“An Idiot With a Plan Can Beat a Genius Without a Plan”

— Warren Buffet.


It’s a Brand New year!!
And everyone around me is at their best new year behavior.
“A can’t happen this year”, “I can no longer take B this year” and so on and so forth.
Everyone wants a better new year,
But few people have taken the concrete step to actualize all their goals for the year.
Even myself.

I’ll tell you about 2 goals I set out to achieve in 2019 but ended up getting nowhere close…

So two years ago, after a meaningful conversation with a close friend, I began to write down my goals for each new year.
I have a goal book for writing down my goals for every new year.
I break down these goals into small activities
Then I set out timelines for carrying out the activities within the year.
Since I carry the book about, it helps me take stock from time to time.

In 2018, I achieved everything I set out to achieve and added new ones. I felt really good with myself.
But in 2019, I could not achieve most of my goals; in fact I achieved a different set of goals from my set goals.
So I had to carry over most of my 2019 goals into 2020.

So let me shamefully talk about these goals,
Maybe by doing so, I would become more accountable to myself.
Because these are goals that no one would expect someone my age to set in 2020
Are you ready??

The first has to do with Driving; The Second has to do with Swimming.
So let me tell you why these two activities are important to me.

I learnt how to drive in 2012.

I had a short stint for a few months, then one day, while driving around Apapa with my cousin, I hit another car.
The annoying thing was, the young man I hit had driven all the way from Owerri, in Imo State, only for me to hit his car a few streets from his house.
He was livid; the encounter wasn’t a nice one
And after that, I stopped driving altogether.
I have had a number of cars since that incident.
I only hired a driver, or begged my husband when the driver was not available.
I developed a phobia for driving in Lagos
It didn’t help matters that we now have Uber and Taxify;
These two helped fuel my fear; and believe you me, almost 8 years later, I still do not drive.
My husband preached and preached till he got tired. I gave myself all kinds of excuses; then I wrote it boldly in my 2019 goals. The target was to polish my driving skills and start again by the first quarter of 2019.
Alas, 2019 came and went; yours truly never achieved this goal.

My story with swimming is another unbelievable one;
I have been learning to swim since 1998.
I have tried with several swimming pools and bodies of water
Still without a floater, I would be afraid to swim even in the most shallow pool of water;
Call it fear, or maybe phobia
But till date, I still cannot swim.

And you know the worst part?
My two kids are 6 and 5 years old. Swimming is second nature to them.
My husband swims like a fish
but me? No way.
One day, I took my kids to swim. And my son was shocked that I couldn’t swim,
And so he tried to teach me.
“Mummy just kick your legs”he said. “Hold your breath, go under the water, count to 5 and come up again”
I felt so ashamed of myself.
So in 2019, I wrote in my goal book that I would learn how to swim for real.
2019 came and went
I gave myself all kinds of excuses, And I didn’t learn how to swim.

So in 2020; guess the number 1 and number 2 in my goal book?

Driving and Swimming!!

Here’s to a more fulfilling 2020

And let us hope we achieve all our goals.

Even the most mundane ones!!!

Love,
Uloma