ONE of the good things about beginning a new year is that it affords us all the opportunity to self-evaluate and make requisite adjustments to our lifestyles.

For many of us, as we begin this New Year, there is the feeling of apprehension and maybe even trepidation at the prospect of what may be ahead.

We all have great expectations that this year will be kinder to us than last year was. Well, I can tell you that many of the things that happened in your life last year, and will happen this year, and will continue to happen every year for the rest of your life, did not just happen. Most of it occurred because of the choices we made and the attitudes we have. I want to suggest that a good approach for this year, to change the circumstances of your life, would be to have a deliberate attitude adjustment.

Firstly, you need to design your environment on purpose. We are all affected one way or another by our environment. The influences, the norms, the personalities around us all contribute to how we think, believe, and act.

It is of absolute importance that you re-evaluate some of the relationships you have. Negativism is infectious; hence negative people are a threat to your progress. Avoid people who are always negative and judgmental. Avoid reading material that is negative and depressive. There are some people who, in their writings, have already consigned Guyana’s future to the abyss of abject poverty and economical paucity. They see no good in the country, the people, or the government.

I often wonder why these people remain here if this is such a terrible place. Avoid such people like the plague; their negativism is infectious. Get rid of pessimism. You can’t get yourself up by talking yourself down. By extension, we cannot expect to get our country out of whatever state it is in by talking it down. I implore you to change your attitude towards your country; become a patriot again. This may not be the best country on the planet, but it is ours; it is home.

Secondly, we must be aware that success is deliberate. We do not wake up and find ourselves successful. Success is arriving at a predetermined destination, hence you must have a plan as to where you are going, and diligently pursue that plan. Many of us very foolishly blame others for our financial lack or condition of poverty, when, if the truth be told, we have brought ourselves to that state. I want to insist that poverty is not a lack of money; poverty is a state of the mind; a mind void of ambition, drive and determination.

One very brilliant sociologist once pointed out that poverty cannot be understood from an economical perspective, but from a social perspective. I totally concur with this.

Let me illustrate quickly, my point. The average youth working for the minimum wage of an average $30,000 owns a BlackBerry cell phone valued at $80,000, spends an average of $3,000 per week on phone cards just in an attempt to create an impression of himself to his significant others. That attitude is what creates poverty. Buying ‘name-brand’ sneakers for your children when they are in need of text books is what creates poverty. Living in a rented apartment and spending Friday evenings down by the beer garden ‘keeping the beers coming’ is what produces poverty. So there is a level of poverty that has nothing to do with the economy, but with our attitude to life.

I wish to challenge you to change your attitude to life and how you manage your finances in this new year. A new year should produce new attitudes.

Finally, I encourage you to become relentless in your pursuits. We give up so easily on the things we claim to be important to us. There are some things that are worth fighting for, and we must be relentless in our fight to protect, preserve and establish those things.

Let us, as a nation, inculcate the attitude of love for our fellowmen and love for country. No nation can long survive without the spirit of patriotism. For this year, commit to pleasing God, and building your nation. That is a good attitude to have.