ed’s 2023.

I feel strongly that 2023, this year, is my year of financial breakthrough, good health, and the year where my life changes astronomically. It’s my year of greatness because you know, ’23 is the number of greatness; Jordan and all you know. *wink wink*

LEEMAWOO. Would be nice, but I know this won’t happen if I don’t put in the blood, sweat, and tears. Eldad says we’re calling DIBs this year, So here goes nothing.

I won’t bore y’all with all the plenty talk and ideas about how I slayed last year and plan to do the same this year. I actually bombed last year in all honesty by the metrics I set in the beginning. But looking back, I also made some significant progress in other areas of my life and career that also mattered. I enjoy making plans because it gives me an idea of how I want to run my life and at least have the illusion of control in my life. I know I won’t follow through with everything, but I love to have a guide of sorts.

For two years straight, I’ve bitten more than I thought I could chew. And the more I do this exercise, the better my thinking gets on how I want to structure my life to get me where I want to get to. I have fewer tasks on my list this year, but probably the most intensive in the last 3 years (I think). I know I said I wasn’t going to bore y’all with plenty talk, I’m sorry.

Let’s jump into my 2022 review, then we’ll enter the new year. I’m a bit lazy as I write this, so I’ll just drop a highlights list. You can also skip straight to the 2023 title if you want. Just scroll quickly, and you’ll see it. lol

• it started on a high for me, was excited about my plans, about learning new things, hoping that nfts and the metaverse will boom and i’ll make a lot of money and retire. Little did we know that this industry would turn itself upside down. I still believe it’s the future though, maybe not in the ways we thought it would be, or the timelines we set for it but it’s coming. I can feel it.
• Worked on a few VR artworks (which I never really shared a lot of)
• Started working on a VR film which I’ll complete this year.
• Q1/Q2 was hard because I had some family stuff to deal with after the death of my dad in 2021. It taught me one thing though. Whatever decisions you make today, affect the next generation after you, so make wise decisions through and through. Yes, it’s your life it’s your choice, but the consequences live beyond you.
• My dad was a great guy and he did a lot of things right before he died, but the few bad human decisions he made affected some of us in his passing. He was human, so I’m not mad about it, but it taught me a lot about growing up that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. If there’s one regret I have in all this, is that I didn’t tell him enough how much I loved him. But I know he’s proud of me.
• Seeing the growth of the people around me was amazing. Even though most of them still lose sleep over not making enough progress in life (myself included) they still did great unimaginable things this year. I thank God for my circle.
• Went to my hometown during Easter and spent some time with family. Hadn’t done that in a while, It Was fun.
• Went to an animation conference of sorts that gave us the idea to start a creative fund with 10k to give away to 5 creative people, which we did.
• Decided to carry out a rebrand of my personal brand. Launching personal website soon.
• Pitched a film, almost won a slot into Annecy.
• Completed at least 2 personal projects, *whew*.
• Tried out a bunch of new tools, then Ai came along, interesting times.
• Had a non-fatal accident and a health scare for doing the right thing.
• Took a solo weekend trip with bae.
• Visited two countries.
• Had the chance to spend a few days with a dream car. Best 4 days in Q4.
• Got laid off from one of my jobs by mistake and rehired with a slight pay cut. Threw my plans off the rails, but that was an interesting week. Check on your ‘tech bro’ friends lol.
• Handled Production for Carols’ service at church. Check out full case study here.
• Helped Menzy with his Creator meetup event. It was fun.
• Fasted twice. Halleluyerrr
• December was lit, not necessarily because of Christmas, but it felt like creating new families, new traditions, and winding down and getting ready for the year ahead.

In all honesty, it feels like I’ve been plunged into the new year because my wind-down this year wasn’t done in the way I’m used to. I’m taking my time, doing a cold boot, ignoring the pressure and just enjoying the moments that pass by every day. We still need to get shit done regardless so here goes nothing, Welcome 2023.

ed’s 2023. [The actual plan]

So, 2023, how are we doing things this year? Let’s jump right into the list. If you’ve made it this far, I love you because I wouldn’t read a long article like this. So thank you. lol

This year I’ve broken things down into 5 main categories (in no particular order) and there’s a few things I plan to do under each category.

We’re also doing something interesting this year as well. We created a group called the Goalkeepers to help us keep to our new year’s promises. The idea is to gamble for a minimum of GHs12,000 if you’re able to complete all the things you said you’ll complete by the end of the year. The pot is made up of 1k from each member of the group. It’s a pretty sweet deal if you ask me (though, I wish the money was at least double lol) You get to check things off your to-do list and get some money for December chillings. Lol. MOTIVATION!

Here’s my 2023 To-Do list. I’ll be updating this article as and when a particular task is done so feel free to check back every quarter to see progress. 🙂

Health:

Goal: lose belly fat & generally feel healthier.

How?

• 30-day exercise streak at least 3 times in the year
• Play basketball at least once a week if I’m in town
• Try out therapy
• Be intentional about my diet
• Body checkups at least 3 times in the year

Finance & career:

Goal: Move personal monthly income to $5k+ & strengthen personal brand in the creative space.

How?

• launch personal website
• Complete at least 4 personal projects
• Start VR animation explorations with Quill (produce at least one piece/sketch)
• Share more work and work progress than I did last year

Spirituality:

Goal: Learn more & grow in Christ

How?

• Complete at least 300 episodes of the Bible project
• Complete at least 4 books (reading + provide a summary of my understanding of each book)
• Continue to do more in church. (Elevate creative voice & outlook. Help Church raise funds by designing & selling merch)
• Play guitar on stage

Personal development:

Goal: Express myself more, learn myself more, enjoy life

How?

• Travel outside Ghana (to at least one other country)
• Do a monthly review (journal)
• Release 2 seasons of the podcast
• Plan ahead but learn to focus on the present

Initiatives & Collaborations:

• Organize 2 FxF Animation events
• Dex 6.0
• 2 Sketch jam events
• Help with AAFFIA
• Carry out at least 2 cycles of the creative pot (Give away at least GHc20k)
• Build a creative yellowpages/database of creatives in Ghana and release a V1

Yah! That’s it! Those are the main things I plan to get done this year, there’s a lot more other things that I’d love to do but can’t share on here. Overall, I’m looking forward to an exciting year where I do more of what I love and more of what energizes me.

Till next we meet again, keep doing dope shit. ;)

The most important lesson I want to try and remind myself of also is to stop comparing myself to others and only compare my current self to my previous self. Comparison is indeed a thief of joy that puts us in very toxic situations. It eats away at our hearts and destroys our soul little by little without us even noticing. So, instead of comparing myself to friends and other people who are doing well for themselves, I’d rather be inspired by their hard work, stay happy for their success, and ask myself these questions;

- Do I have enough for today?

- Am I doing better today than I did yesterday?

- What is the most important thing for my journey? I bet it’s different from theirs.

- Fast or slow, am I moving? Because that’s the most important thing.

- If my answers to these questions are yes, then I should be content with what I have. Not complacent, but content in my heart. And confident that I’ll keep moving forward.