The London story

So I was in London last week, I was there for Google Android Camp 2016 , if you want to know more about the technical details go here. This article is all about the adventure, its longer than my usual ones grap a cuppa and enjoy the ride.

Sunday 31st July:
I arrived at Gatwick airport around 7:30 am, after flying for almost 20 hours from Cape Town. I have heard the British accent before but hearing it live made me love it even more.  I took a train to the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel where we were all checked in. After flying for 20 hours my body wanted to take a rest but my mind just wanted to do stuff, you know like send emails before exploring London alone. So I followed my mind. An acquaintance had invited me to Cambridge so Cambridge it was. Its fairly easy to navigate through Great Britain, since all the directions are printed and people are approachable to ask.I took 2 trains, to King's Cross Station then to Cambridge station.  On  the 1 hour train to Cambridge I sat next to a Kenyan lady, we connected on a lot of things. I also got to get a view of the Arsenal stadium. After my meeting with my acquaintance, I stayed a bit more to explore King's College London, it really is beautiful. I wandered aimlessly around the college, I definitely got lost but good thing is you can always ask.

king's college, Cambridge

you also agree that Cambridge is beautiful, right?

proper #tourist

wish I captured the music too!

Arsenal Stadium

 So, eventually I found my way back to the train station. On the way back I slept unconsciously, someone woke me up when we arrived... Thank you kind people of London. I then went straight to dinner prepared by the Google team, it was delish!!



Monday, 1st August:
Started the new month by hitting the hotel gym, for the first time. Didn't enjoy it because I enjoy running outdoors than watching the clock almost not moving. The day was filled with lots of learning and fun activities at Google. Can I talk about Food at Google? Despite having great meals , they have snacks all over the place (both healthy and the not so healthy). You can already guess which ones I had, don't judge. In the evening we had a scavenger hunt followed by a ride along London eye.

1)Scavenger hunt
We were given instructions to take pictures at some touristy places namely BuckingHam Palace, Westminster Abbey and the BigBen. The result?

with my very multinational and cool team

Mandela is honored everywhere

Westminster Abbey

2) London eye.
London eye is a huge wheel where you get a view of the whole of London and its beautiful. Pictures speak louder than words, so.

Big ben from London eye

The London view is especially spectacular at night. Finally we had dinner at Pizza Express, yum!

The journey back to the hotel was filled with magical views.

Big Ben by night

Tuesday, 2nd August:
Also hit the gym, this time I stayed longer, score!
The day was filled with work, talks, work until at Dinner at Kazan- a Turkish restaurant
Dinner.

starter

main course

dessert

the room with the view

turkish tea

The rest of the week:
Unfortunately I fell sick, I woke up with severe headache and fever. There was nothing else I could do than read, walk and sleep.I used the off-time to read You only have to be right once,by Randall Lane. I almost dosed off during the sessions, I eventually got pain killers which sorta helped. We had a hackathon on Thursday to Friday but I didn't have the stamina to stay up all night. I still feel guilty but am ever grateful to my team mates for taking charge. The hackathon ended on Friday.

hackathon treats!

post hackathon dinner - starter

post hackathon dinner

Saturday, 6th August.
My plane was leaving at 8:40 pm from Heathrow. This was the day to wait for it.. wander. I woke up quite early (5 am if you are curious), but struggled to get out of bed due to the fever and joint pains. I had planned to run hoping I would be feeling better. I walked instead and ran a little, it was a good plan as I got to take these breath taking pictures along the Royal parks (St James park). London really is beautiful.

I then went to park, checked-out and decided to explore like a real tourist - Hop on/Hop Off sightseeing buses. I love travelling for the fun of figuring out new places spontaneously, alone, getting lost and eventually finding my way. I didn't get lost this time, probably because I used the good old paper map.

I really liked the way the guided narrated, mostly because I love British accent.

I saw lots of interesting places, here are just a few that impressed me. You can read all their historic significance online, I will present pictures (and a bit of text that I actually remember.)
1) Westminster
All roads lead to Westminster. Big Ben, the house of Parliament, River Thames, Westminster Abbey  and London eye are all located here. No surprise that it is constantly buzzing with tourists

2) Buckingham Palace
The Queen's palace.

3) London Bridge and the Waterloo bridge and other bridges

My ticket included a boat cruise so a cruise I took. Got to see many bridges but was most impressed by the famous London bridge and women's bridge. The Waterloo bridge was built by women during the Second World War, trust me when I say women are natural engineers.

London bridge

view from the cruise

4) Trafalgar square

5) The National Museum

Admission is FREE!!!. Now you know why I stopped there.

6)King's Cross
There is a Harry Potter shop by the station. Harry Potter fans will understand..:)

Dolby has no master...

8)Oxford Street and Regent Street
Oxford Street was so full I couldn't see the ground, am told it is the busiest street in London.

9) Marble Arch.

10) Tower of London

I wanted to see a lot more but time wasn't permitting. I even planned to take the free Harry Potter walk, but didn't make it on time. Time was so short, that I got to the check-in counter just before it closed (smart move , Ima), and yes I was the last passenger to check in, no regrets though. Thanks to the kindness of Emirates, I boarded safely, where as soon as I settled the headache sneaked back in forcing me to sleep. Missing my flight was so close that I had a dream that I was still in the streets of London since I missed my flight .. (Be punctual kids, its good for you dreams ...;))


Sunday , 7th August. 
I started the journey to CapeTown from 10:00 am from Dubai.

Dubai is so hot that the ocean is boiling

 It was my first time to see such an empty Emirates plane. Everyone has 3 seats to themselves, can't complain , it made sleeping a whole lot comfortable.

my photography skills are improving

Beautiful CapeTown from above

Thanks to power points and on-air wifi, I did some schoolwork (or at least tried to until I realized I was under utilizing free movies infront of me). Landed in the mother city at 8pm and had to face the realities of life like winter, assignments, thesis, headache and fever. Let's not talk about that, shall we?

 I hope to get better soon. Sickness aside, London was so much fun. I hope to visit it again in the future. Stay tuned for more travel adventures.

Here is why you feel like an impostor

Spoiler alert: I feel like an impostor 99% of the time so this article is directed to me as much as it is directed to you.

'Impostor Syndrome' has become a buzz word lately. I don't know about you but it is widely written about in the tech community. Extensive research has been done where causes as well as solutions have been proposed. The root cause of Impostor Syndrome is because we hardly see ourselves. Our eyes were made to look into the world, and of course it is a great big world out there with lots of great people. You logon to social media and see how brilliant other people are, rarely do you see yourself.

Impostor Syndrome is not inherently bad. It is big motivating factor to get out of the comfort zone. Feeling like an impostor is a sign that you have aspirations that are probably not met yet but is a good place to start. Allow a manageable amount of it in your life. By the way, research has shown that it is high potential people who face impostor syndrome more, sort of like the opposite of Dunning Kruger effect. On the other hand, once a threshold is reached, impostor has diminishing if not opposite returns. According to AdamGrant, everything of consequence follows an inverted U-curve as illustrated below.

Once impostor syndrome starts to have a paralyzing effect we need to eliminate it and the most effective way to do it is to look inside. Appreciate what you have and make use of it. Magic happens when we accept that we can't have it all or be perfect, we can just be our best and that's enough. (#NoteToSelf). What appears to be weaknesses could actually be strengths. David didn't defeat Goliath by trying to be as strong or big, he used his speed, accuracy and vision which happened to be his strength and his opponent's weakness. Winners don't have it all, they just capitalize on their strengths.

Impostor Syndrome is not all bad. It is necessary because we are fundamentally different and diversity is good. We should celebrate it. On the rare occasions that impostor syndrome becomes destructive, be gentle to your self. Forget the world and look inside, there is so much treasure  yet to be unlocked.

Can you tell that I'm currently reading David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell? Its awesome, if you haven't read it , I'm happy to lend mine when I'm done. Have a great and productive week ahead!!

Speaking of challenges

You probably know now that I love challenges. I am either doing one or looking for my next one. I recently challenged my body by doing 2 workouts a day for 2 months. Yap, that's right I went there.
So I'd go for a run in the morning and do a 1 hour Youtube workout in the evening, almost (*)everyday. One word: It was hard but worth it. I'm gonna share my experience and why I will be stopping.

Benefits:


1) Endorphins, endorphins, endorphins. If I could make a living out of them ,I would. I still don't get the biology that you get to feel so good after going through so much torture but I'm a big fan.

2) Less sleep. I highly recommend exercise to anyone looking to cut sleep. I could get away with 6 hours or less while on the regime.

3) Reflection and ideas. Physical pain aside, exercise time is a great time for meditation. Having 2 of these sessions a day really helped cope with stress, get perspective and generate awesome ideas. Highly recommend if you are looking for your next startup idea.

4) Value for time. Knowing that you have to accomplish this feat every day really makes you value time and utilize it efficiently. I made sacrifices on social life to keep it up.

As much as I would  like to keep reaping the benefits I will stop for the following reasons.
1)Weight. I have lost so much weight drastically and I don't want to go further. Here's to some body recuperation.

2) Its addictive. With every workout move you conquer, you want to do more.Its great, but I don't want to be a professional athlete either, so no thanks, I'll pass. I would like to focus on other areas of life. There is more to life than living from workout to workout. You probably know this already. By the way if you have book recommendations feel free to ping me.

3) Did I mention how hungry I get? And how expensive food is getting? #StudentBudget dictates I should burn less to consume less.

A challenge is meant to bring the best in you and it was good while it lasted. One workout a day is perfectly good for a normal healthy human being.  Here is to conquering more. Have a great start to the weekend!

Monsters look bigger than they are.

In cartoons monsters are always made to look big. Even when they are small, they have shadows and magnified features to make them scary. Why am I even talking about monsters? Because they are not just in cartoons, we have them in reality and like in cartoons they always appear bigger than they actually are.

Monsters are all the negative things we do not wish for. The disappointments, failures rejections, loss of loved ones and the list goes on. When we receive good news, we get excited, usually for a short time and move on. On the contrary, when we receive bad news of equal or less importance we are paralyzed and forced to reconsider our existence.

 Its natural, the mind magnifies undesired things. It doesn't mean that its the right thing to do. Decisions made in this state are not always the best and can lead to even further losses. So, what do you do when that test didn't go well, or you didn't get that promotion? or that paper didn't get accepted? Its tricky, at that moment in time, nothing seems to make sense.  The bad news is there is no substitute for pain, sorry folks, not amount of substitute activity will make the problems go away. All yourself to feel bad (whine, cry, make tea,  reach out to family whatever works for you) but make no decision, just feel it.

The goodness is time is the best remedy. With time, monsters start to look like what they really are; small tiny creatures that look ugly but not as powerful as they look. Revisit the situation after say a night's sleep, after the subconscious has processed the facts objectively. Have you grabbed any lessons? Do you have plan B? Yes? Good. Move on and carry your lessons with you.

Happy mid year and have a great weekend ahead!

Productivity hacks.

So productivity is hot right now. Google 'Productivity' and watch how many results you get.
So I'm not the ultra productive person alive, but I get asked 'How I do it' many times so I guess I'm doing something right. By the way, if follow me on Twitter you'll notice my headline below.

I'm obsessed with productivity. It makes me feel in control (of at least my time).
There are so techniques out there and different techniques work for different people. I'm gonna share what works for me.

Hit pause. 
The secret to getting more done is not doing more but less.
I start my day with a 5 am run. I used to dread it but now I believe its the best part of my day. All I have to do is think and observe while my legs just move. Its the ultimate happy place for an introvert. Plus ,I also enjoy the health benefits without the strain of lifting weights (now you know why I don't go to the gym :) and the endorphins. I use the time to meditate and think about anything my mind brings to attention. Here is my latest score.

Planned out a whole #hackathon on my #run today. #Productive start to the day.#womenintech.

— Imaculate (@Imaculate3) May 27, 2016

Long story short, reserve some time to let your subconscious do the work.

I then eat breakfast my elephant. No I don't mean eating poached animals. There is always that one task that is perhaps more demanding or that needs to be done. Start with that while your willpower is still strong. If you don't have any particular one, prioritize one. Once finish it, it will be out of the way and you'll boosted to do more.

Define your goals. You can't stop the clock, but you can time to your advantage. Measure progress not by how much time you have used but how many goals you have achieved. Otherwise, you will always feel rushed. I use Wunderlist  to keep track of tasks, What do you use?

Multitasking only works when it does. At the Amandla Fellowship the monk taught us all about bandwidth. When focusing on one task at a time, you are working with full bandwidth and get more done. This boosts your energy to do even more. When you multitask, it feels like you are doing a lot of work but you are doing it at less bandwidth. Besides, it can be overwhelming to have so many open tasks. Do yourself a favor and ignore everything else.

When you have found your niche, you'll notice your productivity improve and anxiety diminish. There are also pitfalls you are prone to.

There will be days when no matter what you do, nothing will work. These are the days when the only thing I seem to have accomplished is make tea. Contrary to logic, these are the days you need to be gentle to yourself. It doesn't help to beat yourself up. Remember, that is reserve for future productivity.

You are human, not a machine. Not everything you plan will work out. Not everything is within your control. Recover, improvise and move on. Life is so much more than ticking stuff off a to do list.

Celebrate achievements as they come. The more you achieve, the harder you'll want to work. Its good to keep stretching yourself but don't forget to celebrate little wins.

Last but not least, remember you have all the time you need. You won't necessarily accomplish more by having time. Try to make the best use of the time as possible.

Wheew.. that was a long post. I hope you enjoyed it and when you are so productive that you have a few minutes to spare,  write a post about productivity ..:).
Have a great rest of the week.