Reflections, goals, progress, ambition - 2024 and hopefully very soon after

I do major reflections every year. Too much to do every year to be reflecting generally more often than that. Memories? That's easy. Weekly. It is that time again for reflection, as 2024 ends. I have always said I have ambition. But I think my ambitions are more of trying to do things differently, or different achievements, or being a maverick in a good way (coming to a blog post near you). I used to set New Year Resolutions, but I have not done so much in recent years. I rather try to set goals of what I want to within a year or a couple of years. I did not achieve a lot of my goals for 2024 sef. They say life begins at your Ruby Jubilee (40). 

Health
Chale, we want to live long and be doing what we have been doing as lone as possible. Health is paramount. I have been promising myself to exercise more. I have, but it is nowhere near where my doctor or wife wants me to be. We would get there. 1 of my goals was to buy a bike which I would ride around while listening to #MusicWeDeyFeel. Due to my major RTA in August, the bike idea has been postponed to when I am fully fit or 100%. 

I have been going for checkups at UGMC and taking the medicine I need to. Quality healthcare in Ghana is not cheap. We need a lot more great hospitals where patients pay the right amounts of money to ensure healthcare here is also on point, like education. Thankfully, my insurance from KIC covers these and when I did not have this Acacia insurance, I could cover my costs. 

Travel
The country I want to travel to the most right now is Zimbabwe - because I want to see how this nation is battling with all the happenings of the last 30 years, and to visit my friends too :-). The non-African choice is Singapore (I want to experience how it is, it makes me think of Rwanda and Switzerland). I want to see how this nation has developed - for myself - thanks to Lee Kuan Yew and all those who came after him. I also want to visit Cameroun, Mali, Zambia, Eswatini, Egypt, China, France, Brazil, India, Japan, Jamaica, etc. For 2024 though, I wanted to revisit Togo and then Benin for the first time, as a road trip with some Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) colleagues. And then the RTA happened. I am hearing great things about the Beninois government. I should add Nigeria to this road trip. Okay, I would consider it. I have not been to the land of Ayooluwaato Eze in a decade!

I used to travel a lot around the continent thanks to Google, Rancard and then my body of work. The only country I have been to since Covid is the USA. I travel a lot around Ghana each year, thanks to GhanaThink and in the last few years, KIC. I love doing so. Let's get this West African road trip out of the way first. I remember when Paa Kwesi Imbeah traveled from Ghana to Senegal by road! 

Writing
I decided in Q3 2023 that I needed to write more, especially towards writing my first book. That book would be called Positivity Rules, in honour of my mother and all the positive things people around me have done and continue to do. I have a lot of #MightyAfrican blog posts that are headed straight for this book and some of other experiences I did not write about.

I also want to write in popular, well-known, well-visited, influential publications or websites. Before that, I needed to get used to writing regularly. The easiest subject for me to write about seems to be African music - thanks to Museke. Check out #MusicWeDeyFeel everywhere on social media. I wanted to write about the tallest building in each major Ghanaian town we have had a Barcamp in, as well as the first time (and subsequent times) I visited non-Accra, Kumasi and Elmina Ghanaian towns. This is my 33rd blog post of 2024 - well beyond 23!

Wealth
Mummy would always say, "We wish your great health & great wealth". I am shy and disappointed in myself to say that I do not own a house yet. We have not finished building and mortgages scare me in general lol. But there is some light at the end of both tunnel and hopefully we would cross that soon. I need to get multiple pieces of land in my favorite place that I have not lived in, Elmina. 

I am doing better with Achieve (by Petra) now, and more investments must be grown. Gotta put all the financial literacy things to work right? The CFLE Africa folks would say, "Earn, Save, Invest". "Make, manage & multiply money". I should have a lot of cryptocurrencies eh?

I have to get going on the generational wealth you know. :-)

Future
In 5 years, I would like to own 2 houses and have 3 books out. I am behind eh? Yeah. Yes indeed, I do procrastinate. Raise your hand up if you do not. Send me a message so I come to you for tips. Or is the word prioritize? We would get to them. Faster.

I also want to work on GhanaThink full-time. We would get there. We are going. 

Ghana is also not where we want it to be. We have to move faster. We have to achieve more.

Africa has a myriad of issues. We have to copy each other (in the good things), band together, be flexible as necessary. Africa's future is up to Africans.

I'm past 40 now. That's the age people can run for president in Ghana. No, I would not be running for president. Let's have a critical mass of young people in Ghana who are patriotic, passionate, positive, proactive, progressive and most importantly, productive.

I talked about ambition earlier. My life time goal is to be remembered like the likes of Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela, without having been in politics. I have to strategize better. We have to strategize better. Because we must achieve the Ghana and Africa we want, in these generations.