As I reflect on the last year in my 20s, I can’t help but feel grateful for all the opportunities and growth that I’ve had. I noted last year that if I had to theme my 28th, it would be a year of reconciliation. If I was to theme 2019, it would be letting go, and letting God. 

This year was all about change, big ones and small ones.

The biggest change this year was my decision to give my life to Christ, a decision that has affected me in so many ways.

Another big change in my life, happened on January 14, 2019. I decided to propose to my then girlfriend, now fiancee and wife-to-be (November 30, 2019), Kemesha Kelly. 

Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife, finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.” I love that verse, but I haven’t found a good thing, I’ve found a GREAT thing. And to be honest, that’s still putting it mildly.

On finding favor with the Lord, I mentioned that I let go, and let God. I really have done just that this year. I’ve let go of problematic habits (mostly), problematic friendships and associations. 

The status quo is sometimes a safe place, but a safe place doesn’t always encourage and stimulate growth; growth really does happen outside of your comfort zone. What is, was created and crafted by you, sometimes deliberately so, sometimes not, but ultimately you have the power to effect the change you want to see in your life. You can’t control outcomes, but you can influence them. It can be unnerving, but when change nudges you, listen. EduFocal’s team size, for example, went down to 3 people from a high of 6, to now ending the year at almost 15 people. Change called, I listened and we’re so much better for it.

My wife, yes, I am calling her my wife now, has brought so many blessings into my life. She has helped me to become a kinder, more thoughtful and patient person. I am not deserving, but I am thankful to have her by my side. I can’t wait to make everything official later this month. Kemesha deserves her own post, so I’m not going to spend anymore time writing about her in this post, even though I want to! 

Back to EduFocal. This year we:

  • Experienced unprecedented growth
  • Grew our team significantly
  • Moved offices
  • Hired a full-time sales team
  • Grew our engineering team
  • Launched a sister company called EduFocal Business Ltd ( I’ll speak more on this at a later date)

In letting God, I’ve nurtured new friendships and strengthened old ones. I have more opportunities than I could have imagined at the start of this year. Honestly, I can’t recall having this many opportunities at any point in my life. For that I am thankful and as I grow I have an even stronger, burning desire to help others and pay it forward. 

On Productivity

When I started 2019, I knew it would be one of the busiest and most challenging years of my life. I have juggled many things this year. Moving offices, traveling, wedding planning, hiring, maintaining and growing friendships and so much more. I’ve struggled and continue to struggle in certain areas of my life; one major area being exercise. However, I’ve found myself not getting sick as often, even with my helter skelter exercise regimen. 

With that in mind, I knew that the only way for me to not only survive 2019, but thrive was to be deliberate about my own productivity. I analyzed varying points of my life and in each instance, I asked myself, “How can I become more efficient at a particular task while maintaining or increasing quality, ultimately leading to less time spent on a single task. I identified illness (obviously) as a big productivity killer. When you’re sick, it’s such a time suck, and with only 4 weeks in a month, being sick even just a week out a month can kill or hinder your productivity significantly. To counter that, I invested more time in exercise and vitamins, this yielded great returns for me. I can’t recall being sick a lot this year. I plan to double down on this in 2020.

If you find that there’s something you do everyday or multiple times per week, chances are, you can optimize the task. As a knowledge worker I use technology a lot. I spent a lot of time this year researching how I could optimize tasks that I use on my computer. This has been extremely useful for me. None of these things have to be complicated or sophisticated. Sometimes, it’s as simple as keeping files you use often in a specific area, using keyboard shortcuts or keeping your files organized. 

I plan to spend even more time thinking about productivity in 2020. 2019 was a BIG and BUSY year for me, but 2020 will be just as or even more hectic. I am ready!

As usual, travel is a privilege and I’m thankful that I have the opportunity to do so a few times annually. This year I didn’t do a lot of traveling and I didn’t visit any new countries. I visited the USA and Trinidad and Tobago. My travel plans for 2020 already look pretty exciting, though!

I’m excited about 2020 and happy that I’m closing the year with a great woman by my side. We’ll continue to grow together, laugh together, cry together and accomplish together. Her happiness and success is my priority and I’m grateful that I’ll be able to call her Mrs. Swaby, my number 1. I’m also thankful that we’ll be starting the year with a solid team at EduFocal. In 2020 I want to act as an enabler of people. Creating pathways and ongoing opportunities for growth. Here’s to an amazing new year.

Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2019-11-18 (recovered from the Internet Archive).