By Dr. Gad Ahimbisibwe Rugaju, PhD in Organizational Leadership, USA
WHO IS DR. GAD A. RUGAJU
Dr. Ahimbisibwe Gad Rugaju, PhD is a Ugandan leader, administrator, and motivational speaker. He holds a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Northwestern International Christian University, USA, a Master of Management Leadership and Administration from Breakthrough International University, USA, and an Honorary Doctorate (DCM) Honoris Causa. He currently serves as the Deputy Resident District Commissioner (Deputy RDC) for Kihiihi-Kanungu District under the Office of the President, Republic of Uganda. He is a former Intelligence Officer (IO) with the Internal Security Organization (ISO). He is a thought leader on leadership, public service, and community transformation.
We are taught that being helpful and nice is a virtue. But there is a hidden danger in being to nice.
When you are always helpful and nice, people start to expect it. They stop seeing your effort as a choice and see it as a duty. Over time, they forget your value and take your good heart for granted.
According to Dr. Gad A. Rugaju, PhD, this is the trap of people-pleasing. You must stop being a people pleaser and start doing what is right and acceptable to society and community. A people pleaser seeks approval; a principled leader seeks what is correct, just, and beneficial to the whole community.
On 31st December every year, during the crossover overnight prayers, most of us make New Year resolutions. We list what we failed to do and what we intend to do in the new year.
But today is October. The year is almost ending. The noise of January is gone. This is the best time to be honest with yourself.
Stop and evaluate: Where are you with your January promises?
Did you stop the things that were limiting you? The silent killers of destiny: Prayerlessness,
Oversleeping, alcohol, over-visiting and idle talk, over-travelling without purpose, adultery and fornication, and fighting useless battles that add no value to your life?
Evaluating your year in October is not condemnation – it is wisdom. It gives you 90 days to adjust and finish strong. Many people wait until December to realize they have lost a whole year.
HOW TO EVALUATE YOUR PROGRESS IN THESE FINAL 90 DAYS:
1. Review Your Original List: Go back to the promises you made in January. Read them loudly. Did you write them, or were they just in your head? What is not written is not a goal.
2. Check The Wins – Celebrate Progress: Do not only see failure. What did you complete? Did you build? Did you start school? Did you reduce on alcohol? Did you save? Progress, even small, is proof you can still win.
3. Spot The Gaps With Brutal Honesty: Which habits dragged you back? Be specific. It is not “I failed.” It is “I failed because I spent 3 hours every evening in bars,” or “because I entertained quarrels.” You cannot defeat an enemy you cannot name.
4. Adjust For The Final Months – Make It Daily: Vague goals die. Change “I will be financially disciplined” to “I will save 10,000 UGX daily from today.” Change “I will stop adultery” to “I will cut off that number and that place that tempts me.” Destiny is changed by daily steps, not yearly wishes.
ANALYSIS FOR LEADERS AND ADULTS:
At our age, 30, 40, 50, 60+, life does not need more resolutions – it needs discipline.
Here is the truth:
a) The Year Does Not Fail in December, It Fails in February. What you tolerated in February became your culture in October. Oversleeping in January became poverty in October.
b) The Five Thieves You Listed Are Strategic: Over-sleeping steals your time, alcohol steals your judgment, over-visiting steals your focus, sexual immorality steals your dignity and finances, and fighting useless battles steals your energy. Any man who cannot manage these five will never lead a family, an office, or a district.
c) October Evaluation Is a Leadership Principle: In government, we do quarterly reviews. You too must do a personal quarterly review. The people who win are not the most prayerful in December, but the most honest in October.
You still have 90 days. That is 2,160 hours. That is enough to break an addiction, to start a business, to reconcile your marriage, to save, to seek God truly.
Don’t wait for 31st December to cry again. Stand in front of the October Mirror today.
THE BIBLICAL APPROACH TO THE OCTOBER MIRROR
The Bible commands self-evaluation. This is not a modern motivational idea, it is scriptural.
1. Examine Yourself – Lamentations 3:40″Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.”
October is your time to examine your ways. God does not want you to enter a new year with old sins.
2. Redeem The Time – Ephesians 5:15-16 “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
You still have 90 days. In God’s economy, 90 days can redeem 9 months. Hezekiah was given 15 more years in one prayer. The thief on the cross was saved in minutes.
3. Deal With The Limiters – Proverbs 6:9-11 & 1 Corinthians 6:18
Oversleeping: “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? A little sleep, a little slumber… and poverty will come on you like a thief.” (Prov 6:9-11)
Alcohol: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.” (Eph 5:18)
Fornication/Adultery: “Flee from sexual immorality.” (1 Cor 6:18). God says flee, not fight. Cut the contact, delete the number.
4. Write The Vision – Habakkuk 2:2-3 “Write the vision and make it plain… Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come.”
What is not written is not a vision. Your January resolution failed because it was in your mouth, not on paper.
CONCLUSION:
The problem is not that the year is ending. The problem is that many of us are carrying the same sin, same habit, same laziness into every new year, and we call it a crossover.
You did not cross over. You only crossed over a date.
True crossover is when your character crosses over. When prayerlessness crosses to prayerfulness. When adultery crosses to faithfulness. When oversleeping crosses to diligence.
The Bible says in Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” October wisdom is to number that you have only 90 days left.
Do not ask God for a new year. Ask God for a new you in the remaining days of this year.
God is not impressed by your resolutions on 31st December. He is moved by your repentance and discipline today, in October. “Your year is not over until it is over.” Says Dr. Gad Rugaju, PhD-Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
