therealbrandonwilson

wrote an interesting post yesterday asking this excellent question and sharing his answer. 

I love such questions and the ability to honestly answer that from time to time. Since 2020 was really special in how dramatically different and difficult it was - I have a few things I changed my mind on last year. 

1. Time - Time was a commodity I didn't treat properly before. I allowed it to be stolen either deliberately or because I didn't realize the opportunity cost of the time I was giving up on things that didn't matter - either for myself or others. The absence of commute also made me realize the extent of the time wasted for a 9-5 work. I am now sure that I will negotiate some form of work from home purely for the time factor going forward.

2. Hard work - I have always known that I belong to the hard workers club than the work smart club. It is more natural for me to grind than look for the strategic way forward. I was proud of that until 2020 where I saw that hard work only gets me more hard work. I also got to understand that I often sacrifice things like sleep, health and focus on my long term goals when I just put my head down and work relentlessly. The older I get, I need to pause before I commit to hard work. Hard work by itself isn't an asset. I have to be more strategic. 

3. Non-profit orgs - I used to think that working in a non-profit organization was my calling. I have always gravitated towards work like that. In 2020, I got the chance to work with 4 non-profit organizations. And I was responsible for over 10 large projects. That experience gave me a perspective I didn't have before. I now know that non-profit organizations are where the most corruption happens. In the name of helping others, a lot of people and organizations are making an obscene amount of money and making sure that poverty never goes away so they always stay relevant. So I made the shift and decided that I want to work with companies that are working on social innovations and solving problems instead. 

These were the top 3 things I changed my mind on last year. I feel like I was living in some form of a bubble before and now I have come to see things in a more realistic way.