It’s now six days into the new year and little has changed since the festivities of almost a week ago. Apart from a few sore heads and way too much food to eat, for most of us, 2024 will continue much like 2023 and 2022, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.

We often make resolutions, or commit to goals, that are more dreams than goals, because goals have steps like a ladder to the finish line, whereas dreams, which are simply wishful thinking, lack a plan or any idea of how to get there. Because the difference between a goal and a wish is simply that.

We have a plan, we have mapped out how to get there and six days into the new year, we have already plotted our course for that new horizon. Yes, dreams are an essential part of that because it is the hopes, dreams and aspirations of deep within us that we want to materialise. But let’s be clear, mere wishful thinking is the final resting place of countless dreams, hopes, and aspirations – unfulfilled potential lying buried simply because we lacked a plan.

What’s your plan for 2024? What steps have you considered or put in place so 2025 doesn’t look again like 2024, and you will in 12 months look back at growth and movement rather than the despair of ‘same old same old’. God gives us life as a gift, not to hide away or simply to give back to him in the same size, shape and form that he gave it to us. It is our responsibility to take life and mold it and shape it for the better of mankind and to bring as many to the table of prosperity and growth so they can eat from it too.

Our lives can be for good or for evil; the choice has always been ours. Life is unfair, I hear so many people say, and my answer to that is simple … yes, it is, so what do you want to do about it. It is unjust, it is at times cruel, it can cause us the greatest pain and often from those closest to us and those we love and trust. Life teaches us that we must guard our hearts, that is our sole responsibility, and when we don’t, we suffer the consequences that come with that choice.

I want to leave the world in a better state then I was born into, and I want to see as many people eat from the plate as possible. That doesn’t come by chance, it comes because we point our hearts towards that goal and we work really hard to see it come to fruition. Where is your heart pointed in 2024, and what will the world look like I wonder at the end of this year because of who you are and what you have committed yourself to do and to serve.

We will find out the answer to that question in 12 months, but in the meantime, here is some sage advice I was given by a good friend that has kept my Vaka on course despite the calms and storms that have come my way.

Firstly, be intentional in all you do, let it be driven by a deep desire no matter what that is. Let that be the etu, or the star, that guides you. If that’s your true north star, then your vaka will never be lost.

Secondly, know that it is the crew you sail with that will hurt you the most, so prepare your heart for that disappointment. Doors that will close, opportunities that will be given to others and rooms you are no longer allowed in – because as those doors close, others will open for you, and rooms with your name you could never have imagined – because your intention and your decision to remain true to the course will get your Vaka to its destination.

And finally, love and serve because you know it is the rudder by which your Vaka stays true through the Moana. Nothing can keep us from harm or prepare us for the storm as much as our love for God and our love for people.

See you in 12 months – and what a story we will tell of the journey we have had – if we put these simple tools into practice and leave luck at the door of disappointment.