According to a report by McKinsey & Company from 2022, by 2025, seven characteristics will define the new data-driven enterprise.
Companies that can quickly adopt these traits are set to reap the greatest benefits from data-powered capabilities.
What are these characteristics?
A nurse in Australia named Bronnie Ware spent 8 years sitting with people in their final weeks of life. She'd ask each patient what they regretted most. Across thousands of conversations, the same answer kept coming back.
The number one regret was this: "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." Her notes became a book that has been read by millions of people in 32 languages.
Cornell psychologist Tom Gilovich found the same pattern in the lab. In the short run, action regrets sting harder. People replay the drunk text they sent, the wrong job they took, the fight they started, and the words they couldn't take back. Over years, the pattern flips. In American samples, two thirds of long-term regrets were chances people never took. The same pattern showed up in the US, China, Japan, and Russia.
Around 43% of what you do in a typical day is running on automatic. You aren't really deciding to do those things. That figure comes from Wendy Wood, a social psychologist at USC. Once a routine sets in, a small region deep in your brain called the basal ganglia takes over and runs it on autopilot. Ann Graybiel, a neuroscientist at MIT, found that the basal ganglia handles your morning coffee the same way it handles your worst habit. It doesn't care what the routine is. It just rewards repetition.
In a 1978 study, researchers compared 22 lottery winners against people who had been paralyzed in accidents. The lottery winners were no happier than ordinary people. They got less pleasure from small daily things, because nothing felt special after that high. The people who became paralyzed had adapted. Their daily mood had returned close to normal. Both groups had drifted back toward where they started, despite the magnitude of what had happened to them. Your mood works like a thermostat. Life events are just weather passing over the setting.
The tweet is describing how the human brain works under the hood. You build a routine, your basal ganglia learns it, your mood adjusts to it, and your sense of "this is fine" creeps in over months and years. By the time you notice you have been coasting, your brain has already adapted to the coasting. The discomfort that would have warned you is gone. And the bill arrives at the end, when there is no time left to live the life you keep telling yourself you'll start one day.
CAN I ENCOURAGE SOMEONE:
1. Something about you scares the devil.
2. The possibility of you finding your strength, sharpening your focus, & fulfilling purpose shakes hell to its core.
3. The moment you decide to stand in your frame, ignore the critics, & fully obey GOD is the moment your life begins to make a difference.
4. Whatever you do, LIVE LOUDLY! LIVE BOLDLY! You have one life. Don’t let anyone live it for you.
5. There is a GRACE on your life that makes you who you are & guarantees your success. DON’T SHRINK! SHINE!
GIVE IT TIME:
1. I know you are excited about meeting him/her and you want to do everything at the same time, please give it some time, you might just discover what you never knew.
2. You have apologized to them yet they still can't come full circle with you, give them some time to heal . Everything will be fine after a while.
3. You have prayed and believed God, relax and give it some time. God will work things out for you.
4. Never say Never. Time has a way of making sworn enemies become good time friends again.
5. You might not be living your dreams yet; it's only a matter of time, you will get there like they did too. Yours will even be bigger and more beautiful.
6. Don't react swiftly to that offense. Give it time, you might hurt a relationship that would have blessed you.
7. You are not in competition with anyone. Today's Labour will soon become Tomorrow's Favour. Give it a little time!
8. They are treating you like you don't matter. Relax, Focus on your Assignment and give it time,they will NEED you real soon.
GIVE IT TIME:
1. I know you are excited about meeting him/her and you want to do everything at the same time, please give it some time, you might just discover what you never knew.
2. You have apologized to them yet they still can't come full circle with you, give them some time to heal . Everything will be fine after a while.
3. You have prayed and believed God, relax and give it some time. God will work things out for you.
4. Never say Never. Time has a way of making sworn enemies become good time friends again.
5. You might not be living your dreams yet; it's only a matter of time, you will get there like they did too. Yours will even be bigger and more beautiful.
6. Don't react swiftly to that offense. Give it time, you might hurt a relationship that would have blessed you.
7. You are not in competition with anyone. Today's Labour will soon become Tomorrow's Favour. Give it a little time!
8. They are treating you like you don't matter. Relax, Focus on your Assignment and give it time,they will NEED you real soon.
When I started working in the bank, my parents lived in Alakuko, so I used to commute from home every day.
I would wake up as early as 3am, leave the house before 5am, and sometimes get home by 12am if there was traffic…
This particular day, one of my colleagues cooked beans… if you’re a banker, you’ll understand that kind of “beans” 😂 the type that everybody in the branch must eat from.
It was a shortage of 500k, so we had to rally around because our BOM insisted the money must be cleared. That kept me very late at work, and I couldn’t travel back to Alakuko that night.
I took a bus to Obalende, my plan was to look for a church to sleep in… one thing my mum always told us is that if we are stranded, we should look for a church for shelter.
I walked around Obalende and luckily, I saw a white garment church (C&S). I entered and greeted them, but the pastor said they had received a message earlier in the week not to accept any stranger into the church.
I left…
Then I saw a small bus outside the church, so I entered and sat there because at that point, I didn’t know what else to do. I was even thinking of getting a hotel when a boy came out… he looked about 23–25. He was the son of the woman from the church. He came outside and told me to sneak in.
He and his mum took me to a room called ile abo and offered me a net and a mat.
That was how I slept there… although I couldn’t sleep till daybreak because I was scared 😔
In the morning, he had already gotten me a new toothbrush. I also got a new dress and changed into it.
We exchanged numbers and became very close. He was like a brother to me…
That same month, when I got my salary, I bought 5 white garment materials for them.
One day, I went to work as usual, and one of my customers mentioned he was looking for a receptionist. I asked for the pay and told him I had a brother who just graduated. He gave me his email address and asked him to send him an email and mention my name.
I couldn’t even wait till after work…
I called him during my break. He prepared his CV and sent it immediately.
He went for the interview a week later and got the job… the pay was 180k for a start
That same customer later relocated to the USA in 2024, but before he left, he referred him for an accountant role in one of the big companies on the island. He said my brother was a great guy and he could vouch for him.
Today, he’s doing so well for himself, taking care of his family… they no longer live in church anymore 🥹
When I was travelling, he sent me 300k as his own support. There’s no week we don’t FaceTime…
We spoke last night when he asked if he should relocate to Germany or the UK for his master’s… he got admission in both countries. I know he’s going to do great things.
Anyways, that call was the reason I remembered this story… and I thought to share ❤️
You really never know how far a small act of kindness can go ❤️
I'm not sure where people get the impression that manufactured insecurity in Nigeria is "sabotaging" Tinubu’s government. Did Tinubu tell you that a safe and secure Nigeria is part of his agenda?
Someone that is a stage actor placed in that seat by his US benefactors to be part of their Kabuki dance as they destroy whatever is left of Nigerian sovereignty?
I think people need to consult history and read about Mobutu Sese Seko. DRC was one of the worst governed, most unsafe, least stable countries in the world under him and the CIA backed him for 32 years. It's not the CIA's business whether its puppet governs a country well or not - in fact the worse its puppet governs, the better for its interests.
The most important thing you need to understand about US foreign policy as an African is that your life isn't just unimportant, but not even a factor at all. "Africa" according to the white people who rule the world, is not a place where 1.4 billion people live, but a stretch of resource-rich land where resources are to be extracted cheaply. Whatever happens to you in the process of that extraction is not the US government's problem, and you need to understand that.
Back when the primary resource extracted from Nigeria was oil, the manufactured insecurity centred around oil installations, and all it did was keep the surrounding areas poor and unsafe, so that at no point was there ever a serious conversation about the effects of oil extraction on those communities. Eventually the American and European oil extraction entities realised that offshore was the real game and they diverted altogether from onshore extraction. Now their offshore operations have little or no interaction with Nigeria, and they are protected by American and Israeli security. Your "navy" and "NIMASA" are basically controlled by Israeli contractors, FYI.
Now that attention has shifted to solid minerals in the middle belt and North, the manufactured violence has mysteriously exploded there. Its only purpose is to depopulate the region and make it available for mining - Sen Riley Moore's recent 'recommendation' explicitly mentioned "cooperation with US mining interests" as a precondition for peace in case you've forgotten.
Tinubu's role is to watch it happen, release a mealy mouthed statement, and do nothing. That's why they put him there. I know it might be hard for you to process, but to understand how the world works, you need to understand that the lives of 230 million Nigerians were never a factor in the decision to impose a puppet president from Washington DC. As far as the decision makers are concerned, this land that contains your ancestors and your childhood memories and everything you hold dear and precious, is just an entry on a spreadsheet titled "Rare Earth Mineral Locations."
They see your entire continent and its 1.4 billion inhabitants the way you see a farm you bought that has anthills on it. Your interest is in what you can get from the soil, not with the billions of ants who call that place home. Unlike during direct colonialism, you can't just roll in the bulldozer and destroy the anthills, so you find some of the ants who are willing to work for you, and you get them to destroy their own anthills.
You deploy an orange beret "Revolution Now" ant leader to misdirect and mislead any ants that want to organise a resistance against you. You deploy "civil society" ants to convince the 1.4 billion ants that what they need is "democracy" instead of organised resistance and obtaining the industrial means to resist. You deploy electoral candidate ants to waste ant resources and destroy, institutions and subvert ant society. You deploy religious ant leaders to teach the ants to pray for individual salvation instead of carry out group resistance. And then you give the bulldozer to Boko Haram/JNIM/ISWAP/RSF ants to physically destroy the anthills, so the ants blame themselves for their own destruction.
Then the farm is yours.
In 1986, the American Medical Association published an article titled "The Physical Death of Jesus Christ". It details the entire process of Jesus' trial to His death on the cross.
In Luke 22, before Jesus is arrested, it is written that He was in great distress & sweating blood. Although rare, it is recognized as Hematidrosis, a condition caused by high levels of stress.
At the time, the crucifixion was considered the worst death for the worst of criminals. But this is not all Jesus faced. He endured whipping so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. He was beaten so horribly that His face was torn & His beard ripped.
A crown of thorns, 2-3 inches long cut deeply into His scalp. The leather whip used to flog Him had tiny iron balls & sharp bones. The balls caused internal injuries while the sharp bones ripped open His flesh. His skeletal muscles, veins, & bowels are exposed, causing major blood loss. Most men do not survive this kind of torture. After Jesus was severely flogged, He was forced to carry His cross while people mocked & spat on Him.
Crucifixion was a process meant to instill excruciating pain, creating a slow & agonizing death. Nails as long as 8 inches were driven into Jesus' wrists & feet. The Roman soldiers knew the tendons in the wrists would tear & break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support Himself to breathe. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the courage...Jesus endured this reality for 3 hours!
The Gospel of John writes that after Jesus' death, a Roman soldier pierced His side with a spear & blood & water came out. Scientists explain that from hypovolemic shock, the rapid heart rate causes fluid to gather in the sack around the lungs & heart. The accumulation of fluid in the membrane around the heart is called a Pericardial effusion & the lungs is called a pleural effusion.
To the world, Christianity is as foolish as it can get. They believe it's for the weak. But when you are confronted by the reality of the cross, it's clearly not a pretty sight. It is brutal & horrific.
This is the weight Jesus carried. The weight of the sins of the world, all so that we can live. God's wrath is fully satisfied in Jesus. This is what it took. Repent & believe! Jesus is “God among us” in the flesh. Jesus is our Savior. Jesus loves you so much that He went through this spiritual and physical punishment for your sins and mine.
Jesus is the LORD, Almighty God, Everlasting Father.
Thank You, Jesus.
Like everything in life, success is a game of numbers. The more you try, the more your chances increase.
So apply for those jobs, launch those projects, send that partnership email, apply for those funding and fill those accelerators forms.
You’re already at 0, it’s either a YES ( +1), or a No (back to 0)
So I watched "The Passion of the Christ" last night. And I am on my back deck tonight thinking.
Think about this.
In the movie, they have beaten him to near death and when they first take him to his cross, Jesus clings to it, and the thief chastised him for embracing his own cross. Mocking him for doing so.
Then Christ gave all he had to carry that cross which weighed as much as him.. They beat him while he did. It came to the point that his physical body couldn't carry it any longer, so a man was ordered to carry it with him. Yet Christ still clung to the cross.
Do you know why?
Because he knew at the other end of that short journey was OUR freedom. Not his.... OURS..... with every single step, with every drop of blood, with every single tear, he knew he was one moment closer to being at the right hand of the Father and his mission complete to free us all.
The man embraced the cross. Begged God to forgive the men nailing him to it. Begged God to forgive those that had beaten him with whips and canes and hammered a crown of thorns on his head.
He embraced it all.... for US......
And now, when times get hard and life gets even slightly uncomfortable, we claim that "God isn't listening and won't take my burden" as if we even know what a real burden is...
How many times would we cling to the proverbial cross for another and suffer as he did to free them from the pain? Would we ever do it at all? Maybe for our own child? Maybe?
As you lay down tonight, pray a prayer of thanks. Not for the normal things. Not tonight. Tonight, pray a special prayer of thanks that he held on to that cross and carried it as far as his mortal body would allow... because that took more dedication than any of us could give for anyone.
By the time you wake up in the morning, he will have risen, 2000 years ago. He will have beat death. 2000 years ago, all the sin you and I will ever commit was paid for because he clung to that cross like it was a lifeline.... not for him... But for you and me.
3 Habits that will immediately make you a better Data Analyst:
1. Question everything
The hallmark of wisdom is realising how much you don’t know. Questions will help you understand and define problems. And look for answers backed by facts and evidence.
2. Document everything
Thoughts and ideas can be fleeting. Our memories of events can be unreliable. Keeping records of what you think and do will help you become a pro at gathering data and noticing trends.
3. Practice everything
Practicing a skill over and over again actually changes your brain structure. To improve at anything, you need to practice frequently, and get lots of feedback so you practice correctly.
Lmaoo I can relate.
I had the only game on mine uninstalled after months of not playing it since I installed it last year.
You just realize some things do not freak you anymore.
Adulthood ya weyrey gan.
All my life, I've dreamed of getting a gaming laptop.
Over a year ago I got one.
Zephyrus M16.
An absolute beast with core 19, rtx 3070 and 32gb of ram.
It runs God of war and any new game flawlessly with decent framerate.
I never play any game on the system for the past 4 months.
Not once in this year and I use the system regularly.
Adulthood mad gan.
Data Nerds! I just launched a free course on "SQL for Data Engineering!"
This is the course I wish I had when I stopped asking “how do I query this?” and started asking “how do I build this?” 🏗
This YouTube video has over 14 hours of content and walks through building a real data warehouse and production-ready SQL pipeline from scratch.
We go far beyond SELECT statements:
1️⃣ Production SQL — DDL, DML, CTEs, subqueries, window functions, and advanced query patterns
2️⃣ Data Modeling — Designing star schemas and analytics-ready warehouse tables
3️⃣ Data Warehousing — Structuring fact and dimension tables properly
4️⃣ End-to-End Pipelines — Transforming raw data into clean, production-ready outputs
5️⃣ Engineering Workflow — Using Terminal, DuckDB, VS Code, and Git
And because the best way to learn is to build, we complete two real projects:
📊 Project #1 — Exploratory Data Analysis on a live warehouse dataset
🏗 Project #2 — Build a full SQL-based data pipeline
Huge thank you to the team that made this possible:
Kelly Adams - Course Producer
Rikki Singh - Content Developer
Brannon Linder - Video Editor
P.S. If you’re wondering how this compares to my SQL for Data Analytics course:
That course focuses on querying data to answer business questions.
This one focuses on modeling data, designing warehouse schemas, writing production-grade SQL, and building end-to-end pipelines using the Terminal and Git.
🧑💻 Analytics is about extracting insights.
🧑🔧 Engineering is about building the systems that make those insights possible.
Neither course is a prerequisite, but they prepare you for different roles.