Welcome to the year 2020!
Happy New Year!
If you’re like most of us, the holiday euphoria is slowly fading. Perhaps your “13th month” is well spent! Today is the first day of a great year. We have talked about it, prayed about it, planned towards it and now is the time to start living it.
Do you know that this year can be a first-class year for you if you put in the required effort? I have said it numerous times; “You don’t earn a first-class in your final year.” To achieve that, you start working hard from your first year in school. Like academics, living a productive life takes deliberate actions and commitment.
Back in school, we somehow knew the students who will come out tops at the end of the day; they were usually the first to appear in lecture halls, deliberate about acquiring the needed materials for each course, they took every assignment and test seriously, you could always win a bet that they were in one corner studying every other night. They were not necessarily the most intelligent in class or most talented, but like the American football champion and author, Robert Griffin III said: “Hard work pays off – hard work beats talent any day”. These first-class graduates didn’t only beat the other intelligent students by working hard, they started the work early. We noticed these traits in them right from the first year, so their first-class status at graduation wasn’t really a surprise to us. Some of us who were not as dedicated turned out… well, I’ll leave that to your imagination.
Here is a lesson for this new year; To have a first-class 2020, it’s very important to start now!
Let me share with you four things I think you should do to ensure this year is a fantastic first-class year for you.
- Continually Examine Yourself
The discipline of self-examination helps you to evaluate the current realities in your life in order to put things in perspective. It gives room for honest feedback necessary to aid growth in every area of your life. To properly examine your life, you’ll need to be brutally honest with yourself and schedule regular “Me Times” as well.
- Make Plans, Set Clear Goals and Stick to Them
Warren Buffet said; “An idiot with a plan will always beat a genius without a plan.” It couldn’t be said any better; to have a first-class year, you need a plan. So what’s your plan for 2020? Do you have clearly set goals? Are they SMART goals. What have you put in place to stay committed to achieving them? These and more are questions you have to answer as you start the year.
- Have an Accountability Partner
Statistics from the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania USA show that interpersonal strategies like having an accountability partner increase the chances of keeping New Year resolutions for over six months. So why not apply that logic to your personal goals, and get yourself an accountability partner? Such a partner can be trusted to keep track of your progress, someone who ensures you’re actually doing the things you set out to do.
- Strengthen Your Faith
This is what I call the God Factor. It should be the foundation upon which you build every other thing you do. So you need to evaluate your relationship with God. Is it a strong relationship? Fantastic! Stay connected. If not, it’s important to reconnect because you need God to have a first-class year.
I would like to invite you to join me for 52 weeks of learning and living deliberately in 2020. Every week, I’ll share materials that will help you become the best version of yourself. Simply follow this link for more information.
Remember You Have Only One Life to Live, MAKE IT COUNT.
