Creating Your Future Roadmap Today

Today is the tomorrow spoken about yesterday. So, each time we put off what we are supposed to do today till tomorrow we are only saying we are not ready to be in control of our lives. To be in charge of one’s life one must be willing to live each day on purpose. In fact, a man who is leading a purpose-driven life does not procrastinate. He/she is driven by the purpose he/she has discovered. Show me a man who is living a purpose-driven life and I will tell you he is a man who is creating his future today.

The future is not a long time away. The future we talk passionately about is now. It is not tomorrow. It is not the day after the next. Neither is it years to come. Every second we breathe in and out we have a chance to create our future. As long as we still have life in us the opportunity to create the future we desire presents itself to us. Life is a journey. I am yet to see a man who will want to go on a journey from one point to the other without a map. It is the map that will help him/her to navigate through. The same thing is applicable to the way we live our lives.

The starting point in creating your future roadmap today is to discover your purpose in life. It is to discover where you are going to or where you want to be in the nearest future. If you don’t know where you are going for instance it is difficult for you to get there. It will be an endless journey. It is the same for a man who is yet to know what he desires in life he/she may live a perpetual life of struggle. As a student in High School I was taking science subjects, but I was always picked to represent my school in essay writing and debate competitions, not science quiz! I became so popular at a point as a result of my excellent performances in those competitions that people found it hard to reconcile the subjects I was taking in school with what was giving me fame.  In my sciences it was a life of struggle. I continued with this purposeless life till I sat for the final exams. Guess what happened at the exams. I failed the sciences abysmally! It was at this point a high school senior of mine advised that I changed my course of study to arts. I did and since then it has been quite effortless for me. The essence of sharing this experience with you is that a future that will be interesting must begin with doing what you enjoy doing. Did I hear you say how do I discover my purpose in life? It is simple: What is it that you enjoy doing in life? What gets you irritated when it is poorly done? Locate this and begin to act on it.

It is not sufficient to discover purpose and do nothing about it. There is no difference between a man who does not know where he is going and a man who knows where he is going, but does not take action on how he will get there. The truth is both of them may not get anywhere. So, having discovered purpose, one needs to begin to work on it. How? By getting necessary training that can help to hone one’s discovered talent until it is polished to the level of skill. Discovering talent alone is not sufficient. It must be taken to the level of skill, as your skill will help you to meet one need or the other in the society. Once your skill can meet a need, relevance and recognition will be your lot.

With the polishing of your talent to the level of skill, you must remain focused. Distractions will come as challenges of life begin to rear their heads up. Society pressure, especially when things are not looking up for you in life, may also make you lose your focus. A couple of hours ago I was at the staff canteen of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, Badagry to eat. I met a middle aged man whose spoken English is flawless. We got talking and he told me how he used to be an excellent salesman. He told me his exploits in the world of marketing. But he lost focus when he was advised to take up an appointment in the public sector simply because he studied Public Administration in the university. He expressed his regret over taking to the advice. He mistook his course of study in school for the purpose of God for his life. Now he is planning to go back to his first love. What a distraction! I am still happy for him though. At least he is trying to retrace his steps. Many may not be as lucky as he is. It is therefore important for us to remain focused. Those that stand out in life are always very focused, notwithstanding life’s vicissitudes.

So far in this piece we have identified three factors that can help create the roadmap for your future today. They are:

1. Discover your purpose;
2. Get training on your area of purpose until is polished to the level of skill that meet people’s need (s); and
3. Remain focused

While all these are important, the most significant is to make God the centrepiece of your journey in life. It is only God who knows the end from the beginning thereof. He is the creator of the future you are planning for. His face must be sought from time to time on each phase of the future you want to have. This is what I believe in and it is working for me. And I am convinced it can work for anyone. No one can singlehandedly create his/her future alone. One needs to make recourse to one’s creator always. He is the creator of the purpose for which one lives for.