How dare you? You should hear this at least once in your life. If not, you’re playing too small. Audacity, it’s a way of life! 📢

If you wait for things to happen, you’ll be waiting for a veryyyy longgggg timeeeeeeeee.

So, stop waiting for things to happen and start making them happen. This mindset is an audacious one and TSF is here to inject you with that dose of audacity. Every. Single. Release.

I learnt something early on in my life. If I want something, I will get it. Whether by incident, accident, or coincidence. Even I, can’t get in my own way regardless of the circumstance or happenstance.

It happened so much that my brain jumped to that conclusion — whatever I set my mind to do, I will achieve. No debates or excuses. My mind is set on the goal, my heart on the price, and my hands ready to put in the work.

Essentially, everything about my being aligns with exactly what I want and the universe bends to provide me with everything I need (like magic? Nope, I’m Godbacked).

This does not mean that there are no obstacles, rejections, or trials that come my way, it means that I know they will come. I expect them, welcome them, and get prepared for them. The only thing is, they cannot and will not stop me.

Here is my 3D secret recipe → Desire + Drive + Discipline = An Unstoppable Force.

The 3Ds come intrinsically. No one can give it to you, they are all qualities you cultivate and start with another D — Decision.

A limiting belief that holds people back is their focus on not having enough “insert whatever that may be”. I am writing this to tell you that you can use what you have to get what you want AND you can start from where you are to get to where you want or need to be.

I was once chilling with a friend in University and they offhandedly made a comment. My friend said, you don’t just do stuff. And I asked, how do you mean?

Then, they elaborated and said, “everything you do has a reason”. This friend’s observation was an interesting feedback.

I did not fully understand what they meant at the time. Now, as I look at my life, the way I move, the decisions I make, and how I show up in the world, it makes perfect sense.

So much so that I came up with my life’s philosophy, “I live life on purpose, with intention, and unbothered.”

And that right there is what I call a rich life 🧘🏽‍♀️

Whenever I tell this story, I always feel like the CIA or a Secret Service Agent.

Pursuing my masters and negotiating my salary were two separate life events that taught me how having audacity equals unwavering self-belief and advocacy. Be ready to face oppositions as you build your audacious muscles.

Opps are everywhere that’s why I call them “chronicles”. I treat my life as a quest filled with mysteries, treasures, trials, level ups, lessons, and rewards 😂. And naturally, there will be oppositions.

Whenever I’m about to make a decision, I evaluate different paths and explore options. When it’s time to exit a chapter or phase of life, I project myself into the future and ask, “what is the most epic way to close this out?”; then I land on a vision and execute accordingly.

The result is I have an interesting life filled with fire stories and experiences to share.

In this TSF release, you get a front row seat into one of those fire adventures; You’re welcome 🍿.

I’ll cut the long story short. I completed a full-time Engineering (AI) and Business Masters degree while working full-time as a Software Engineer for a F500 company at the time.

When I made that decision, I knew it will require maximum discipline, being ruthless with my availability, and granular activity management on the personal side — less social activities and more projects/research.

What I did not anticipate was the psychological and emotional stress of “perception management” at work. At the time, my manager did not agree with my decision to study full-time while working full-time and their justification for this was that they “felt” I won’t be focused at work and that it will be too much for me to handle.

I respectfully rejected my manager’s stance and did my masters full-time anyway. When you disagree with “organizational authority”, depending on the company and the authority in question, there’ll be “repercussions” 😅.

In my case, my then manager withdrew all of their support toward my education, heavily critiqued the work I delivered, and constantly shared a biased perspective when it came to my performance at work from that moment on.

All of the above negatively affected me and was a sacrifice I was willingly to make to push through to the finish line. When you move with clarity and unwavering belief in yourself and your abilities, there are rarely any roadblocks that you can’t overcome.

As tumultuous as that time in my life was, I learnt the hard things early and had the most fun in the grand scheme of things.

I bagged my degree, came out tops at the best and #1 engineering university in Canada, got a revered scholarship award from the #1 AI research institute in Canada, and had a memorable graduation partyyyy 🎊🥳🍾.

This is audacity in action.

Do not let people (regardless of “perceived authority”) dictate or tell you what you can and cannot do when it comes to your life and vision for yourself. I had a manager who tried to project their limitations on me and all I had to do was reject it and focus on my end goal.

Everything else fell into place and till date, I am sooooo proud of myself for sticking with my guts and rejecting anything else that tried to distract me.

Now, this experience acts as evidence to myself and my brain that when I set my mind to do anything, I’ll get it done 💯.

Safe to say that I left that company. I outgrew every aspect of it, from the people, to the role, the scope, their policies, and the industry — and ever since stepping away, life has been and continues to be great! ✌🏾

If there is one thing I don’t joke about, it is my time.

Coming close second to my time is my money — on all fronts.

In every job I’ve had and role I’ve held at a for-profit company or organization, I always negotiate. A lot of people don’t know that companies expect you to negotiate your salary and then demonstrate why you are worth it.

The highest leverage point you have to negotiate your salary is right before you join the company; precisely when they make you an “employment offer”.

Some people get super excited and sign right away, some get scared they might miss out on the opportunity if they don’t sign immediately, some think the company will withdraw or rescind the offer if they negotiate, while some people are just uncomfortable with the act or idea of negotiating.

The fact that you got to the offer stage means that the company really wants you and that’s why it is your leverage window.

I’m here to tell you that you may be doing yourself a disservice by not negotiating.

Everything in life can be negotiated down to values (in extreme cases). I personally have negotiated everything from my rent, to my start date, to my salary, and soo much more.

Every time I negotiate, I am either pleasantly surprised, comfortable with the outcome, or rewarded for the effort I put in.

Let this be your wake up call to ask for exactly what you want and if you don’t get it, you may be in the wrong room/place, asking the wrong person, or it may just be the wrong time. All you have to do is switch out one of these variables: place, person, or time until you get what you want.

No matter what you do or wherever you are, always be asking. Audacity is relentless and persistent.

Ask. Seek. Knock — all first letters spell ASK. God is basically saying, do something. Take action. The rest will follow.

If there’s one thing you takeaway from this release, let it be this.

Whatever “unfair” advantage you have or think you have in this life, use it to the fullest. I’m talking all gas no breaks 🏎️💨. Leverage and stand on it with your full chest.

People say “life is unfair” and we are all dealt different cards. My advice to you is to play your hand so well that people think that "you’re cheating” or the joke’s on you! 🃏🃏

Let your secondary takeaway be this.

You see that goal or dream that you have, 10x and 100x it to the point that is scares you and then, do it anyways.

My charismatic mother always says, “the sky is your starting point, so shoot beyond the stars so that when you fall, cause you will, you’ll be amongst the stars”.

This was ingrained in my brain. So you can imagine how confused I was when I heard people say “the sky is the limit”. All I could think of was, how is the sky the limit when I’m just getting started? 🤷🏽‍♀️

Then my brilliant father told me, “nothing in life is ever too late or too urgent”. This translates to patience in the process.

Yes, we all want success yesterday notwithstanding, it is important to give things — goals, dreams, aspirations, desires — the time, craft, and effort they need to become a masterpiece.

Stay Audacious,
Chikodilee 🤎🤎