On Time, Money, Growth, and the Things Worth Being Grateful For
It is wild how time, an illusion we essentially built for ourselves, has somehow become the invisible force that governs almost every decision we make and every day we live.
And yet, here we are. Another month gone. Another one beginning.
Happy New Month, friend. Let the next countdown begin.
Last month came with its own set of hurdles. Every month does. What ultimately matters is not whether the challenges showed up but how we responded to them. Did we face them headstrong or did we back down? I chose to face each day like it might be my last. And I am genuinely glad I did.
What I Have Been Reading
One of my goals last month was to read a book and I followed through on it. I finished The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda.
On the surface it is a book written for designers. But the deeper you go, the more you realize its principles apply to every area of life. The central idea is this: simplicity and complexity are not opposites. They are partners. There is no simplicity without complexity underneath it. Trying to make something genuinely simple requires an enormous amount of complex thinking to get there.
What I walked away with is a renewed appreciation for the simple life. Not a lazy life, not an unchallenging one, but a life stripped of the unnecessary things that create noise and distraction. That kind of simplicity is one of the best things you can pursue.
I am now working through Atomic Habits by James Clear, a book I have been meaning to finish for a while. If you have not read it yet, add it to your list.
I am also a fan of documentaries and futuristic science fiction films. If you have something worth recommending on Netflix, please send it my way. I am always looking.
Let Us Talk About Money
Desired by many. Mastered and understood by far fewer.
I have spent a considerable amount of time studying how money actually works, both from a practical and a philosophical standpoint. And the more I study it, the more I am convinced that most people’s money problems come down to one or more of four missing pieces: they have not figured out how to make it, how to keep it, how to multiply it, or how to protect it from loss.
If you do not have the financial life you want right now, be honest with yourself about which of those four areas is the weak link. That honesty is the starting point for everything else.
And here is one of the most consistent secrets I have found in the journey toward financial growth: personal development. Never stop working on yourself. Never stop improving your knowledge, your skills, and your capacity to contribute and earn. SkillUp continuously. The most reliable path to earning more is becoming more.
Updates From the Product Manager Journey
Last month brought two internship offers from tech companies in Lagos. Two.
I want you to let that sink in for a moment, because it is worth celebrating. It is also worth being honest about. As much as I appreciate those opportunities, my goal is an entry level role rather than an internship. I want the full experience, the full responsibility, and the full growth that comes with it. So I am holding out and trusting the process.
What I can tell you is this: what you can achieve when you work both hard and smart will genuinely surprise you if you commit to it fully.
I also connected with a number of people abroad last month and I am hoping those conversations develop into something meaningful in the not too distant future.
On top of that I started a product management scholarship at the entry level through Ingressive for Good and I am also running a product design scholarship through I4G and the Zuri Team simultaneously.
Crazy? Maybe. Overwhelming? Not even a little. When you are building toward something you care about deeply, the work does not feel like a burden.
On Love
I hope we all learn to embrace what is real and let go of the fantasy versions of connection we carry in our heads.
I hope we appreciate what and who we have while they are still here, because presence is not guaranteed.
I hope you never settle until you find the person who makes a fool of you in the best possible way, the kind of love that makes you wonder who you were before they arrived.
I hope your love is mutual. Fully and completely mutual.
And I hope, strange as this might sound, that you experience heartbreak. Not because pain is good in itself, but because heartbreak teaches you things about yourself that nothing else can. It shows you where your edges are, what you truly value, and what you will and will not accept. Learn from it. Or relearn it until it finally lands.
Music for Your Ears
I want to introduce you to Gerd. She is not widely known yet but she makes music in the truest and most honest sense of the word. Give her a listen.
And if you want something timeless alongside that, go back to John Legend and Adele. Some voices never get old.
What Are You Grateful For?
I recently joined a thirty day gratitude challenge, an initiative started by The Amazing Debb, and today’s prompt is simple: share what you are grateful for.
So here is mine.
I am grateful for completing my four year degree at Lagos State University. That journey was not always easy and finishing it means something real to me.
I am grateful for every friend I made along the way. The road would have been significantly harder without them.
I am grateful for my roommate, who became a brother in every way that matters.
And I am grateful for the version of myself I am becoming. The new me. The one still being shaped, still being stretched, still showing up.
Now your turn: what are you grateful for? Reply, comment, or simply sit with the question for a moment today. Gratitude has a way of shifting everything when you actually practice it.
One day or day one. That choice is entirely yours.
I believe in you. Do you?
Talk soon, friend.
Are you ready to channel everything you are building into a structured path toward your product management career? Join the next cohort of the Career2Founder Program, designed for aspiring and transitioning product managers who are serious about landing their dream role with the skills and confidence to back it up. Click here
