Whispers From 2021
By: Ekene Paul
Tags: New Year, 2021, Goals, Ｍedium, Development

One of the biggest obstacles that stand in the way of creative goals apart from information overload for many people is a lack of time. Oftentimes humans can dream, humans can envision where they did rather be but are not because of the process they need to pass through to get there.

The biggest question in the world is not what you want or what you think you want to achieve, rather the biggest question is what are you willing to leave behind to get there, and that is my message from 2021.

I like drawing, I love painting, and look forward to writing or singing is how I cool off. But I also have to work Monday to Friday and it’s difficult to find the time and mental space to train at the things I am gifted at doing.

Now that I feel this way, I am naturally tempted to do a quick search for productivity hacks on Google, watch tutorial videos on YouTube, or read through some Medium articles by my favorite authors i.e. Ekene Paul.

Please note that going through this path only does more harm than good. It overloads you with information so much so that you think you do not even need to go through the process as you thought. It deceives you into thinking you have arrived.

But your journey is far.

Most “productivity hacks” just address the symptoms that come with time management issues.

To find space and spend your time and energy on what matters, you need to understand the root causes of not having enough time. The ancient monarchs dealt with issues by attacking the root cause of whatever the problem was.

Imagine wanting to weed out your farm, and all you did was trim the weeds that you found on it, you know you are kidding because its a matter of 7 days before the weeds grow up again.

Attacking the root cause is key to treating issues. In no particular order, here are a few root causes:

Social Media.

There are mainly 2 gates into a human body. The eye gate and the ear gate. What you see and what you hear. There is a general myth that ladies are moved by what they hear while guys are moved by what they see.

So true.

There are just two genders in this world, male and female. It is more dominant for a lady to be moved by what she hears over what she sees but mind you, that does not mean she is not moved by what she sees, the hearing just happens to be dominant. Same as for a guy. A guy naturally gravitates more to what he sees over what he hears. We live in a world where we get constantly addicted to the NEWS, latest happenings, celebrity gossip et all. I wish to ask you something, after all the knowings around the world, has your life improved?

The real test of an improved life is to invite a total stranger to live with you, to see you as you observe your daily habits/routine, and if you are comfortable with letting your guard down and also inspiring the stranger by how you live, then you have mastered your life.

Once in a while turn off completely social media notifications and stay put for just 1 day. Not to prove a point but to declutter.

It works wonders.

Atmosphere.

I salute motivational speakers on this one.

A popular phrase goes thus:

Atmosphere is everything.

In the 1960s, when a Nigerian traveled abroad say the USA, the only thing they brought back were Apples. It made an innocent boy wonder why. The reason was not far fetched, Apples could not grow in Nigeria because of the weather. Now Apples are actually grown in Nigeria only that you know the original.

The best way to make friends is to start a party and invite others to it. The party here is loving yourself and enjoying your own company, then anyone who runs into your path would only get to appreciate your awesomeness.

Try it. It completely eliminates depression.

MultiTasking.

What can I say here? Feel free to disagree with me on the issue of multitasking because some are good at it — especially mothers.

Multitasking helps achieves a lot but it leaves you drained. Over time you dread doing the next task except you are strong-willed, because like said earlier on, it leaves you drained.

Anyone in the world can get what they want if it is one thing. This means you can become a change agent in the world if you want to. You can be a superhero (not kidding) if that is what you want so long as that is what you want.

The problem here is when you have more than one single desire. So you want to be rich, and you work towards it but along the line, you want to be famous. It adds weight to the process and then it breaks the cord, you have to start the process all over again. You want to be healthy and along the line, you want to be a celebrity. It makes the process heavy and then the cord breaks, you have to start the process all over again.

We begin to dread the process and like a gymnast says, gym every day so your muscles can take shape and have the right tone.

Structure.

Structure and Flow.

What happens when you wake up?

Do you check your phone?

Brush your teeth?

Exercise?

Whatever you do in the morning by default without much thinking, has become a habit. It is a system that is on autopilot for you. Stopping them right now would be a big deal. Hope you get the picture?

You need systems of activity. Motivation as a surge of energy is good. But not sustainable. If you require motivation for everything then you are of all men most miserable, because motivation fizzles out as soon as it comes.

Structure gives you a bit of control. Just start out organizing a new structure of how you spend your 24 hours.

Once you can read

Once you listen

Once you can speak, and once you can write — communication;

You become unstoppable in life

With these few points of mine, I hope I have been able to convince you and not to confuse you that 2021 would be a great year because it has asked me to whisper these truths to you. There is more, but everything classified as progress rests on the things shared above.

Do well to refer back to this article in the future.