When I’m With You All I Get is Wild Thoughts
And I didn’t know if I could take it
Not so long ago, I was at the Maasai Mara.
We planned for over 100 entrepreneurial adults to have a professional experience in the wild. I imagined a tamer version of the Jurassic Park movie.
My thoughts were wild.
I wanted to see the wild side of life. Not the kind of wild that teenagers and campus students anticipate every Friday evening. But the wild, wild side of life.
Lions, elephants, and wildebeests.
All the while, I was thinking about my readers. How will I hack writing, and reading, and continue working on my projects?
Wild expectations.
Wild demands.
Wild, wild, wild thoughts.
Somehow, I hacked.
What kept me going was the accountability I had for my readers. They are used to an article a day before midnight.
I have been doing it consistently since July. I intend to continue with the habit like Seth Godin has been doing for decades.
It’s a wild ambition, but as Rihanna chimes in the song, I only have wild thoughts.
Now, onto my failed wild aspirations.
’Cause I could name some things that I’m gon’ do
But didn’t.
One of the things I wanted to do was launch my virtual school in Maasai Mara.
I already pictured it.
A wild venture with wild aspirations. What better way and time to launch it than in the wild?
Wild animals cannot be tamed that easily. The same goes for goals. They can take on a life of their own while you sit and observe.
I was so busy, and hardly sleeping; not so much because of the work, but because of the fun we had. Nobody wanted to waste a minute. We’d sleep when we got back.
I did more of writing than working on the project.
The reason is I still had no accountability for those who have enrolled for any of the courses in my school. I had not launched it yet. So nobody is on my neck asking why I have not delivered.
As for my writing, people blow up my inbox asking why I haven’t posted even if I delay for an hour. I love such readers. It’s fulfilling knowing I have a group of people who enjoy reading my work.
I hope I deliver just as much with my virtual school.
That’s done and dusted. I didn’t launch it then, but I had a fun time. Created memories. Forged new friendships. Developed new networks.
The other wild thing I can name is the fear I have.
I don’t intend to practice medicine throughout my life. As much as there are interesting cases one gets to see in a high-level facility such as the one where I currently work, I want to focus on what interests me. That’s lifelong learning.
One of the ways to do this is through teaching.
I discovered I loved teaching when pursuing my intercalated degree. The initial plan was to do research. But research hardly excited me as teaching did.
Furthermore, I wanted to pursue an interest that will not only earn me an income, but which I can do until I die. Basketball was out for the simple reason that the institutions in the country did not support the basketball players with as much respect as they did in other fields such as rugby and athletics.
Medicine and surgery were also not the case since they did not match my idea of an efficient way of making an income.
After many days and nights of ideation and failed projects, I eventually considered starting a school. It had been a lifelong goal, but with the Internet, there’s a lot to explore.
So why not start it online and gradually build the momentum towards establishing a physical one? One which I can start without the hustle of securing land, a license, and accreditation.
Yes, in my school, there will be no tests, no grades, and no diplomas. No certification, Only the experience from widely sought-after speakers and experts with immense experience.
Schools should be centres of dissemination of knowledge, giving leverage to their attendants. Students should make leaps in their respective fields or areas of interest, without having to relearn the mistakes of those who came before them.
That is what my school will do.
It offers an alternative perspective besides what we read in books, hear from lecturers in class, and discover when just getting started in our different areas of work.
As I said, wild, wild thoughts.
I think a life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time — Charlie Munger
In my school, that is the goal. To learn, learn, and learn. Unbounded.
Diamonds ain’t nothin’ when I’m rockin’ with ya
When you’re working on a project of your own, the value you give it is much more than gold.
More than diamonds.
You cannot put a price tag on the value you have for it. Ask any artist. Most are forced to give their painting a figure just because they need to have a meal at the end of the day.
But given the chance, they would rate it highly. Even when the products essential for making the final piece were cheap.
That’s how I value my project. Learning, teaching, and relearning. An unending cycle.
I intend to teach until my last breath.
So this is a lifelong project. Worth more than diamonds.
Every time I work on it, and the plans I have for those who will enroll for the courses, it only reminds me of Rihanna, yet again:
Diamonds ain’t nothin’ when I’m rockin’ with ya
The project is extremely valuable to me. It’s why I fear.
What if it doesn’t take off as I think it should? What if I stop practicing and start focusing on it then somewhere along the way it doesn’t make enough to sustain me? What if the opposite happens and the growth is so immense that I find difficulties catching up?
The only courage I have is problems have different solutions when the timeframes are different.
For instance, building a house in a month is different from building the same house in a year. The timeframes give you different options.
I’m building an entity that I hope outlives me.
If that’s not wild, then I don’t know what is. This is coming from a guy who also developed an alternative theory of evolution.
Yet, not so many people are talking about it as I had pictured it in my mind. Do you now see why I am concerned?
Wild, wild, wild thoughts
Regardless, I will work on what I can control.
I can control the website. I cannot control how people take it.
I can control the number of courses I release every month. I cannot control how many people enroll, up to a certain point.
I can control the content I churn linking people to the website. I cannot control the number of people who click the links.
I’ll only pull the levers I can hold. I’ll focus on the aspects I care about to ensure maximum value for time spent.
And hope it turns out fine.
And yes, here’s a final wild idea. I already launched the website.
Wildness cannot be easily tamed. So I launched it without y’all knowing. It is what it is.
The school?
Nine people have already enrolled for some of the courses. Others have joined the waiting lists. More are interested in having courses. And I have yet to put serious effort into advertising it.
Wild I tell you!
All I can tell you is watch out!
I have big plans.
PS: In less than a week after launching my website, I got an additional 10 new subscribers. I know, wild! You too can have this wild experience, by subscribing to get a free weekly dose of 4 curated links that’ll edge you toward extreme value. Just so you know, it’s the lightest newsletter on the Internet. Again, WILD!
