5 lessons I learnt in 2023

2023 has been a year. I went through ups and downs, but anyway, I'm going to be sharing lessons I've learned this year, 2023, and my experiences because I want you to relate to it, and it shouldn't feel like I just picked up some motivational quotes on the internet to motivate you. I'm sure you would benefit from my lessons, and I can't keep this to myself, so go get your popcorn because I'm about to slip some juicy and interesting gist to you.

#Lesson 1 - Let Go of Prejudgments for Better Connections.

I'm guilty of this, hehe, or let me say I was guilty. I don't know if it's just me, but, guy, I rewrite people's life stories in my head and expect them to follow my script, and when things happen like they do something that wasn't in the script, I'll just be like "ahan ahan, this is a red flag mehn," and this kept on going for different new people I met. I knew I was the problem, like I had to figure something out because I began to lose friends. I thought of it and said, "Let people breathe." Since then, I just let people act how they want. I don't expect anything from them like nothing dey shock me again lol... by allowing things to flow, my relationship with people improved, so make sure you're not writing people's script. You're not God!

#Lesson 2 - Be in charge of your life

People take advantage of you when you're not in charge of your life. They will make things difficult for you, and you'd blame yourself for not taking action like I did, so instead of crying over spilled milk, I decided to switch things up and be in charge of my time, space, and everything that involves me.

In my case, when I started working with brands on my TikTok, I didn't have an idea of how influencers did collaborations; I just did mine anyhow, and it went well for me until I had to work for a brand and they asked me to make a video on their product and send to them before I post which is normal but can you believe after sending that video to them, they ghosted me, and ever since then I started making rules for people that want to work with me I tell them to pay 50% before I send the video and also allow them to go through my video script because some of them would ask you to send a video to them and want you to refilm the video when you make some mistakes which I went through when I started collaboration but ever since I started sending them my script any other mistakes is not my fault but theirs...

Another thing I had to be in charge of was my time. I really had to take that seriously because some people are just distractions and time-wasters in a cute way.

I had to set boundaries and make it clear to them whenever I didn't want to receive calls like Bae is past my bedtime; why are you calling me by 11pm... you guys really need to tell people that you value your time and they shouldn't come and waste it for you, so make the rules.

#Lesson 3 - Be Patient

You know that saying, "A patient dog eats the fattest bone." Memes are going around saying the patient's dog died from hunger lmaooo; because of that, I keep asking myself if it's worth being patient, and ever since I decided to give it a try, I've worried less, and my life has been good.

As a programmer, I have experienced situations where I'm patient or believe that "time waits for no one." But over the past years, during my journey, I've concluded that it's okay to be patient and take breaks. I even noticed that whenever I take breaks from coding due to bug attacks and return to my code after relaxing, I always solve the issue in a few minutes, so make sure you're being patient with yourself. I explained it more here.

#Lesson 4 - Be Consistent and enjoy it

I can't stretch this enough, but you have to intentionally be consistent in whatever you want to achieve; you will thank yourself later. We know that it's hard to be consistent, but this year, I found a trick that has worked for me: to do the task 1 hour a day, post just one video daily, and take a small step. You don't have to accomplish your goal today because you added it to your to-do list. We can take baby steps and achieve that same goal.

You want to be consistent but end up getting burnt out lmaoo. Let me give you a trick: find joy in your task, do it for 1 hour, and drop it when you're tired. You'll see how much progress you made, and then your baby step becomes a giant baby step :).

Posting on TikTok and being consistent was a chore because I wasn't doing it right. I posted 3 times a day and saw mad progress, but it felt like a chore, so I had to put in the effort I would use to make three videos. I used it to make 1 well-edited video per day, and I loved it. So make sure you're actually enjoying what you're constantly doing.


#Lesson 5 - Put yourself out there

I understand that you're shy, don't want to be out there trending on the internet, or are even scared that people will judge you if you put your work out, but the truth is people don't care o. They don't care about you; they will just drop comments on your post and move on with their lives, so whatever you're scared of is nothing.

Let me tell you what putting myself out there has done for me this year.

• - I got a job as a frontend intern.
• - Worked with amazing and well-known people on the internet,
• - I got collaboration deals for some tech products
• - I inspired people to get into tech and many more that I'm proud of.

All I'm trying to say is you, and I know that you're very good in your field, and people will want to hear what you have to give out, so don't think too much. Just find the best platform you're comfortable with and build in public.