My 2019 Recap and 2020 Action Items

7 min readJan 9, 2020

Welcome to 2020 and a new decade folks :)

In honor of the tradition I started a few years ago, I’m sharing a recap of my 2019 experiences (with status updates) and ‘some’ action items for 2020, organized by key categories.

2019 ACTION ITEMS

TRAVEL

Travel to at least 3 countries I’ve never visited (YES; traveled to 4 — Gambia, South Africa, Cape Verde, and Dubai; all beautiful and exciting places to visit/explore!).

MONEY

Stick to a strict monthly budget & review expenses month-end (YES; for the most part :)
Remain disciplined with tithing (YES; proud of this)
Start investing in real estate (IN PROGRESS; took an investment course in 2019 — now it’s time to review potential opportunities and make decisions)

FAITH & SPIRITUALITY

Start and end my day with ‘thank you’ to God (YES; for the most part)
Have daily conversations with God; NEED IT (NO; I did this about 50% of the year)
Give more empathy and forgiveness to others (YES, for the most part; this was easier to do for some and quite difficult for others — your gal is a work in progress…we will get there)
Give less energy to worry (YES in some cases, NO in others; worry must carry its legs and get out by fire and force in 2020)
Say “NO” to toxic, waste-my-damn-time, not-good-for-my-blood-pressure relationships (YES; for the most part)
Read my Bible more and enjoy it more (YES; I definitely consumedThe Word more in 2019 than the year before however I want to continuously keep getting better at reading and understanding the wisdom in the Bible and thoroughly enjoying it)

PURPOSE & PASSION

Upload at least 12 posts in 2019 (NO; this action item was specific to Medium — I uploaded 8 posts on Medium).
Keep the post topics diversified (YES; for the 8 posts I uploaded on Medium)
Finally transfer from Blogger to WordPress (N/A; this action item is no longer applicable as my primary blogging platform is Medium)
Organize two “Dinner, Drinks, and Discussions” ladies networking and mentorship events (YES; albeit challenging, we got it done!)
Write my first book (YES — this particularly makes me proud :)

The August 10th Dinner, Drinks, and Discussions (D3) in Abuja

The November 30th Dinner, Drinks, and Discussions (D3) in Abuja

READING

Continue reading articles related to business, management, leadership, communications, and marketing (YES; I continually read articles via Forbes, Harvard Business Review, McKinsey, and more)
Read more books (YES; the list includes Becoming by Michelle Obama, The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo, The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday, Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell, We’re Going To Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union)

ADDITIONAL

Do LESS; focusing on fewer goals at a time increases probability of achieving them in a shorter period of time (YES)
Continue LinkedIn series (YES; I continued sharing weekly Management and Leadership Tips every Tuesday — I value mentorship, as a mentor and mentee, and this is one of the ways I’m happy to provide it)
Continue French studies (YES; for the most part. I continued daily French practice via the duolingo app — a few days were missed)
Improve communication in my most cherished relationships (YES; I’ve gotten better at this however there is still room for improvement and this action item is definitely worth rolling over into 2020)
‘Adaeze Body 2.0.’ The idea was to make exercise a welcomed part of my routine (NO; lol. This is not funny yet I am here laughing as I write. I had good intentions however…can we chalk this up to village peepu tins?)

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

Africa Shared Value Summit in Nairobi, Kenya (May): Speaker and Panelist; African-Led Health Systems (Partnerships for Better Healthcare)
Think Future №2 Conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa (October): Speaker; The Power of Data and Partnerships Note: Best conference attended to date! The vibe was one-of-a-kind. The organizers were very intentional about creating a memorably wonderful experience.
Nigeria recorded 3 years without a case of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) in August; I spent the past several years working as part of the global #polio eradication initiative (GPEI) program team across Africa — it’s a great milestone :)
Organized a Toastmaster-style series for 15+ Sierra Leonean project management professionals to improve public speaking and presentation skills. I spent 9 months working and living in Freetown, Sierra Leone and that period of time will always remain special to me — primarily because of the heart of the people I worked with and the opportunity I was afforded to make an impact as a leader and capacity builder of the Programs Department team and project managers I worked with.

Pictures from my speaking engagements in Nairobi and Stellenbosch, and from my time in Sierra Leone (the group shot is from our team Sports Day event in Sierra Leone — I chopped grass well well during the tug of war session lol! No, I will not share that photo :)

2020 ACTION ITEMS

For the most part, these will be similar to the ones of 2019.