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- #61: D*R*E*A*M
#61: D*R*E*A*M
Shem Opolot
March 01, 2024
Hi! Welcome to The Friday Fix! You’re reading this because you probably stumbled upon this post somewhere on the internet instead of where it should be—in your inbox. But no worries; we can fix that.
Who am I? I’m Shem Opolot, a health professional turned content creator, passionate about helping people be their best selves in life and work.
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I have over ten years of work experience in healthcare, program management, and data analytics on two continents. So, I know a little about helping you work smarter
I comb through tonnes of self-improvement content so you don’t have to, and I distill the content into bite-sized wisdom for you
I’ll occasionally make you laugh
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Happy Friday 🎉 “Do what you think is right with it.”
— Dr. Ruth Gottesman’s husband, as he bequeathed billions to her.
Who do you want to be when you grow up? Don’t laugh. This week, I want to be Dr. Ruth Gottesman. After inheriting a billion dollars worth of stock from her late husband, Gottesman, the chairman of the board of trustees at The Albert Einstein School of Medicine, donated the money to the medical school, ensuring all 737 medical students enrolled for free. To celebrate (and honor Dr. Gottesman), let’s not haggle with the boda guy today.
LIFE.
Decision, decisions, decisions.
Gif by xavieralopez on Giphy
I’ve been mulling over the best way to talk about making decisions, and ironically, I was struggling to decide how to write about decisions.
Welp…
Decisions rule everything around me [and you]. In fact, let’s change the popular acronym from C*R*E*A*M (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) to D*R*E*A*M (Decisions Rule Everything Around Me). Seriously, I’m making T-shirts and hats for The Friday Fix merch line, which is coming soon.
I digress.
Should you take the job in another city for better pay but greater distance from your loved ones, or the job close to home that’s more aligned with your career goals but offers less pay? Should you date the safe and stable partner or the adventurous one? How do we make the right decision?
In short—we don’t.
You can choose to wake up early or late, and either choice has predictable consequences in the short term. But choosing between two career paths or life partners could determine whether people say you’re aging gracefully or curdling like that milk you forgot in your schoolbag once.
So…do these four things before your next big decision:
Alignment. In P.3, my parents pulled me from the Buganda Road Primary School and placed me in Lohana Academy. Lohana’s fees were about five times higher than Buganda Road’s, but my parents made the decision that aligned with their values (excellence) and goals for me (success).
Information. Before applying for my doctorate, I researched several programs, consulted several people, and weighed the pros and cons before taking the plunge. You must gather the facts and speak to “experts,” but be careful. Excessive consultation loves to get in bed with procrastination.
Pain. When you choose the stable partner, you’ll lose the thrill of the adventurous partner. When you pick the job out of town, you’ll miss home. And that’s okay. Don’t expect to make any decision of consequence without experiencing loss. In fact, you may have to appropriately grieve that loss before moving on.
Fear. I could’ve done my doctorate in North Carolina, where I established networks. Or in New Jersey, which is closer to my family. But I chose D.C. because of the location, the potential of its networks, and because it scared me to move to a new place. When weighing two or more difficult decisions, pick the one that scares you the most. Comfort and greatness go out on dates, but they don’t like each other very much.
Now go forth and DREAM big.
THINGS.
A quote
You want to stop feeling self-critical? Stop secretly telling yourself you're better than people when you see them struggling. You can't experience the feeling of superiority without the feeling of inferiority.
A picture
I spent some much-needed quality time with Zi these past couple of weeks, but this photo isn’t about that. It’s about 2 things: 1) His cute little Adidas Sambas and 2) The fact that, at this point, he left the playground (swings, slides, and all) to follow the pretty twin girls in pink jackets in the background. He loves a good face, and I’m afraid he gets that from me 🫣.
WORK.
#Mondays
What if you hate Mondays so much that you want to know how many Mondays there are in a given date range so you can prepare accordingly?
This one will be quick. Here’s what we’re working with:
You use a tiny but mighty function called NETWORKDAYS.INTL.
NETWORKDAYS.INTL returns the number of net working days between two provided days (and can exclude specified weekend days and holidays.)
=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(start_date, end_date, [weekend], [holiday])
Before we get into it, there’s a little quirk to know:
You can denote the days of the week (MTWTFSS) as a seven 1’s: “1111111.” However, if you want to look at a specific day, you replace the one with a zero. For example, Monday will be “0111111,” Tuesday will be “1011111,” and Saturday will be “1111101.”
Now, you can count the number of Mondays between the start and end dates.
Done. To practice, try to count the number of Saturdays.
If you want to learn how to use Excel, this is a good place to start.
FUN.
The Friday Fix Playlist
Brain teaser
From Braingle.
What word, when you remove the first letter and put it at the end, do you get the past tense of the word?
Hint: Yum yum!
Answer below
Shem’s picks
✔️ Apparently, staring at a dot for one minute will improve your focus
✔️ Test your movie trivia knowledge with this game
✔️ How to become a super communicator
Brain teaser answer
Answer: Eat
Have a great weekend,
— Shem
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