After a busy holiday season, the new year can shock you if you don’t take time to focus on what you want, and how to arrive at your desired goals. You need to have set clearly your objectives both personally and professionally. Get a head start on January by taking time out to reflect, plan and strategize now! Choose a place and time that allows you to completely unplug and focus on your priorities so you can step into the new year with clarity and confidence. You may have heard or come across of the Six-P Principles: “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.”
The most basic approach, regardless of the goal or desired outcome is Planning. It helps you to have a snapshot of the future into the present, and the respective actions that have to be taken to realistically achieve the set
goals. Will you wait until January to begin planning for your future self? No! Start now! I want to give you a few lines that you may help you in this era that has been affected by Covid-19 and its effects, Ebola, coupled with crippling of the financial systems world-wide.
1. Create an additional income stream: The tough unprecedented times have made us learn the hard way. These will always come un-noticed. Covid-19 expressively showed us that relying solely on one income source is financial suicide, and doesn’t provide security. Apart from your profession, learn and invest in a skill that will earn you an extra penny. For example; teach an online course, hire out your car, put up a grocery stall. These will earn you an extra pay that will per say pay your water bills, electricity bills, foot your transport bills. Avoid relying on one income source.
2. Live purposefully this 2023. So many young men and women have always failed in life because of lack of purpose. Quit a life with no purpose. What is going to drive you? What is going to take your attention? You need to be clear about your purpose and what exactly you want to achieve in this 2023. Put your Vision and mission first in everything you attempt to do. Once you are clear about this, the rest will fall in place. You only have one life. Don’t let it pass you by unaware.
3. Take 100% responsibility for where you are in life. The millennial generation in particular is fond of attaching failure to the environment and people around them. If you want to be future ready, take full responsibility for where you are now, and work hard to make a significant shift form your current state.
4. Life and business success is all about a YES and a NO. There is no middle ground in decision making on what paths you have to take. A friend of mine a year ago, thanked me for helping her master the art of Yes or No. You either get the project (YES) or you don’t (NO) So many times situations have costed us for being mediocres. Not knowing what to do, what to say, we end up falling into the middle ground. There are no good returns in mediocrity. Learn to say YES to what is beneficial and NO to what is irrelevant. This will change the game.
5. Avoid the get-rich quick schemes. 3months ago, I boarded a taxi and I came across an old gentleman in his 70s and he was into the gambling game all in the desire to get quick money. In his mind, he invested UGX 1000 and he expected to get UGX 2m out of it. 99.9% chances are he didn’t win. It is a common behavior in the youths today that they want the quick quick money. They however end up losing even the little they have. This 2023, avoid such get-rich quick schemes. Do not invest in a business you have no control over. Avoid gambling, avoid
lotteries – these will throw you to the poverty grave prematurely.
6. Be free from cults. Just simply be 100% empathetically human, always remember to pray and ask God for your guidance, provision, protection and anything you need. The only answered prayer will be the action prayer. Get up in the morning, plan your day, get down to work.
There is no magic in just thinking and building castles in the air. Things get done when you act.
7. Create time and network. Tell me any successful individual, and I will tell you a rich network of healthy relationships s/he is in. Aim to create and meet new people in the fields that you desire to be in. Attend seminars in your niche, actively meet new people every day, attend networking events. The fact still remains, “Your network is your net-worth”
8. Read books. Commit some few minutes on a daily to read and learn something. Knowledge is hidden in reading. Reading will expand your knowledge, will improve your critical thinking and it will as well improve your mental health and clarity on how you see things. We can share successful people’s mindset by reading their literature. Imagine what it would cost you to meet Robert Kiyosaki! You however know him through his “RICH DAD POOR DAD” book.
9. Be intentional with your money. You will be a failure in life if you are not in charge of your finances. Learn to manage your money. Stop this habit of impressing people with your money. You will go broke and no one will come to your rescue. Manage your finances by; Avoiding lifestyle creep, protecting your assets, plan and budget before you spend, and become financially literate by knowing some basics about money.
10. Fix your inner circle. It is the right time now to look through your circle of friends. What drives the kind of friends you have? 90% of your decisions are influenced by your environment. You need an inner circle that discusses business ideas, that thinks about Investments, that is success oriented. 2023 is a year where you don’t need friends who gossip, friends who are lazy. You have no time to waste. You’re growing older and you’ll eventually become what you stay around.
11. Give zero excuses. No matter how valid they are. You might have messed up, failed or even lost everything in life. Yes, accept whatever happened in the previous years and try again this 2023. There might be light at the end of the tunnel. The tragedy is in giving up. Work on your weak points and focus for the better. Excuses will only make today easier but tomorrow harder.
12. Learn how to manage well your time. We always as human beings tend to work hard towards deadlines in all things we do. This is very disastrous in the quest for success. You should discard the behavior of wasting time on things that matter less. Be ruthless with your time. Cancel any gatherings you don’t need to attend. Avoid being present on every function. If it is truly unnecessary, cut it! The truth will remain that “Time is the only thing you cannot get more of” Plan and spend well your 2023 time.
13. Have Financial discipline. To thrive through 2023, employ good finance habits. Keep track of your money, never spend more than you earn. Prioritize paying off your basic needs first, avoid living a luxurious life. Make it a point to save a penny off your earnings. This will help you in hard times that may strike.
14. Do you have a loan facility? Talk to your lenders. Debt can be both a financial and mental burden. A loan can be stressing and it overwhelms you. Talk to your lenders. They are human!
“Professional lenders are always open to discussing your issues and finding at least a short term solution,” These will help you have a clear feasible way of offsetting your obligation with ease. These may include helping you in modification of the loan, like extending the payment terms, lowering the interest rate, or even revise your monthly payments. They can as well help you in refinancing.
15. Seek help from professionals. Always note that things getter when we do them the right way. In business, life and any other aspect, consider talking to an advisor to help take some of the informed decisions. These professionals may be in; – Finance, Management, career, relationships and many more others. These will help you weight off your shoulders when it comes to things like setting goals, saving money and decreasing debt. Many services have actually migrated online, including several in financial services. Get some time off to learn a
online. “While technology has shown its value in a world of social distancing, it can’t replace the human element offered by financial professionals when it comes to the emotional topic of money.”
16. Consistently work hard. There is something that motivational speakers will not tell you. And some of the bitter truths you need to know is; You’ll never have more than what you’ve worked for. Quit complaining and work harder. To the students, there is no magic to awesome grades, you’ve got to struggle with reading, to understand for you to succeed. You can only bring financial equity by working hard.
17. Delegate your weaknesses by looking out to someone better than you. Hard truth is, there will always be someone better than you in aspects that you wish you were successful in, someone who is strong at your weakness. They will do what you can’t more efficiently at a cost. This gives you enough time to build on your strengths. Simply have yourself a team that will work for a common course. This will help you improve yourself this 2023
18. Develop marketing skills for yourself and your business. Marketing will help you scale up profit every time. Having a great product is never enough if you let no one know you. Make sure people know your product, ask for testimonials from those who have used your product. This will help you increase your sales.
19. Focus on Investing in assets. Make it a habit to spend your money in stuff that will bring in more money to you. Stop investing in things that are a leakage to your money cycle. It is prudent that you buy luxuries last. I will not mention what luxury may be because you simply know what income levels you command. The moment you draw a distinct line between needs and wants, you will have mastered the art of knowing where to invest.
20. Trust in God. You may wonder why I brought the God factor last. The point is simple, our God is an orderly God. Whatever you would like to become, whatever you would like to do, you must follow the natural principles that have to be done for you to achieve. God will reward your efforts. Surely, He will not reward laziness. As you pray and believe for miracles, wake up in the morning, plan your day, set your feet out of your house, go and work. God will bless the works of your hands. See Deuteronomy 28:12.
I wish you a blessed festive holiday and a successful 2023!
Joshua Kato (Chartered Accountant): Tax Accountant with Uganda Baati Limited
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