February Was Waaaaay Too Short

My first weekend in March was spent running around on artificial turf and attempting to catch odd shaped balls.  One of my favorite parts of living in Lagos right now is having the opportunity to play flag football.  It is also the reason why I am currently sore.

The best part of playing flag football is the people.  You can’t win by yourself, just like you can’t run a business or lead your life without having people to lean on.

What I’ve been listening/ reading this month: The Lack of Safety and ‘Doing’

This month I started listening to The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups.  Tagline: “Culture is not something you are—it’s something you do.”  My mom (Fun fact: She was my high school principal) also shared another team related article this time based on Google research.  Long story short: It is an excellent summary of what I’ve listened to so far in the Culture Code.  The number 1 characteristic of ‘enhanced teams’ is psychological safety. 

Do your people feel safe to contribute?  I know people you didn’t.  Before listening to the Culture Code, I speed listened (like over 11 hours of content 4 days) to Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.  My mouth was open in shock the entire time.

You are not busy. You really aren’t. Ok, maybe you are. Kind of

Speaking of priorities, we all have a lot more time than we like to think.  For about four days I decided to make Elizabeth Holmes a priority and gave up watching reality shows.  For my clients that yell and scream they don’t have time, I enjoy sharing this and might start making them go through this fun activity.

What is the first thing you do when you wake up?

 Other than waiting for the elections to happen, I spent a lot of time this month thinking and writing about routines. I love learning about how people approach their day, and I’m super grateful for the time of Soga (page 30), Yasmin, Funmi, Maya, and Ethel. Click on their names to learn more about the fantastic things they are up to on the continent and how they approach organizing their time.  The last four articles also have fun GIFs that jazz up the content.

I am an INTJ – What are your four letters?

Other than routines, I am currently obsessed with personality assessments and how we can use them to become more effective human beings.  I have been hard at work to become certified in administrating them.  If you want a way to improve work and personal relationships, increase productivity, clarify conflict, identify and develop leadership abilities, and enhance interpersonal communication get in touch! Other thoughts around this can be found in my career-related Facebook Group.

We might need to refocus our energy on the basics.

 Food for thought.  Context: In addition to coaching, I also work on (sometimes super random) consulting projects. This month I was super lucky and was given the opportunity to assist at and attend an African Union meeting on health.  At this meeting, I had the chance to meet two amazing ladies that are trying to combat one of the biggest killers on the continent. Forget AIDS. People, including babies are dying of respiratory diseases and issues that might be related to having a chronic illness or prolonged  exposure to pollution. Personally, I had never thought of it that way and was floored when they were explaining this.  Happy to pass on more information if you are interested.

 What are you spending your time on this month?

 Thank you for your continued support and for taking the time to read all the way down here.