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.