Intentional Repetiton

 

While in law school, a friend of mine had Burna Boy’s “Dangote” bursting from his car speakers every time we would meet up. It happened frequently enough for me to eventually ask him if this was his favorite song at that point in time, to which his response was “I play it daily, as motivation for me to get to where I need to be” (or something along those lines, because law school was a blur, but that interaction stuck).

 Just like his intentional repetition of this song, so is the power of habits in other ramifications of our lives. Not to oversimplify one of the best books I have read in the past few years, James Clear’s “Atomic Habits” speaks to such a power and provides strategies for effective implementation (i.e. – if you want to drink more water, placing a water jug by your bedside allows for easier access to implement this habit, than say, your water just always being in the fridge). My biggest buy in to habit implementation, if you will, is seeing how helpful it has been to accomplish a goal or just my general wellness. From the daily habit of studying that helped me pass the bar exam, to shaving daily to the point where my morning routine feels incomplete without it. Habits help.

Not all habits are easy to implement at the start. I can’t remember how often I studied inconsistently at the start of preparing for the bar exam until I built a steady pattern, repeated environment, coffee shop, book store, and all, but there was a clear difference in routine from the beginning to the end. Even with my daily shaving, purchasing a surplus of sticks was a game changer in implementing that habit, because I knew that I wasn’t running out of it any time soon. I have felt and seen a marked improvement in my cleanliness since implementing this habit.

Now, to developing a habit of writing. I want to become a better writer by the end of 2024. Before, I was quite lackadaisical about this practice. Since society’s sharp turn to visual content at the start of 2013, I felt as if there was no point since my writing won’t be consumed as much as visuals. It was only recently that I approached writing with a different mindset, simply that, just like any other hobby, my own interest in writing is enough for me to keep engaging, eyes on it or not. Writing will be one of the practices I intend to repeat consistently in the coming year. I enjoyed it as part of my travel blog, so I am sure transitioning to creative/general writing will not be so grudging.

 

Here are a few other intentions for the new year – I plan to flesh out the details in my personal journal:

·        Joining a community in my home base in the U.S.

·        Read more and complete my reading list for the year – becoming a better wordsmith along the way. I reckon the more I read, the more it will help improve my writing skills

·        Take on more clients with Oke Legal Group + provide informational immigration content

·        Organize various areas of my life - e.g. actually go through all travel folders and place them in their respective folders, and approach my folders at work with the same organizational approach

·        Use social media less and find things that bring more fulfillment to fill my time with

·        I would include the “you know what” here, but I want to trust God utterly and completely in this regard in the coming year that when the time is right, it will happen. For now, I enjoy the things I enjoy and build engaging projects along the way. To be honest, I find that when I am enjoying my projects, hobbies, and routine, I am concerned way less about that thing.

Here’s to our intentional repetitions. May they carry us where we want or need to be.

 

Funmi Oke