Focus Archives - Zamai Banje

Tag: Focus (page 1 of 3)

July 7, 2024 / 0 Comments

Locked In: 6 Reminders for how to Finish the Remaining Year

For someone to be locked in is an act or instance of becoming unalterable, unmovable, or rigid.

But this is opposite of what we do when it is the middle of the year. Whenever we get to July in any year, there is always the tendency to slow down. Or go with the flow. After all, what was not done from January to June might not happen in July or the rest of the year.

Please don’t think like this. The year is not over. We are in halftime. You still need to maintain momentum. Staying locked in is an important process in doing your best this year.

Stay Locked In

I love how Topsy-Kola Oyeneyin (TKO) puts it. This is from her newsletter.

If the first half was challenging or disappointing, that’s okay; it’s an opportunity to start afresh. If it was great, congratulations! Now is the time to build on it – don’t lose focus. Either way, don’t fixate on the current score; you’re playing for the entire game, not just the half, and the game isn’t over yet.

This is like how football players get to rest for a few minutes after the first half and before the second half begins. In those minutes, their coach comes to encourage his players to ensure they get the victory they need.

It is July, and you are in the same position too. So, before you go back in full gear, here are 7 reminders on how to stay locked in for the rest of the year.

Be consistent

Don’t abandon the goals and dreams you wrote at the beginning of this year.

Keep transforming your goal into simple regular habits by building rhythms and routines that work for you. Create and maintain checklists that break down your goals. Then take notes to measure your progress.

When you consistently work towards a goal, you are more likely to succeed.

2. Maintain Focus

This is what allows you to completely concentrate your entire being on a specific activity to achieve it.

When doing your daily tasks, be present in the moment. Treat everything you do as important. From big things to the little things. The better you focus when you do the little things, the better you’ll do in big stages.

Stay focused and keep moving forward.

3. Build privately

This is what I call a magical life – build in secret, celebrate in public.

Living a magical life for the rest of the year is learning a secret recipe to success. Your life is hidden in plain sight yet accessible only to a chosen few. Don’t confuse noise for success. Take deliberate quiet actions, rather than announcing your intentions to the world.

This is a rare art form you must learn to adopt.

4. Increase your chances of getting lucky

Life is in cycles and seasons will always come back and go.

This means you will have several opportunities in life to experience breakthroughs. Before these breakthroughs arrive, work hard and learn to recognize and act on opportunities. This is how you create your own luck.

Because Luck happens when preparation meets opportunities.

5. Love People

85% of your financial success comes down to your personality and how you treat people.

Be friendly. Don’t criticize, complain or condemn. Give honest and sincere appreciation. Always show empathy and put yourself in people’s shoes when communicating with them.

Learn to love people, not the way your school mates, novels and movies taught you, but the way your creator tries to teach you everyday.

6. Keep leveling up

You are the main character in your life. Act like it. I love how this quote put it:

Become the greatest your bloodline has ever seen. Then pass it down.

The quest is simple. Improve yourself. Prioritize your health and goals. Take actions daily and build relationships.

That’s 6 already, but there’s a 7th culled from Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

The Fear of God is important… to ensure that while you plan on finishing this year strong, you are also looking at the bigger picture (your life) as well.

Stay Locked In, my friend. The world awaits your legacy.

July 1, 2024

Lucky Break: Once in A Lifetime Opportunities are Overrated

What does it mean to have a lucky break?

On 29^th May 2024, football fans were shocked when Bayern Munich the biggest club in Germany announced their newest club manager. A popular sports media agency carried the announcement with an headline saying “the World has officially gone mad.”

Apparently, this manager is inexperienced. Just four years of coaching experience. And one of those years was spent in the English second division.

His only European campaign ended in a Conference League qualifying loss. He has never coached in a Champions League game.

In corporate terms, it’s like a multibillion international company hiring for the role of their managing director. A position that demands decades of experience and influence.

Then this company gives this position to a young man who has only managed a small startup in a local city.

This man does not appear to have the capability or achievements to get the coaching role.

But this is what the available data indicates.

Stay with me. There are important lessons to be learned from this appointment.

Vincent Kompany. That’s the name of Bayern’s newest manager. He is not at fault here, even if it feels like a massive jump.

At 38 years old, Kompany is still a promising manager with the potential to become a great one. After a few seasons at mid-level clubs, he should be able to refine and expand on his ideas, and then he could be prepared for a position as important as that of Bayern Munich. However, it all seems to be happening much too soon.

From a wider angle, it highlights the mess Bayern were in. This ‘multibillion dollar organization’ blew through their managerial targets after asking their current manager to leave the club.

They were left with a manager who appears underqualified and unprepared for a job of this magnitude. Months of searching Europe for possible targets. Pursuing big names, and repeatedly failing. All efforts were in vain.

Getting a Lucky Break

When Preparation Meets Opportunity

“If you are very skilled in a field, you will notice when a lucky break happens in that field.” – Naval Ravikant

A “lucky break” is often seen as a stroke of good fortune. However, those who are skilled recognize these breaks because they understand the context and the implications of the opportunities presented.

When a prepared individual encounters an opportunity, they can take immediate and effective action. This ability to act quickly and appropriately can create what seems like “luck.”

It looks like Vincent Kompany already knew about this one.

His managerial credentials don’t jump off the page. Kompany first became player-manager at his boyhood club, Anderlecht, in 2020. The club legend was tasked with bringing the sleepy giant back to the top by the Belgian team, who offered him a four-year contract.

Anderlecht finished fourth in his first season in charge. He also finished third in his second season while making the Belgian Cup final. Kompany then accepted a coaching job at Burnley.

His first season was historic as the team played delightful playing football. Burnley topped the Championship, winning the league with 101 points – becoming the first team to hit triple digits in nine years.

To be frank though, it felt Kompany was doing something great with Burnley.

Small club or not, the quote of “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”

I understand that his next season with Burney was disastrous, that saw them finish 19th in the Premier League, being relegated back to the Championship.

But his “lucky break” came at the right time.

LESSON 1: THERE’S ALWAYS A COMEBACK

Life is in cycles and seasons will always come back and go.

Therefore, everyone in life would experience significant life changing opportunities.

You will have several opportunities in life to experience breakthroughs.

Before these breakthroughs arrive, have a combination of hard work and the ability to recognize and act on opportunities.

Like Kompany, this combination is essential in becoming the best option for successful breakthroughs

Will you be prepared when your own lucky break comes?

When Opportunities are already missed

At the start of 2024, Bayern Munich decided to rid their previous manager before the season ends. With this strategy, they believed they could get a head-start on finding the best candidate to take over.

Their primary target was the manager of their domestic rival club. It was Bayern’s tradition to bring anyone who threatens their dominance in their league to their club and it was believed that their primary target would carry on that tradition.

After all, they were the biggest club in their country. It was not to be, though. In retrospect, this was a messy strategy.

Because of this rejection, Bayern were then left scrambling for other options. They turned to the man they had sacked only 12 months previously in controversial circumstances. This man rejected them too.

The German giant began a second wave of search. Rejection. Upon. Rejection. All potential candidates turned down the role. Because they had signed new contracts with other clubs. Or personal reasons.

And this is how the biggest club in Germany ended up with a manager of a relegated club in England.

LESSON 2: DON’T BE ANGRY IN THE FACE OF REJECTION

“Even the migratory birds are punctual to their seasons.] Yes, the stork [excelling in the great height of her flight] in the heavens knows her appointed times [of migration], and the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their return.” – Jeremiah 8:7 AMPC

You might have missed some opportunities in the past. Or gotten rejected.

This does not mean you get angry or bitter in those times. Rather look at them as learning opportunities

It is like what an old king once said, “The stone which the builders rejected eventually becomes the chief cornerstone.”

Rejection might just be a step in fulfilling your destiny. So don’t be careless in the times of abundance. Don’t be afraid in the times of leanness too.

This is all for my end.

Will Kompany be successful at Bayern Munich? We don’t know yet.

That’s your homework to find out as the year goes on 😉.

April 15, 2024

Real Happiness: What it Means to be Truly Happy

How can you experience real happiness?

Here are some guidelines on how to go about it. These guidelines are paraphrased from the Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE REAL HAPPINESS

Today, I believe happiness is really a default state.

Happiness is there when you remove the sense of something missing in your life. If you constantly walk around thinking, “I need this,” or “I need that,” trapped in the web of desires – you are not happy.

Happiness is the state when nothing is missing. When nothing is missing, your mind shuts down and stops running into the past or future to regret something or to plan something.

Real Happiness

HOW YOUR HAPPINESS IS OFTEN DESTROYED

You can literally destroy your happiness if you spend all of your time living in delusions of the future.

For instance, when you crave experiences that will make you be present, the cravings themselves take you from the present moment. A lot of your unhappiness likely comes from comparing things from the past to the present.

The idea you’re going to change something in the outside world, and that is going to bring you the peace, everlasting joy, and happiness you deserve, is a fundamental delusion we all suffer from, including me.

The mistake over and over and over is to say, “Oh, I’ll be happy when I get that thing,” whatever it is. That is the fundamental mistake we all make, 24/7, all day long.

THE ILLUSION OF HAPPINESS

When you’re young, you have time. You have health, but you have no money. When you’re middle-aged, you have money and you have health, but you have no time. When you’re old, you have money and you have time, but you have no health.

So the trifecta is trying to get all three at once. By the time people realize they have enough money, they’ve lost their time and their health.

Here is a short story that perfectly describes the illusion of happiness. It is from the book – The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

THE SHOPKEEPER’S SON AND THE WISE MAN

“A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived.

“Rather than finding a saintly man, though, our hero, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity: tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world. The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given the man’s attention.

“The wise man listened attentively to the boy’s explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn’t have time just then to explain the secret of happiness. He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours.

“‘Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something,’ said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. ‘As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill.’

THE REALIZATION OF THE SHOPKEEPER’S SON

“The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was.

“‘Well,’ asked the wise man, ‘did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?’

“The boy was embarrassed and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.

“‘Then go back and observe the marvels of my world,’ said the wise man. ‘You cannot trust a man if you don’t know his house.’

“Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen.

“‘But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?’ asked the wise man.

“Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone.

“‘Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you,’ said the wisest of wise men. ‘The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.’”

YOUR HAPPINESS IS CONNECTED TO YOUR PEACE

Peace is happiness at rest, and happiness is peace in motion.

You can convert peace into happiness anytime you want. But peace is what you want most of the time. If you’re a peaceful person, anything you do will be a happy activity.

Today, the way we think you get peace is by resolving all your external problems.

But there are unlimited external problems. So, do you become peaceful then? Well, you can adopt the advice of the wisest person who ever lived. In his words – When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future (Ecclesiastes 7:14 -15 NIV)

The only way to get peace on the inside is by giving up this idea of problems.

THE BIG QUESTION – HOW TO BE TRULY HAPPY

Training yourself to be happy is completely internal.

There is no external progress, no external validation. You’re competing against yourself—it is a single-player game. This means you should forget about the world of competition and comparison.

Rather, focus on increasing your happiness over time, and it starts with believing you can do it.

The most important trick to being happy is to realize happiness is a skill you develop and a choice you make. You choose to be happy, and then you work at it.

This is what it means to be truly happy. This is how you experience real happiness.