Life has become more complex and difficult by an order of magnitude over the last year. And I can’t tell whether it’s just because of the pandemic, or because it’s of the passage into the middle part of my life. It’s likely that the answer is that it’s both.
It’s left me with a constant feeling of being overwhelmed. Like there is an insurmountable about of things going on, of problems to deal with and help that is needed. The responsibilities have multiplied, and the stakes are so much higher than I’ve ever experienced.
I know that I’m in a process of stepping up, that I’ll eventually look back at this time with pride, at how I was able to deal with so much, while being in a pandemic.
But tonight I realised, in a profound way, that I’m really not on my own on this. That there are lights in my life, people to help illuminate the way, to shine through the darkness, and to reflect back to me the progress that I’ve made and how much brilliance there is to come.
I feel like my own light was just given a little more glow. Like one candle lighting another. And that the same spark I give out into the world is the same spark that will help bring back my fire when I feel like it is dying down.
And in the most serendipitous way, the song that played on shuffle when I got back in the car tonight captured this so beautifully for me:
Hang on to the light in your eyes and the feeling Hang on to your love drunk original reason Hang on to the small town you love but you’re leaving Oh you won’t be a fool for so long So hang on
The process of building habits fascinates me, which may be because I struggle to form good habits and break bad ones. I even got a book on the topic, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, which I would highly recommend.
I’ve also written about things that help me form habits. These include announcing your goals so that social pressure can influence you and committing to pay an amount if you fail to implement a habit.
Recently though, I’ve found another useful way to maintain a habit. And that is to tie a habit to an addiction.
This came about from my love of a certain smoothie store at the Waterfront food market. The smoothies are quite expensive, so I’ve been trying to ease up on buying them. However, I realized that I could use this addiction to my advantage. I’ve decided that I’m allowed to have one on any day, as long as I have completed 2 hours of thesis work before hand.
The obstacle to getting my smoothie isn’t massive (I considered making it 4 or 6 hours of work). Instead, it’s just the right amount of time for me to setup my work for the day and get some momentum. But not too much for me to completely stop my addiction.
So if you’re looking to start a new habit, look at something you’re hooked on. And tie your goals into that.
“What are you going to be doing on your special day?”
This came up a few times today. Friends and family asking what exciting things I had planned for my birthday.
And to be honest, I hadn’t thought about it all that much. I’ve planned a dinner at the end of the week, but for my actual birthday I wasn’t too concerned with doing anything different.
“I hope you’re not going to be working”
Another common message I got today. That I should not subject myself to anything that I didn’t want to do.
But what I wanted to do today was pretty much what I do every Tuesday. It went something like this:
A morning coffee and some music
A phone call with my mom
Weekly therapist session
Some general admin (dropping off a box of donations, getting car things done)
Some thesis work
An interview with someone for my consulting project
Lunch at the waterfront (with friends)
A little bit more research and work
A sneaky visit to my uncle for tea
Spending time with close friends and having a few drinks
Writing my blog and listening to my favourite music
And as I started writing this blog I realised something.
That this was a special day. And it was also a normal day.
I realised that I’ve gotten to a point where every day is special. That I’m doing exactly what I want. And that I wouldn’t want to do anything different.
My work is part of the joy. My flexibility allows me space and time with friends. And the things I do every day light me up.
And so for my “special day” today I did exactly what I do every day.
Today’s blog post is about a role model of mine that I am very close to, Dale Williams. I’ve interacted with Dale in so many different ways. In 2014 I was a student in his course. In 2015 I tutored on the course and he was my boss. In 2016 I was his assistant on the course. And more recently we have become colleagues.
In addition to being my lecturer, boss and colleague, Dale has been a mentor, a coach, an angel investor, a consultant and, most importantly, a great friend.
I could give 50 reasons as to why he is a role model to me. But I’m going to settle on the 4 most important ones. His lean philosophy, his strategic insights, his humility and the support he shows… for everyone.
Reason 1: Lean Philosophy
Dale operates on a lean philosophy with most of the things he does, which are loosely based on the “Lean Startup” principles. This means that current work and new ideas are built on learning feedback loops (e.g. Kolbe learning styles) that allow them to be continuously improved.
The loops consist of roughly four components. The first is abstract conceptualization, which is having an idea of how things are currently done or could be done. The second is active experimentation, where the idea is tested before going our. The third is concrete experience, which involves implementing the idea. And finally, reflective observation, where the impact is analysed.
This results in being able to quickly and effectively implement new ideas. In the time I’ve known him, we have been able to improve the course in at least 20 different ways, mostly because of the rapidness of his lean philosophy.
Reason 2: Strategic insights
Dale uses a combination of a wide knowledge and a natural instinct to generate some of the most interesting and impactful strategic insights. He uses this when implementing his own ideas or when helping people with theirs. And I’ve been fortunate enough to observe and receive these insights.
For example, we once had a situation where a group of students were unhappy with an aspect of the course. The normal reaction from a lecturer here would be to push back or ignore the students. Instead, while he was gathering information about the issue he took time out to reflect. And in the space of just a few minutes, he decided on a path that was both unconventional and lead to the students being happy with the outcome.
Reason 3: Humility
Despite helping so many people, from students to executives at big banks, Dale always remains humble. He rarely name drops or sings his own praises. Instead, he highlights the work of others that have worked with him, and is quick to acknowledge their contributions.
Reason 4: Mentoring and Cheerleading
Finally (and most importantly), Dale is one of the greatest supporters/fans of people and their ideas that I have ever come across. As mentioned in my blog yesterday, he has inspired and taught me how to do the same.
Over the last four years I have watched him support many students and business leaders in their projects. He sits on the board of a number of student startups. He has given funding and invested in ideas and businesses (including my own). He consults and supports whenever he is able to (for free). And he will never hesitate to put you in touch with someone who could help you further
Dale is an incredible mentor, leader and friend. He is connected to the people around him, thinks critically and creatively, supports people and is humble.
And I can’t wait to continue learning from him.
Image is from Dale speaking at an event organised by a student last year
For anyone tuning in to my webinar today, here is the list of resources. Below you’ll find the slides I’m using as well as all of the various organisations and tools I refer to. (I’ll update this post with more info after the webinar)
The topic for the webinar is “Strategic Thinking: Solving Global Challenges” and will cover some of the most important strategy tools that I teach at the University of Cape Town, applied in a global development context.
Slides for the webinar
If you’d like a copy of my slides, follow the link below:
Map the system: http://mapthesystem.sbs.ox.ac.uk/resources/
Theory of Change: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/sites/default/files/3.%20Theory%20of%20Change%202014.03.10.pdf
The Clothing Bank: http://www.theclothingbank.org.za/
About Global Changemakers
A big thank you to Courtney and the team who have put this together. Details about Global Changemakers are below
Global Changmakers is one of the world’s largest youth empowerment organisations headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland and represented in over 180 countries – from refugee camps in Europe to sprawling cities in Asia, indigenous communities in South America, islands in the Pacific and beyond – by 1000 of our ‘Global Changemakers’. These changemakers are young people who work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within their communities, countries, regions and across the world and whose work has benefited over 4 million people to date.
Today I had a conversation with one of my former students (let’s call her Cath) about careers, which included a discussion on yesterday’s blogpost. We ended up specifically speaking about the convergent nature of how we decide our careers, and how your environment shapes what is (perceived to be) available to you.
This point came up in two dramatically different ways.
The first was that Cath works for a literacy NGO where she has been teaching children to read. One of her students told her that he wanted to work as a shop assistant at a discount retailer when he was older. When pressed with why he wanted to do that, he explained that his mom liked this particular retailer and it was the best place he’d ever seen.
In other words, all the information available to him was that this was the ultimate career to strive towards. And the reason that this was frustrating for Cath was that as soon as she explained how many other options were available to the child, he lit up at the ideas that existed
The second, in a great twist of irony, was that Cath has been wanting to change her career path. She dislikes the current trajectory (accounting) and would love to be involved in education. Whenever she talks about education, she lights up like a Christmas tree. And she shows her spark.
However, everyone around Cath is following the accounting path. All her friends and classmates. And her family expect her to go down that path too.
So in the same way that her student’s environment points them to working at a discount retailer, her environment points her to becoming an accountant.
And the best way to get out of this?
Incorporate influences into your environment. Have people show you there is a world outside your bubble. Find teachers, friends, mentors or role models.
And this applies to Cath’s student too. One of the best ways for them to dream bigger is to have influences like her in their life. And exposure to people from their community that have gone on to do incredible things.
We must never forget that our environment shapes our decisions. And that we can influence this environment to help us find and reach our goals and dreams.
Image was taken at Khayelitsha Mall last week friday
If your answer is no… then…. um… that’s okay. My feelings aren’t hurt or anything.
But if your answer is yes, then you’re in luck!
On Thursday 11 October at 2pm CET (that’s 3pm in South Africa) I’ll be giving a webinar for Global Changemakers as part of their free webinar series.
The topic for the webinar is “Strategic Thinking: Solving Global Challenges” and will cover some of the most important strategy tools that I teach at the University of Cape Town, applied in a global development context.
The webinar is free and open to anyone, anywhere. So you’re welcome to invite friends and family to join in.
A big thank you to Courtney and the team who have put this together. Details about Global Changemakers are below (and updates will be posted to their Facebook page).
See you next week!
About Global Changemakers
Global Changmakers is one of the world’s largest youth empowerment organisations headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland and represented in over 180 countries – from refugee camps in Europe to sprawling cities in Asia, indigenous communities in South America, islands in the Pacific and beyond – by 1000 of our ‘Global Changemakers’. These changemakers are young people who work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within their communities, countries, regions and across the world and whose work has benefited over 4 million people to date.
The course I teach on, Strategic Thinking, is designed in such a way that students have a choice. They can choose to coast through the course, and their general knowledge and intellect is likely to get them through.
But they can also choose to engage.
Engage with the lecturers, who have been in academia and in industry.
Engage with the guest lecturers, who include distinguished business people, entrepreneurs, politicians and academics.
Engage with the mentors and tutors, who have completed the course year before and are best equipped to help guide them.
There are also opportunities to start your own business, get venture capital, meet with consultants from a local professional services firm, and various assignments to engage you with the real world.
But do they engage?
The majority of the class will coast. They’re either not interested or are too worried about other courses in their degrees.
But there are some students who engage fully. And these students make it all worth it. For the teaching staff as well as for themselves
They come for consultations with the teaching team, and learn far more than the rest of the class. They’ll start business and gain significant experience while at university. Or they’ll make a connection that helps them find a career path or funding for their degree.
The ones who engage then often become part of the course ecosystem. They become tutors, mentors and lecturers. They continue learning about strategy, even when the course is done.
And to me, these people are the ones with the spark.
They’re the ones that are going to succeed beyond their wildest dreams. And they’re the ones that are going to change the world.
So, whether you’re a student in my course or not, you need to decide: