My top 5 Keep-Doing-Things in 2024 (Say NO to New Year's resolutions!)

Enough with the New Year's resolutions already! Many people start with a whole backlog list of things they want to start or stop doing. On the contrary, I'm starting with my top 5 KEEP DOING, - the Things I'll keep doing also in 2024, just the way I have been doing them in the last year!

1??Help when I can!

More often than not, it costs very little to provide support. I had the incredible opportunity to witness and be personally part of the journey of growth and acceleration not of 1, but of more than 6 health tech startups only last year. I want to particularly mention two founders who not only took all my advisory and coaching to heart, but their whole work speaks about the heart in a way very few other companies do. Kudos to Ndoli Peace, RDN, MGHD and Stephen Ogweno from Lifesten Health , whose work in 2023 reached the impressive 1,365,661 people in Rwanda with their lifestyle-boosting innovation — far surpassing the initial goal of 300,000 people in less than 10 months of acceleration work of their AI-powered mobile app.

2???Inspire others to also make a difference.

Nobody can do it alone, that's clear by now if you're in my network and have worked with me. I had the privilege to create and lead for two and a half years, from 2021 until 2023, one of the most powerful health and tech accelerators in Africa - the HealthTech Hub Africa . With more than 20 organizations and governments as program partners and champions, and having raised both funding and in-kind support, I can proudly say that this has been a journey of inspiring others to invest differently, to partner differently, to choose a different path by becoming entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs, to innovate inside the public health systems of Africa differently, all the while supporting the better access to medicine, quality of care, improved well-being and creating hundreds of new jobs on the continent.?

3?? Be my authentic self even if some don't like it.

History shows that success never comes easy. Competition and jealousy will always be there, even the best of leaders and top performers can't always be liked by everyone. I follow the strong imperative to Thine Own Self Be True as the best antidote to start believing myself a bit too much and losing sight of my true north Why. Being authentic with all your strengths and weaknesses can both shield, fuel and heal from all the good, bad and false stuff people say about you.?It will also serve as a reminder that you really did your best - whatever that means for you, or in the wise words of the icon Michael Jordan: "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." Your authentic self IS your character's superpower!

4??Keep on challenging myself without crashing my values!

And while you can be your authentic self, clearly it takes some work. For me, this means pushing myself to leave my comfort zone. And while some of you who know me well might think that I'm talking about the sickness of the perfectionist, this doesn't need to always be about perfection and pushing the envelope! Challenging yourself can be about learning to let go, allowing room for failure, being truly mindful about the time with your loved ones, admitting to not always have the right answer, and taking care of your mental health first if you're in a bad situation/environment/relationship/organizational culture.

5?? Listen only to mentors whose leadership values I admire.

I believe that we meet certain people for a reason (red thread of destiny) and that each of us has a unique energy blueprint which can't be copied. This blueprint allows us to sense these unique individuals, which end up on our path, often by serendipity to teach us a lesson and share new insights about the world. I admire the energy blueprint of all my mentors. My mentors have always been authentic leaders who have both an incredible human core, full of love and compassion, but also a heavy leadership backpack of good tools and a handful of 'war' scars from negative experiences. I'm grateful to have connected with each and every one of their energies in such a way that it really helped my growth journey. And while I'll not tag them here to preserve their privacy, I'd like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude for them paying it forward to me with their wisdom, stories and openness.?Hopefully, I can also keep doing the same for others connecting with my energy!