Welcome to Failure 101. If your goal for 2025 is to fail spectacularly, you’re in the right place. This piece is a go-to guide on how to make sure the new year is an absolute disaster. Let me quickly walk you through the recipe: Step one, set no goals—because why plan when you can just drift? Step two, stay exactly as you are—growth is overrated anyways. And step three, avoid learning anything new—your comfort zone deserves its status as the ultimate VIP lounge.
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? That’s because it is! The failures in our lives starts with one or more of these mistakes—skipping the early morning workout, putting off important tasks, or seeking solace in the delusion that growth will magically happen. When we choose comfort over challenge, procrastination over productivity, and excuses over efforts, we set ourselves up for stagnation. These habits may feel harmless in the moment, but their cumulative effect is what creates failure.
Knowing what not to do is the first step toward doing everything right. So, as we step into 2025, let’s turn the narrative around. Let’s take these so-called “steps to failure” and flip them into strategies for success. I’m not handing you a guide to failure, trust me. What I’m giving you is a cheat sheet—a roadmap that can make 2025 your best one yet.
Action Point #1: Be Yourself. Imitation is Limitation
God made you on purpose for a purpose; and to achieve that purpose, you must use what He has given you: your identity (and uniqueness). To achieve superlative success this year, you must find yourself. Imagine what happens when a candle tries to outshine the sun—it loses its purpose and melts away in the process. This is why you must kill the pressure of trying to become like everyone, everywhere.
Imitation is limitation. No one ever became great by imitation. Don’t be a copy of something. Every good thing is a fruit of originality. Make your own impression. "Be what you are"—this is the first step to becoming more than you are. And maybe you don’t know, the easiest thing to be in the world is YOU! I always say that: There's no one YOUer than YOU. Let the YOU in YOU take YOU to where YOU belong!🤭
Find Your Lane, Fill Your Spot, Run Your Race.
2025 is a journey that will ride on the backs of self-discovery. This year, the most important question you’ll face is one of self-identity and understanding. Who are you really, beyond the surface, beyond what others expect or want you to be? The time to answer this question is now, not tomorrow. Without clarity on who you are and what you stand for, navigating the puzzle of productivity will feel like wandering in a maze without a map. Your identity is the compass that guides you—find it, and everything else will fall into place.
Action Point #2: Grow Up, Don’t Jump Up
I once heard a story about a man and his two daughters. The elder daughter was celebrating her birthday. Friends, family and well-wishers were all invited to the party as you would normally expect. While the celebration was on, the younger daughter said to her father: “Daddy, I will jump my age to 7 years and then to 8 years, 10 years and so on.” The father smiled at her daughter’s innocence and replied, “Dear, you don’t jump up, you grow up. When you jump up, you come down. But when you grow up, you stay up!”
As you chart your course in 2025, remember: You don’t jump up in life; you grow up! When you jump up, you come down but when you grow up, you stay up. Growth is the key to attaining and sustaining success at any stage of life. Jumping up may provide fleeting moments of achievement, but without true growth, it is temporary at best. This year is not about faking progress or cutting corners. It’s about embracing the process of growth, one step at a time, and letting the journey shape you into the person you’re destined to become.
We grow old by nature but we grow up by intention. Be intentional about your growth, don't leave it to nature. Pay the price to grow. Invest in yourself. Buy the truth. A result you don't prepare for you don't deserve! Also, you don't achieve success or fulfill destiny on credit, you've got to pay the price upfront. You cannot WITHDRAW from your future what you did not INVEST in it today. Or have you ever cashed a cheque out of an empty account? There’s no need to go to the ATM booth when you have nothing to withdraw. This same principle applies to your destiny. It is the pain of preparation (today) that will determine the gain of celebration (tommorow).
Action Point #3: Do Epic Shit
To do an epic shit is to do something extremely awesome. It’s about doing something bigger than yourself and having fun while doing it.
DO: Action. Act. In thought, in words and in approach. The smallest of action is greater than the noblest of all intentions. Achieving success is not a stroll in the park. It requires coerced efforts. That is how you transform your dreams and aspirations into a tangible reality. Without putting in the necessary work, dreams are bound to remain as distant fantasies. To be successful, you must know WHAT you want, HOW to get it and then DO it.
EPIC: Bigger than yourself. Has it not occurred to you that those who are “crazy” enough to think they can change the world are the ones who actually do so? The question, therefore, is this: What do you really want? Is it to land a laudable project? To up your portfolio or to improve your CGPA? You know what you want. Set those goals as you wish.
My expectation from you while setting those goal is that you aim outrageously high. What you strive for becomes your ceiling. The world is not changed by people who sort of care. You’ve got to set some big hairy goals and expand your vision as much as possible. Keeping it epic is how you create a legacy that others will admire. And like a friend of mine would always say: “Dream big. Dream very big and send God the bills. He can afford it!”
SHIT: Have fun while doing it. The only way to great things is to love what you do. To be notably successful, you don't need to wait for the excitement, you have to create it. To do amazing things, you must love what you do. Why? Love never fails!
Love is a mighty power, a great and completely good weapon. Love alone lightens every burdens and makes the rough places smooth - Thomas Kempis
Action Point #4: Start Now, Start Today
Start NOW. The NOW man is a WIN man. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is today. Don't let the fact that you didn't start last year stop you from starting it now. Take that course today. Apply for that scholarship now. Send that email immediately. The smallest step taken now is better than the grandest plan left for tomorrow. Success doesn’t wait, and neither should you.
A year from now, you will wish you had started today. Start today. Time goes away and leaves us with only one of these two things: regret or results. A year from now you will wish you had unfollowed emotionally draining people. A year from now you will wish you had said ‘no’ more often. A year from now you will wish you had said ‘yes’ to yourself more often. A year from now, you will never be sure of the results. But you can certainly be sure of regret, if you don’t start today.
FOOTNOTE
2025 is your canvas, and you’re the artist. It’s the year to align your culture with your vision, where every action reflects your purpose. It’s the year to go all out, to rise above mediocrity through knowledge, wisdom, and intentionality. It’s the year to build systems—smart, scalable systems—that grant you the leverage to do more, achieve more, and be more.
This is your year to turn dreams into plans and plans into results. It’s the year to say “yes” to opportunities that scare you, challenge you, and push you out of your comfort zone. It’s the year to master consistency, to commit to growth, and to own your story like never before.
So, go for it, Dear Leader of the future. I believe in you. We all believe in you. All I need from you is to believe in yourself. You can, you must and you will. Your best year starts with you.
Cheers :)
—Oyedokun Samuel
RECOMMENDATION CORNER
Books to Read: The C.H.O.I.C.E. Matrix by G. Lan Ijiwola
Songs to Listen to: In God We Trust by the NewBoys
Movies to Watch: RRR (2022)