One year I thanked God for the new year and I heard clearly that you have just been existing not living.

    Existence is breathing in and breathing out—doing the same things that animals do. Living, on the other hand, is when someone thanks God for the impact of your life on his/her life. It involves leaving every person or place better than you met them or it.

    That moment transformed me. That started a process of creating a new me in that new year.

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    The new year is only a change of date for you if there is no change of attitude, plans, structures, strategies, and systems. Your church leadership declaration and the loud amen you shouted during the crossover night will not change you until you do some basic things.

    There are principles that govern life.

    There is the law of cause and effect—Things don’t just happen. If you know what principles a man has applied to get a result, apply the principles under the same conditions and you will get the same results.

    I noticed that the very rich, successful, and influential have opened their businesses, meanwhile the church people are still praying or at home.

    I left my home by 6 a.m. to give a talk at United Bank for Africa, UBA, opposite the Warri market from Ughelli. I got there before 7 a.m. and delivered the lecture and declared the year open for business before 8 a.m.

    We got to the National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers, NUPENG, and was informed by the vice chairman that he resumed work before 7 a.m.

    For the new year to make a new you, you have to do the following:

    • Do a KPI Review of last year.

    KPI is an acronym for key performance indicator. These are measurable and immeasurable indicators of performance set by an organization. They could be indicators such as turnover, returns on investment, punctuality, customer satisfaction, etc.

    You must see where you excelled and find out what was responsible for the performance. You will need to improve on them for better results.

    Also, you have to find out areas where you did not do well. An example is debt recovery in the department of high risk assets. Find out why you did not do well and device solutions to the problem.

    • You must roll over the projects and objectives of the previous year.

    The relevant objectives and projects of the previous year that was not completed should be rolled over. After praying and meditating, write down plans and strategies to actualize them.

    • Write down new plans for the new year.

    Categorize them into immediate, short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. Write down a list of the kind of people you need to meet to give you a leverage to actualize your goals. Also pray for the places and platforms you need to achieve these goals.

    The law of attraction is such that as you write these things down and pronounce them everyday to yourself and a good and trustworthy friend, you will notice that things will start falling into place around you.

    You are created in the image and likeness of God, you have the mind of Christ, the Spirit of God bears witness with your spirit. This means that when you write down your plans, God bears witness. If you don’t write your vision, your year is like a vacant plot of land, the devil and others, who don’t have your interest at heart, can plant weeds and dump refuse in your year.

    According to Sooraj Singh, a speaker and a writer, writing down your plans has the following benefits:

    • It gives you a road map to follow.
    • You have a reason to start your day.
    • It keeps you on track.
    • It makes it easy to measure your progress.
    • It compels you to put in more efforts
    • You don’t get messed up, you are organised.
    • Written dreams are much easier to achieve.

    NOTE: Start very early; if possible, these should be done in the first week of the year.

    I usually prepare for the new year from December of the previous year. I have been printing books that I will sell this year since last year.

    Don’t get discouraged by the first obstacles you experience.

    Lucky Dube said that “people have always had trouble since the Pope was an altar boy“.

    Continue pushing on. Make Make sure you make a list of your daily responsibilities and tick each one you achieve. Make changes if need be; plans are not necessarily meant to be rigid. There are some expired attitudes, persons and places you must avoid this new year.