected'. We teach people from a young age get that if you are not 'connected', your chances of succeeding remain bleak at best. 

Getting recommendations for new opportunities from people who know your skill set and competencies is not a bad thing, you just don't want to be given an opportunity despite the fact that you're not the qualified person for the task. Although this may be nice in the short run, in the long run it leaves us vulnerable. Furthermore, poor accountability and toxic loyalties build up in organizations as people are obliged to be loyal to the people who gave them the 'opportunity' rather than serving the needs of the organization/its clients. 

What often happens is that when people rarely dedicate themselves to doing the job well, instead they get busy trying to please the person who gave them the opportunity. It's easy to see why this is the case, they didn't get the opportunity because of their skill and competence. But what happens if this person falls out of favour? Or you don't want to be loyal to them if it goes against your values? What happens to the organization/people we are serving? What happens to our own peace of mind? What happens to your continued career growth? Maybe these questions don't matter to you, then this post is not for you.

Don't get me wrong, people who love and want to empower you will push you for opportunities when they are convinced you are the best person for the task, but never (just) because you're their brother/sister or former school mate. People who do this are not doing you a favour, they're simply filling their egos through you.

Foundations for a successful career are built on professionalism and a strong skill set. What you want to do is develop a strong set of skills on which you want to build your career and once you do that then you can seek opportunities to apply them. Optimize your skills first and then and only then your relationships (or 'network' as we say).

If you do this, build strong skills first before using your network, we will all benefit  - the net effect is positive for you, your organization and your community (through the people you serve). In the short run you may have to put effort into developing those skills, but the benefit and peace of mind is so much better. In fact, the harder the skill the better. You will thank God someday that you chose to do this rather than the easy way.

Best Regards,

Alusine Barrie. 

Alusine Barrie: First Impressions Will Not Take You Far _ Be Professional, Don't (Just) Look It

I would like to start by stating that there is something to be said about looking professional. Especially for young people entering the job market. After all, 'first impressions go a long way' is a well known piece of wisdom preached to young people (and rightly so). Studies have shown that in the first few seconds of interacting with us people make a an impression of us based on how we look or carry ourselves, until those impressions are caused to change.  

In situations where someone has to make a judgement about your character or capacity and you don't have a chance to demonstrate your inner powers, it is critical to make good first impressions. In your early interactions with other people (in your job search, or first days/weeks at your workplace) you want to look professional - dress professionally and carry yourself in a way that communicates expertise, professionalism and maturity.

The challenge with first impressions is that, they are like perfume, the effect eventually wears off. Through experience, we have learnt that first impressions of others are not very reliable measures of character and of your capacity to contribute to an organization's growth and success. They are just tentative. Once people make impressions of us, they are constantly comparing us now against the impressions they made of you the first time they interacted with us.  

So rather than (just) looking professional, why not do both? Dress appropriately, but more importantly get to work on time, do your work with diligence, contribute to your team's success and deal with clients respectfully and kindly.

First impressions may work to get you a job (if you are lucky), but they are surely insufficient to help you keep your job and succeed as a professional. So, choose to be professional.

Regards,

Alusine Barrie. 

 

Alusine Barrie: You Need New Glasses - Never Believe A Prophecy That Doesn't Empower You

Many of us navigate the world based on the theories others developed. 

GENIUS, this is a dangerous word. I consider myself somewhat stubborn in telling everyone I get to meet - friends, students, trainees, peers, colleagues etc. to never call anyone a genius because that is the easiest way of telling ourselves that what they did/are doing is 'impossible'. 

The danger is that the moment you 'believe' something is not possible, you give up all power to drive yourself to try and to persevere in the face of challenges. Now, when you try something new and it's difficult (especially in the beginning) you use the image of this person you have labelled 'GENIUS' to give yourself permission to give up on what you're aiming for. Not a good idea.

From the dictionary, the word belief "(in something/somebody) [is] a strong feeling that something or someone exists or is true;". If our beliefs are what we consider to be true (at least for us) and that they are strong feelings, and we agree that what we feel strongly about affects our day-to-day decisions, then it logical to infer that our beliefs control and shape our lives. 

Beliefs are not a bad thing on their own, they become so when they are the thing that is holding you back from reaching your dreams and goals. I am a Muslim and I fervently believe in God, but I try to use that belief each day to empower me to go after my goals and conduct myself in the world in a way that leaves as happy and fulfilled as possible. Someone else can use the same belief in God to explain why they should forever be stuck in poverty or where they are. It's all about the perspective you choose to take. 

Interestingly, if you take a little time to think about why you believe in the things you believe in you will realize that most of what you consider your beliefs are actually not your own. The beliefs established around you are not truths, they are shortcuts developed by other people to deal with their own circumstances and desires that they have passed on to you. There's no one out there like you, so sometimes (especially with your beliefs) learn to build your own theories about how the world works using your own judgement.

Transitioning to more empowering beliefs is like navigating the world with a new set of glasses, just that this time they are clearer glasses that give you power to reach your dreams. Once you change your beliefs, you'll realize you've been looking at yourself, what you are capable of and the world with they wrong glasses. 

Don't know if you need to change your beliefs (a.k.a your glasses)? It's simple, if you feel stuck and progressing in they way you deeply know you can, then there's something holding you back. You may not see it clearly yet, but it's there. Once you figure it out (which is the first step), work to change it. You can do this by talking to trusted people, reading books - especially autobiographies/stories of people who had similar circumstances as you but worked to achieve things similar to what you are aiming to achieve.

Any other beliefs, if they don't empower you to reach your highest self, get rid of them, they're not true...

Wishing you the best in your journey of transformation. I shared this post because someone reached out to me asking how they could reach their dreams (not like I've reached my but anyways)...

Have a blessed Sunday,

Alusine Barrie.