If you don’t make all of these hard decisions in the remaining 38 days of this year, and you just coast into 2023, God forbid that you end the year the same way you ended 2022. God forbid. I am inspired to wake up someone today. Wake up, wake up, wake up, and create a plan, a SMART one. You know what SMART means, make it Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based.
Recently, I was speaking to a close friend. He was being considered for an upper six-digit salary job in the US. You can’t ignore his CV. A solid professional with years of world class experience. Here is the plain truth: He was not lucky. He didn’t sow any seed (seed sowing is good). He only prepared himself. Do you know that it’s 38 days to 2023? Have you started preparing for the New Year? What direction will your life follow in 2023? What is God’s purpose for your life in the New Year? Every serious organisation plans out its new year in the previous year. To fail to prepare is not just to prepare to fail. It is also to prepare to retrogress. The world is getting more difficult to live in. Competition for everything is at an all time high. At your present level, what will you do to scale up to another level? Which certificate will you acquire to become more competitive for employers? Which exams should you write to make it impossible for employers to ignore you?
You have been giving Satan attention for years, and that is why he is giving you directions. He doesn’t deserve so much credit. This is the time to map out a plan for the coming year as led by God. And for some of us, we really need to find a coach or a mentor who will push us into success. We just cannot push our vehicles to a start. Some of you are in wrong churches where your destinies have been tied down for years, and to really succeed in the coming year, you need to get out of that church to another church where you will be given the enabling environment to succeed in life. 2023 will not respond to cries and tears and grumbles and complaints. If you don’t wake up to create a plan for your desired future, the status quo would remain. And for some of us, we think our problem has to do with finance. Everybody needs finance at different levels.
Money is always a scarce resource at different levels. But the sad commentary here is this: Many of us don’t even know where we are going. We are only praying and fasting and sowing seeds for a magic to happen. What is the direction? Which exams do people write in your profession that makes them a hot cake in your industry? Which environment should you be in? If you don’t make all of these hard decisions in the remaining 38 days of this year, and you just coast into 2023, God forbid that you end the year the same way you ended 2022. God forbid. I am inspired to wake up someone today. Wake up, wake up, wake up, and create a plan, a SMART one. You know what SMART means, make it Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based.
2023 is around the corner. A lot of us are already late. Our societies, particularly the African society, programme people to be late in life. Our society grounds people, except by a sheer amount of effort and self-determination. But right in the same environment, many other people have overcome the system to succeed. The onus is on you to deploy every sense of responsibility, plus the grace of God, to overcome delays.
For example, I want to get a job as a systems analyst by the end of 2023 that will pay me $50,000 per annum, up from my present $20,000 per annum. This kind of plan is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based. Not, I want to become great in 2023. Great in what? How? When? By sowing seeds or by praying for 50 hours? I am going to start our leadership mentorship school in 2023 to help as many people as possible to scale up and fulfil their destinies as designed by God.
You Must Also Kill Lateness In 2023
You will never catch me going late to appointments. I hate lateness with a passion. Whether virtually or physically, I would be the first to arrive at every meeting. But I didn’t start like that. It was a Jewish CEO of a company in South Africa, who, many years ago, helped me to polish up that skill. I will never forget how he lambasted me for coming late to his meeting, despite the fact that I wasn’t responsible for the lateness. He told me clearly, “nobody has time for a late comer. If you want men to respect you, take their time very seriously”. I was so angry, ‘but I wasn’t responsible for coming late’, I said in my heart. There was heavy traffic on the highway. Still, he refused to listen to my excuses. I stood before him, feeling so ashamed of myself. That day, I learnt that excuses don’t compensate for the consequences of lateness. I lost the opportunity he promised to give me. And I made up my mind that day never to go late to any event or any meeting in my life again.
The next 29 days of this year need to be invested in a very judicious effort of self-audit. Where am I? Where should I be in the will of God? What do I need to get there? For some of us, all we need is to change our environment. Many of us are in bad churches where we’ve been conditioned to see the devil as the controller of our lives. Some of us need to leave our cities or countries. Some of us need to change our circle of friends.
2023 is around the corner. A lot of us are already late. Our societies, particularly the African society, programme people to be late in life. Our society grounds people, except by a sheer amount of effort and self-determination. But right in the same environment, many other people have overcome the system to succeed. The onus is on you to deploy every sense of responsibility, plus the grace of God, to overcome delays. You must not be late in life. Most Africans are late risers, if they are risers at all. You must not allow this negative fallout to define you. You must be very proactive, forward looking, and visionary. The world has gone completely hypersonic. Only the smartest get the reward. Not being smart through corruption, but being smart by leveraging the wisdom of God plus your own internal motivation and resilience to ensure you are not a late riser.
There is nothing you’re going through that’s peculiar to you. The next 29 days of this year need to be invested in a very judicious effort of self-audit. Where am I? Where should I be in the will of God? What do I need to get there? For some of us, all we need is to change our environment. Many of us are in bad churches where we’ve been conditioned to see the devil as the controller of our lives. Some of us need to leave our cities or countries. Some of us need to change our circle of friends. They are killing us. Some of us need a new professional certification. These are the gaps that are making us run late. Also, don’t go to places late. Make lateness an anathema to you. It’s a core value of high fliers. Don’t procrastinate. It’s a seed for lateness. Finally, don’t run your race using the clock of your friend. If you start today, and you do your part well and you lean on God’s grace, you will not be late in fulfilling God’s plans for your life. Let me pray for you. May the remaining days of this year usher you into new levels, new depths of wisdom and new scope of directions that will position you for inevitable success in 2023.
Ayo Akerele, a leadership and system development strategist, and minister of the word, writes from Canada and can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com.
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