2021
For some reason, 2021 felt like a year that didn’t want an annual review, and so I wasn’t going to do one. But I generally find that writing these reviews each year really helps me put the year in perspective. I feel one way about how the year went before I start writing, and differently after.
This year, I read a book called Atomic Habits. The author, James Clear, also does annual reviews, and organises his around three questions —
1. What went well this year?
2. What didn’t go so well this year?
3. What did I learn?
This year, I thought I’d do the same.
What went well this year?
First, Helicarrier 💚. On October 1st, we celebrated it being four years since we started the company. We doubled in size (again) from a team of 22 to now almost 50 😱 , and grew our products from the initial exchange (Buycoins), to a whole suite of crypto-powered products and services for the continent. As Timi likes to say, it’s still very early days for us, but I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to build and how we’ve been able to navigate the landscape.
At the Feminist Coalition 💛, this year we were able to focus a lot more on our core mission to champion equality for women in Nigeria. In addition to continuing our yearly Christmas Food Drive, we launched our Girls Education Program — a full scholarship and mentorship for brilliant young girls from low-income backgrounds in Nigeria. This has been a challenging but incredibly rewarding experience, and I’m so excited to see where these girls (and the girls we sponsor in the future) go!
I also started another round of my Udacity Scholarship program. This year, we were able to sponsor 16 Nigerian women to complete a Udacity Nanodegree, 6 of which have already graduated!
Speaking 🎤. I gave 11 talks (all online), and I’m really proud of the quality of the content I was able to produce. My focus for the year was to spend more time crafting quality presentations rather than a focus on the quantity, but I was able to achieve both! I also organised the 5th annual Frontstack conference 💖. Although this had to be online, I felt it went well and I’m really happy with the talks that were given.
Adulting 👩🏾. One of the biggest things that went well for me this year was all the life admin / adulting I was able to get done. Moving countries, getting a new place, setting up a new life. Going into 2021, I felt mentally displaced by the previous year, and I’m glad that the effort I put into addressing that this year paid off.
What didn’t go so well this year?
Writing ✍🏾. Although I no longer have any set goals for how much I want to write on my blog, bitsofcode, I was only able to write 2 articles this year. While I don’t think I will ever get back to writing weekly (or even monthly), I would like to do better at making the time to write when I do have ideas.
Fitness 🤸🏾♂️. This is largely due to the pandemic and the fact that 2021 turned out to be another year of restrictions, but I felt like my fitness level noticeably declined. Next year, I’d like to find a way to get back into the activities I loved doing.
Social life 💬. Moving to a new country was always going to be difficult, especially as I haven’t been back to Nigeria this year at all. Also with the restrictions being so different across all the different countries, it was hard to keep up with people as much as I would have liked to.
What did I learn?
I learned a lot from the books I read this year. Three books in particular I feel made an impact. First, “Free Will” by Sam Harris. This was a really short read, but so well described how I feel about the topic of free will. I enjoyed the book so much that I read another Sam Harris book next, “Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality without Religion”. My biggest takeaway from this book was the idea that spirituality can be accepted and experienced separately from religion. Just because experiences exist that do not have a full explanation, doesn’t mean the “god of the gaps” needs to be employed. The third book was “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. I’ve always been a person that practiced making “tiny changes”, and this book was excellent at explaining exactly why and how to implement them in a better way.
I turned 30 this year! As the start of a new decade, it’s an age where you can’t help but reflect more on your life so far and where you’d like to be. And with that comes a clarity, certainty, and confidence that I don’t think I could have in earlier years.
I feel like I know myself and my behaviours a lot more than I did before. This is partly due to age, but also due to being in a new relationship and spending a lot of time under lockdown with another person. I feel like I’ve developed a lot more clarity on who I am as a person than I have ever before. I’ve also become more certain about what is important to me in life and what I want.
That’s it for 2021! Happy new year, and to a better 2022 🚀
