Work Diary #15

...The first chronicle without a 9-5

Hello.
How are you doing?
I bring you greetings from my bed, in my room as I round up my first week as a jobless Nigerian youth.
Like I shared in my last newsletter, I left my tech job after 6 wonderful months, to begin another journey.
But before that journey begins, I need to rest and catch up on all the hours of lost sleep and personal devotion.
I am enjoying every bit of this break and I hope to achieve a couple of things with it.

Truthfully, I am not really jobless. I only don’t have a 9-5 and pressing external deliverables.

In this entry

• Catch Up

• Work Update

• Work Lesson

• Excerpts from the week

CATCH UP

Since writing to you last, I have had a couple of calls with my former colleagues to mark the end of my time with the organization.
I got a lot of glowing feedback, with my manager and my VP calling me very intelligent. I was beaming on this particular call because it’s one thing to affirm yourself, but getting your affirmations validated by people higher than you, who do not owe you anything, is such a great feeling and I am happy I got to be an intelligent contributor to my team.
Also, considering that I was not always at my best and I had to struggle sometimes to meet deadlines and stay on top of the numerous client projects I managed, this validation was very welcome.
And I won’t lie to you, I’ve had a spring in my step ever since. I am considering getting myself a cake to celebrate this glowing final feedback (Should I?)

I also hosted the second worship gathering this past weekend, and it was as eventful as it was beautiful.

Second Worship Gathering. (I and 4 other people are absent in this picture- it was a very eventful evening)

WORK UPDATE

As a recently jobless Nigerian youth, I have found that finding how to productively use your time is something that is not as easy as it appears. Especially if you are spoilt for choice.
I have spent the past week merely scrolling through social media, assisting my mum in her business, and generally neglecting my own growth because I believe I have enough time.
Indeed, there is time, but the time is not eternal and the sooner I decided to design a plan and goals for the time, the better for me.
Now, I have a vague idea of what I want from this period, such that I will have no regrets.

WORK LESSON

I learnt a vital lesson this week. You should not be jobless.
I was telling an older acquaintance about how I am currently jobless, but I resume a new role in a month, and he immediately stopped me in my tracks to interrogate what I meant by ‘jobless’.

I was embarrassed. Not because I am without a job, but because he made me realize that there is always work to be done. So, claiming to be jobless was causing me to develop a false mental model of my situation.

While the term ‘jobless’ truthfully describes my current situation, it in no way captures the reality. The reality is that there is something to be done all the time- I just have to find it.
Now I have found work 😅

EXCERPTS FROM THE WEEK

No tweets this week, but there are podcast episodes I listened to.
I don’t remember if I enjoyed them, but I know listening to them sparked joy in some form.
I am also reading “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg, after Psychology of Money bored me out.

Thanks for Reading!
See you in the next issue.
’Setemi