Good Lord! It’s hard to believe that today we are ending November and tomorrow we shall be entering the last month of 2013. 

The year has moved so fast that many people are feeling like it has already left them. Weariness has sapped out of them all the energy and vigilance and they have given up on the pursuit of what they had hoped to achieve this year. 

It is understandable; by now if you haven’t already achieved 86% of the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of 2013, you have every reason to worry. But then this worry should become a tool not to threaten you but rather to alert you that you should pull up your socks and work harder to utilize the remaining month to achieve maximum results. Yes, you can turn that fear into a fire.

I am aware this has been a difficult year with skyrocketing commodity prices, the high cost of living biting salary-earners and the unemployed, while many businesses are staggering under the weight of poor sales. But we are still better off than many other people. If you think I am lying, ask the next Zimbabwean how much cash he needs to survive through this month. For us who are living in this part of the world that has a stable environment, we have no reason to give up on our goals till we’ve seen the expected results.

Gone are the days of sitting down and lamenting over our challenges, including those we participated in causing. I compare that to a man complaining that his son is ugly when the entire village knows he looks like his dad! 

So December is not a month to cry over what we failed to achieve from January to November, but rather on what we can and actually intend to achieve in December itself, for it is never too late to achieve our goals.

If you feel like this year is leaving you financially worse than ever, I advise you sit down on your drawing table and make some serious decisions on the things you are going to act on before it’s too late.

One is to think of how to cut down your expenditure. Sometime back I shared with you how I managed to cut down my daily expenditure by half, without changing my lifestyle, so I know it’s not impossible. 

Secondly, you should think of how to increase your income, for instance by discovering how to turn your talents and hobbies into income-generating tools. Even if you are employed, don’t remain satisfied while you are still under the captivity of a monthly salary; you also need some daily income, however small it is, since you spend daily.

Thirdly, make yourself marketable by doing some small things that many other people often ignore. For example do you have a driving permit? I know someone who failed a job interview because he could not tie a tie while his competitor knew how to do so. Do unique things that will attract people, money and other opportunities towards you. When you set yourself on fire, people will come to see. 

Finally, I would advise that in this remaining month you distance yourself from negative-minded people and stick around positive-minded friends. Associate with only those who challenge you to grow and move forward, those who remind not of what you can’t do but rather of what you can do. In everything, never give up; it is never too late to register success.

Bake is the MD WORLD OF INSPIRATION & Founder, AUTHORS’ FORUM – bakerobert@yahoo.com / +256-704666851.