Happy New Year! How was last year? How might this year be? Great in hopes and aspirations. And indeed, perhaps. That’s the crux, matching intentions with actions. In creed and deed. Last year, you had so many lofty ideas by the minute, hour, day, week and month. How many did you act upon; how many left the drawing board, and how many did you even attempt a plan on? Perhaps 99% of those “great” ideas did not go beyond the figment of your imagination.
What the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve, Brother Conrad admonishes. You affirmed, but never took action? Sow an action – reap a seed; Sow a seed – reap a habit; Sow a habit – reap a destiny, Prof. Ilogu challenges.
But did you really practice enough to prove your theories? Keep those complaints behind you and move on spiritedly. A loser is one who refuses to try again.
You may see that opportunity as too small and insignificant; the other overwhelming and out of reach. But remember that between the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing.
According to a counsel from George Muller, a lame foot is still a foot. He who comes slowly, nevertheless comes. So, get on the move!
When you visualize, conceptualize and plan, you should make enough efforts to realize them. The man who forms the habit of beginning without finishing has simply formed the habit of failure.
Those leftover plans can still be salvaged, primed into shape and pursued to fulfillment.
Follow-up: this requires courage and determination. Spare that unedifying pleasure, idle talk, purposeless journey. Do not cower to that obstacle and inconveniencing challenge. Success often comes in the guise of hard work. “The bitter must come before the sweet; and that also will make the sweet the sweeter,” enthused John Buyan in Pilgrims Progress.
Mind your relationship with that neighbour, relative, friend, colleague, or chance acquaintance. Be kind to people you meet on your way upwards, because you may meet them on your way downwards. This sounds trite but true.
Reputation is like capital – the more you have, the easier it is to increase it. And as the legendary Bob Marley said, “it’s good to think of yourself and good of others.” Treat others as you would wish to be treated. The best friends are not always the most important people. That miraculous or lucky break might just come from the most unlikely tool in God’s hand.
You may be complaining about the worsening economic circumstances. Yet, not a few are still marching on in the same situation. Draw inspiration from Andrew Carnegie, who posited: “Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.” So, do not let your environment set you adrift.
Moreso, Felix Eleke admonishes you not to wait until conditions are perfect; that conditions are never perfect in an imperfect world such as we live in. Eleke persists: have a goal, see what steps you must take to attain it, and in which order. Then go ahead, plan, as a good general does not go to war without one.
Anchor your ambitions, hopes and aspirations somewhere. Give this a thought – Man’s goings are of the Lord; how can a man understand his own way if he knows not God? See, know, it is He who creates a way where there seems to be none. You need to be led because to be led by the spirit is a living and real fact in the lives of all who have reached a certain stage of spiritual development. Elder John Kalu Oze teaches – “Oh! Lord lead us in your ways, not only in the ways of arts, science and literature.”
“If there is one thing that is common to all human beings, I believe it is the determination to live and to be happy. This is our paramount goal,” Dr. Maxwell Maltz affirms. Always strive to impact this on humanity in all that you think, say or do. Think about your “neighbour” always. Brother Mandus says your presence, thinking and nature always affect the people around you.
The unexamined life is not worth living, Socrates stated. And Patricia Moore reminds you that the things you do, the people you meet, the opportunities you grasp, all help in your search for whatever it is you want out of life. Therefore, tread carefully but courageously. Always get your soul in tune with God before the concert of the day begins.
I write not of New Year resolutions. In fact, may all your troubles last as long as your New Year resolutions. Happy New Year!
.Oze is an executive at Boucles Africa, Lagos, Nigeria
