Olonitola Olatokunbo
There is something beautiful about the New Year; it is the fresh start it offers. A new slate is given to write on, a new chapter is opened. A blank card is given, and it’s like the failure of last year never happened. The New Year is a gift to be treasured. You have been given a new book to write, and it is the story of your own life; hence write carefully and intentionally.
Just imagine what is waiting to unfold each day of the year…a whole 365 days of adventures with lovely memories waiting to be built, books waiting to be written, movies to be acted, history is waiting to be made. It is an opportunity to correct the mistakes we made in the last year; an opportunity to get things right.
4 things to overcome this year
1. Procrastination:
He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. Ecc11:4
Procrastination is the enemy and thief of time… you begin to think January is too early to start anything, you keep thinking you have more months to go but before you know it, it’s already December and you didn’t achieve anything. I see people postpone so many thing till the end of the year, they usually think they have many months to plan, but then it’s December and they didn’t plan, then they start rushing the planning; they get stressed and it ends in a flop.
So what should you do to overcome this: start early! Anything you have to do this year, start early. If you have to fix date for anything, try the first quarter of the year except in extreme condition should you put to the end of the year. Like our nursery rhyme says “tick says the clock, tick tick, what you have to do, do quick” starting early helps you achieve more and January is not too early to do it
2. Discouragement:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way.” – Isaiah 43:18-19.
The failures of past years can cause emotional hindrance to act in the New Year. You begin to have lots of doubt to what the New Year holds, you wonder if this year would not turn out like the last, you actually thought you will get married last year, you thought you will write that book, start that business, but it didn’t happen. But just because it didn’t happen last year, doesn’t mean it can’t happen this year.
So receive this year as an opportunity to start like last year never happened. Encourage yourself and do it better. Remind yourself of people that got it right eventually after many failures. Failure is not the final bus stop; it only becomes final if you stop trying. There is always light after the tunnel, therefore, be encouraged.
“Fall seven times. Stand up eight.” — Japanese Proverb
3. Toxic People
“You’ll never reach your peak until you surround yourself with the right people.” –forbes.com
You need to be deliberate about your associations this year. You may not be able to choose your family but you can definitely choose your friends. You are who you surround yourself with. They can either make you, help you achieve your set target or mar you, and discourage you from meeting your targets.
If you have friends who are not amounting to anything, they will want you to be like them. But if you move with people who are doing awesome things, they will help you get started and encourage you to do more.
Run away from toxic people, they pollute you and waste your energy on wrong things. If you have to do anything better this year, you need to check your friendships once again.
4. Complacency
This is a feeling of self-achievement, a certain sense of security and comfort with the status quo, a smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one’s achievements.
You may have achieved much last year, you may have gotten promoted or move to your new house or done something great in the past year, you need to overcome this feeling to stay where you are. You have reached your comfort zone but you need to move out. Don’t camp round your achievements of last year… strive to get better. There is much to achieve.
Complacency can also come as a result of routine work. Even if your work is routine driven, break out of it… Do something different, the same job but in a different way. Introduce new approaches; make it fun, find ways to add color to it.
As each year approaches, you grow older; you also tend towards rustiness if you don’t deliberately improve on yourself.
Get more certifications, study more, learn a new skill, embrace creativity, do extracurricular activities, read books, attend seminars, strive to be a better you.
It will be a great year for us
Keep winning!
