Isolated Short-term thinking is deadly for human beings. It dismisses patience and persistence in favour of superficiality. It degrades entrepreneurship to silly speculation. It leads to a world of fast love and quicker divorce - Author Unknown (@least at the moment)

I reminisce on the things the Nigerian government had promised us would happen by the year 2000, then 2010, then 2020, then…what next? If I make the ABSURD ASSUMPTIONS that ‘they’ really wanted these things to happen, where did they go wrong? And where do we go wrong as individuals when we have dreams that don’t come to pass?

There are a couple of things (things like qualities, strengths and virtues) that you need to acquire or gain greater stature in, and writing about them sure helps. I tried getting…materials in direction of the title but I found only one or two very relevant ones. Although I remember a book that I read a little while ago and I’ve been encouraged to read regularly, “Science of getting rich”. One of the major ’suggestions’ of the book is to have a long term objective, and then break it down into pieces that you can easily relate with in your day to day activities - As simple as this sounds, it’s simply remarkable!

So as you live out this year, bear in mind that if you can project (long-term plan) and live your month, week, day and minute (short-term plans) with the big picture in view, you’ll surprise yourself at the end of the year. So, let’s kinda break this down.

1. You need a Vision

Call it goal, target, objective…blah blah blah, but just get something that you hope will happen to you or a height that you want to reach or something you want to acquire. It’s a good idea if the vision is a little higher than something just common that you can accomplish too easily.

2. You need to desire your vision enough and be creative

Let your vision become a real desire. Desire is like an advanced wish; pursuit is it’s proof. Regularly fill your mind with this vision i.e. let it be “set before you” to the point that it subconciously stays in your attention almost without effort. Your passion for your dream needs to be palpable. The more your vision is in your thoughts, the more visible opportunities in that direction will be to you and you will naturally attract instruments that will take you towards your dreams. If your dream doesn’t move you it’s less likely to move anyone else and definitely not God. You also need to be open to ideas that will help your vision come to fruition. You should also get sharper overtime in recognising opportunities to advance or achieve your vision.

3. Design milestones for your vision

This is the most important part of this long-term/short-term gist. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step is a common enough line. So even if you don’t want to start with a step, you need to remind yourself that you’re not just going to leap and ‘get there’. So break down the journey to your vision into reasonable blocks that you can accomplish over time and with reasonable effort. If you do your job properly on this point, you may realise that the vision you have is either too big or you’ll need to ‘get bigger’ to accomplish it - by the way, this is a great advancement in your journey!

4. Discipline yourself

Treat each milestone like if you failed to meet it, the dream will never be more than a dream - it may even become a nightmare . Let your behaviour be produced by the thought of the impact it will have on your dream. e.g. if I don’t meet up with a deadline ‘cos of something not so important my dream’s actualisation will be delayed or affected. You need to regularly educate yourself on the importance of finishing today’s tasks today - this is a vital principle of discipline. It would also help in avoiding competitive living - it will be a plain where you are creative about how to achieve your dreams; one where you are patient and will endure challenges because you have the map and the timelines of your vision. Envy and related vices will be far from you, and you can healthily pursue your dreams till fruition.

5. Measure and Evaluate periodically

It’s important that you don’t wait till the end of the year before you realise you’re only 30% done. The bible says “Examine yourselves…to see if you are still in the faith”. You need to check if you’re still on course for your vision in terms of your velocity (speed and direction). Create periods where you can see how well you are doing and make adjustments. You may need a mentor or supervisor or just someone that you’re accountable to as far as your dream is concerned - remember to ‘make war’ in the multitude of counsel.

6. The God factor

This singular factor is really the most important - in my mind it comes first. Some may tag it “luck” or something more annoying , but the creator of the universe will sure be in a better position to ‘arrange things’ and cause things to work together for you in time and space. As a christian, it’s essentail to let all that proceeds from me to be born out of my relationship and fellowship with my maker, Jesus. On the psychological plain, some people may refer to it all as positive thinking; while positive thinking is not a bad idea at all (there is a latent power in the soul of all men), faith is a yet higher law! Taste and see that the Lord is good. Amen?

Okay, so as we build expectations for the year and more and work towards it I wish everyone their best year yet…thanks for reading.