2024 is gone and we are starting 2025. How time flies! There was a time when time stood still, not any longer. Even with restrictions and the new normal, time seems to be flying through the window and many are realizing too late that they are leaving many things undone. Time waits for no one, so what you need to do, do it now! Our time is ripe with challenges and challenges are pregnant with opportunities. 

The first step for most people should be waking up and deciding to change. Without that, nothing will work. For Jim Bagnall, “The most profound choice in life is to either accept things as they exist or to accept the responsibility for changing them.” Once this decision is made, then we should develop realistic goals. One’s goal should be simple to start with. That it is simple does not mean it cannot be challenging. A goal that will be implementable and successful must be doable. We cannot leave our mission for others to execute. If it is important to us, then we must be involved in it and take ownership of it, for instance, opening a shop. You must have the money to rent the shop, to equip it, but much more than anything, you must be available to man it or supervise the people you employ to man it, otherwise you will wake up one day and the whole enterprise would have run down.

Whatever the plan that we have and are executing, there must be constant review, even when it seems things are succeeding. Lack of periodic review is the bane of many establishments. Personnel must be evaluated periodically as well as the services being rendered. Need assessment is also important as this will highlight whether the establishment will remain relevant for much longer or for a short while.

Times are hard and things may get even tougher, so one must be purposeful about one’s future. You must create your own desirable future otherwise you will work to help others realize their goals. As the current indices show, the government cannot be counted upon for much, and with everyone struggling, you must start your own race before people can cheer you on. As the Dutch proverbs says, “The seeds of the day are best planted in the first hour.” January aptly means the first month, but from the root of the word, it is the door to the year, and everyone has the key to open it for better experience or to lock it and gloat over the long gone past.

A better future is possible, but we must create it for ourselves. While a good start may not necessarily translate into success, but it is a good indication of intent and the likelihood of success. The future of our dream is in our hands. This applies to all aspects of life, be it economically, politically, and otherwise.

We cannot continue to dream about a better future, we must wake up and create it. You are your own boss, so get up and run the company. No wonder the slogan is On-Your-Own – OYO. According to Virgil, “Fortune sides with him who dares.” No wonder the Legend of Golf, Gary Player says that “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” Whatever 2025 brings, we are up to it because God is with us, He is our Emmanuel. He is the source of our hope and that is why we know we can face the future with confidence, because the one who knows and owns the future is our director and guide.

2024 was for many the year that was not, it came and went like that. 2025 came and many are still looking for what they did. 2025 must not end the same way, for that not to happen, we must change things now and start January on a strong and solid footing, and hope and work for the best, because nothing is impossible to a willing heart and as Dan Rather, a TV personality once said “About yesterday, no tears. About tomorrow, no fear.”