To The Ones Becoming: On Intentionality, Consistency, Resilience and Anti-Fragility

This past week I had a lot of things on my mind to write about, all thanks to being able to sit with my thoughts, not multitask, and reducing screen time at night (although this was just like 3 days out of the 7 days this week).

One of them is how being intentional will always move one forward. Structure is important, but intentionality rules it all. Nine weeks into my 12-week year, and this is just my conclusion.

Reading my Bible and book for the month in transit. Waking up by 4:30 a.m. to read my Bible before my 5 to 6 prayer. Going to bed after night prayers and not scrolling on social media even though I badly want to.

I think unconsciously sacrificing my social life for my goals should make this list because really all I think about each day is getting my non-negotiables done and not letting anything or anyone disrupt my plans.

I am just trying to say that intentionality is one trait anyone who wants to do a lot of things outside their comfort zone must prioritize. Intentionality will kill excuses. I have been doing all the things I planned to do lately because I have been immensely intentional, not because I don’t have valid reasons not to do them, and I really mean valid reasons.

However, I still give excuses, but for the other things not on this list. I am doing a lot by adding to these non-negotiables, but some of these “a lot” are also important, so I have to prioritize, and you should know how the prioritization will be.

All in all, intentionality is a life enabler, and I am here to say I understand the power of it because I live it.

Another is consistency. Yes, consistency might not be enough in some areas of life, but consistency will always set one apart. You see, that “just showing up” every day, or however often, will always count.

There is a favorite quote of mine by Jacob Riis that I like to always remember.

"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it—but all that had gone before."

My showing up right now means showing up here, showing up for my routines — spiritual, intellectual, financial, professional, and legacy.

None of it is showing anything loud or big, but I am the most fulfilled human after showing up for these things, and I bear at the back of my mind that someday everything will make sense. And I don’t mean blowing up or going viral.

I just know it will pay me back someday because every effort counts, whether good or bad. Every effort counts. I believe that so strongly.

Lastly, resilience and a new word I learned from the book Ikigai: antifragility.

I want to be able to keep going regardless of what happens. And not just that, I want to be able to keep going with a better mindset and outlook on life.

I don’t think I have built enough resilience and antifragility to weather any storm in life, but I know with consciousness and intentionality, I can. As the year gets busier and more unpredictable, I want to live each day prepared. And I don’t mean to be able to solve that day’s problem; I mean not to falter on those hard, long, and unpredictable days.

These three things were the topic of my reflection with myself this week, and it is my becoming to you, the ones becoming.

With love, 

Olayide Juliana

A steward who believes that light shed, knowledge shared, and beliefs reviewed can make both me and the world better.

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