Who are you, and what do you do?
My name is Myles McKee-Osibodu. I’m a recent graduate of the University of Montana (Spring 2019) where I double-majored in Business Administration – Marketing (BS) and Communication Studies (BA), was a full-scholarship student-athlete (football – 2x team captain), served as the Vice President of UM’s chapter of the American Marketing Association, was a TRIO Scholar and was involved in various other community and campus groups and organizations. While at UM, I also interned for UM Athletics’ Marketing team which later turned into a paid position working in the Sports Information department (publicity, essentially) of UM Athletics.
After moving back home to southern California, I’ve been fortunate enough to have landed a position working for my dream employer, the Los Angeles Lakers. I work in Media Relations for the Lakers where, in the simplest of terms, we essentially act as the bridge between the media and the team and organization itself.
What is one habit of yours that helps you be productive?
For me, it’s really not much more than keeping myself accountable. I’ve got goals and I know what I’ve got to do to turn those goals into a reality. Fortunately, through my experiences in athletic growing up, accountability has always been something that’s been drilled into me since as far back as I can remember so it hasn’t been too tough to apply the same mentality and discipline into my life now. When it comes down to it though, it’s really just a matter of how bad you want to reach your goals. If you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to make it happen. It doesn’t matter if you’re feeling tired or you’re feeling unfoccused or whatever other excuse you want to make in the moment; if you want it bad enough, you’ll make it happen. You’ll find a way. As far as I see it, productivity just comes down to the will of the individual.
What is your morning routine and how does it help you get the most out of your day?
100 push ups every morning. The book, “Make Your Bed” by (Navy) Admiral William H. McRaven presents the hypothesis that by completing a task as simple as making your bed every single morning, an individual can cause a ripple effect that will carry into each of the other aspects of their life. By making your bed first thing in the morning, you start your day off with a realistic, productive challenge that helps to set the tone for the rest of your day. No matter how small or insignificant that task may seem to be, it sets a precedent that will follow you through the rest of your day and in turn, by making this a daily practice, the rest of your life. As an athlete (washed-up), I took this idea and put my own little spin on it, turning it into a physical challenge. It doesn’t matter how many sets I break it up into, it doesn’t matter how long it takes me to get them done, it doesn’t even matter what kind of reps you break the hundred into, but I don’t allow myself to leave my front door in the morning until I’ve completed at least 100 push ups each morning.
In the last few years, what lifestyle, habit or behavior change has had the biggest positive impact on your life?
Find an escape/release. Whether it’s meditating, reading, exercising, listening to music, or whatever else you might have in mind, it’s crucial for your own mental stability to be able to find a way to remove yourself from whatever is going on in your hectic day-to-day life and take some time for yourself to just chill the hell out. The world we live in is so hectic and demanding that you’ll probably drive yourself to edge of madness if you don’t have some sort of way to escape it all and just clear your mind, even if it’s just for fifteen minutes. Be mindful. Be present. Be “in your own world”. Your mindset is everything and having a way to press the restart button on everything that’s stressing you out can prove to be very impactful.
When you feel unfocused, what do you do?
I make lists. If I’m feeling overwhelmed or unfocused, I try to make a list of everything that I need to or want to get done just to organize and prioritize my thoughts. Taking the time to actually write what needs to get done and in what order helps because it makes things tangible. I don’t know what it is, but if I know I’ve got a million things to do before the end of the week, writing it down and having it physically in my hands, makes everything seem so much more manageable. Not to mention the weirdly satisfying feeling of physically marking something off of your list.
What is one piece of software or a web service that you get immense value out of? How do you use it?
There’s this new app called Instagram that I’ve been using quite a bit recently. I’m not sure if it’s really picked up much steam in terms of popularity yet but I think it provides immense value through it’s ability to allow me to connect with family overseas, send memes to the homies and slide in the occasional DM.
What is the one book you recommend most often and why?
‘How to Win Friends and Influence People‘ by Dale Carnagie
Easy read with extremely valuable insights. This isn’t a book that everybody needs to read and it even says so in the first few pages, but if you are one of the people that needs to read it… you really need to read it. It’s essentially just a book about human relations and how to deal with people in ways that will not only make them like you, but in ways that will also influence them to adapt your way of thinking. Every person that aspires to be in a position of leadership should give it a read (and a re-read) whether or not they already posses the skills the book aims to teach.
What advice would you give a smart and ambitious recent college graduate? What advice should they ignore?
My advice:
It’s okay not to have your whole life figured out by the time graduation rolls around. While it’s always nice to have a game plan for what’s to come next, sometimes leaving your options open can be your greatest asset. It’s important to recognize your self-worth and be selective with the opportunities that come across your path. I turned down more than a handful of job offers before accepting the gig I’m in now. It’s easy to get excited about the first bite you get on the river, but it’s often not going to be the biggest fish you catch.
At the same time, if you do end up playing the long game and waiting for the right opportunity to come along, it’s crucial that you keep yourself busy and productive in the process. The last thing you want is to finally earn your college degree and then trap yourself in a lazy, stagnant, going-nowhere-fast state of mind stuck at your parents’ house, sleeping on the couch. When I first got back to California, even though I had full-time job offers in my back pocket, I decided to take on three different side-gigs bussing tables, doing manual labor and delivering Thai food. Obviously, none of these jobs were in either of my fields of study, but it was important for me to start grinding as soon as I got back home, not only to pay the bills, but I also wanted to make sure I kept myself in a productive and hustling head-space while I bought myself time to search for the right career move.
Advice to ignore:
Most of it. Don’t take advice from anybody you wouldn’t go out of your way to seek advice from. Everybody is going to want to tell you what you should do and how you should do it, but if you don’t aspire to be like that person or have any sense of elevated respect for their opinion, then you should probably take their advice with a grain of salt. Everybody’s got a different path in life and what might the right move for me, might be a terrible mistake for you. ‘Advice’ is just somebody’s opinion repackaged so that it seems like they know what they’re talking about.
What is your favorite quote, one you aim to live by?
“Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do, and then, as the days go gliding away, you will find yourself unconsciously seizing upon the opportunities that are required for the fulfillment of your desire… Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual… Thought is supreme. Preserve the right mental attitude; the attitude of courage, frankness, and good cheer. To think rightly is to create. All things come through desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on which our hearts are fixed. Carry your chin in and the crown of your head high. We are gods in the chrysalis.”
-Dale Carnegie
Connect
Feel free to hit my DM.
@myles_olamijulo