As the year gradually winds down and 2013 comes in, it is surely a good time for some deep reflections, concerning your desire to be successful in business, and financially free. Were you able to take advantage of the opportunities that the outgoing year brought your way?

And, how much have you been able to profit from the numerous breakthroughs, innovations and inventions that humanity has so far been blessed with in this millennium? The truth is that: most people are not even conscious of the changes taking place around them, let alone take advantage of them. But that shouldn’t be so.

That is why we are pulling from our archives one of Dr. Sunny Emmanuel-Ojeagbase’s master pieces, titled, “Are You Ready For The Breakthroughs Of This Millennium?” It was first published in the January 2000 edition of SuccessDigest. We republish it this week, to get you properly positioned to profit from the breakthroughs to come in the coming year, and beyond. Enjoy!

If you read that correctly, it will immediately occur to you that the question did not ask whether or not there will be breakthroughs in this millennium. It simply asks: Are you ready for it (the breakthroughs)? So now that you understand what the headline of my article is saying, let me put the questions to you again: Are you prepared for the breakthroughs?

Listen to me carefully dear reader. We are entering a new age. Things you could never have imagined before will happen in this millennium. If astronauts landed on the moon in the last millennium, the rest of human race that had no idea how rockets are flown will be able to go to the moon in this millennium for holidays.

What I’ve just said does not put me in the same league with Nostradamus: right now, tickets are being sold by a Californian company for the first such trip to the space. If Jesus tarries, His coming, be sure that as day follows night and night follows day, this will come to pass.

It is not only in this field that wondrous things will happen. Even in the business of making money, where you and I are concerned, great strides will be made. Evidence that we are headed in that direction is also abound. Take the Internet. If you haven’t the opportunity yet to see what is going on on the Internet, I plead with you to please make it your No. 1 priority this year. Get on the Net and see things for yourself. Describing it for you might sound like I am exaggerating even though that is my unenviable task in the lead article of this issue starting from page 12).

Yes, I owe you a responsibility to inform you about this great technological breakthrough. In years to come, after you have made your fortune on the internet, I want you to remember that SuccessDigest first impressed it on you that the Internet is where God will bless you in this millennium.

But let me get back to my question: are you prepared mentally, psychologically and spiritually for the great changes that will soon be unfolding in your very eyes?

This is January 2000. I urge you to wake up to events around you. Get ready to flow with the tide. The way we live and do business is about to change forever. Get ready to be among the leaders in this millennium.

This edition of SuccessDigest has enough materials to point opportunities to you. Take one of the ideas and run along with it. Don’t start making excuses. Get up and do something. Be a winner and not a whinner. Success is beckoning at you. You can make it if you decide to.

Don’t procrastinate. Don’t put off till tomorrow what today can accomplish. Be a goal setter. Be an accomplisher. Have big dreams. Yes, very BIG dreams. And then go for it.

Those who made it before you did exactly the same thing. That is what I did. And you can do it, too. Don’t be afraid that you might fail. Failure is good for you. Failure, as more and more people are beginning to recognise, is the driving force towards success. Those who never failed in anything before can never claim to be a success.

I mean, how else can anyone know if they are on the right path if they never failed before. We all talk about Jesus. But one of his greatest failings, picking Judas among his 12 disciples, was directly responsible for his success on Mount Calvary when he accomplished His life mission and rose from dead to be with His Father in heaven.

Let no one scare you about failing. Go ahead, fail. And fail again. And again and again. You won‘t be the first person to do so. Thomas Edison failed more than a 1,000 times before he could invent the incandescent light bulb.

And if it will give you succor, I myself have failed at many things in my life.

As a publisher of Climax magazine, I was a failure. But if you must know the truth, SuccessDigest will never have been born if I didn‘t fail with Climax magazine. With Climax magazine, I had the dubious reputation of being the owner of the most sued publication in the country.

My travails as the publisher of Climax magazine is enough for me to pack it in and say “enough, no more publishing for me.” To tell you how bad it was for me, in September 1998, just when one of my businesses was slipping into a terrible recession, the court baliffs turned up at the premises of the same business and took five cars and several air conditioners away. Yes, we were paying the price for publishing Climax magazine.

But did I quit? No, I didn’t. I simply learnt which publication I shouldn’t set up. By the special grace of God today I have SuccessDigest. I have never for once been dragged to court for what we published in the magazine. And we are in our fifth year whereas Climax magazine died exactly when it was three years and a few weeks old.

So, wake up! Rise and shine! The new millennium belongs to you. It is time for you to start compiling your own rags to riches story. It won’t be easy. Nobody ever said it would. It will be tough as nail. You will sleep with broken heart many nights. Nights after you have pouded the streets of where ever you live and face devastating disappointments.

You have just been refused a loan. And because you believe the future of your business depends entirely on you getting the loan, you wonder if it wouldn‘t be a nice idea for you to die at that moment. No, don’t take your life. It is not worth it. That disappointment is what will make your joy to be full when you eventually make it.

And you will surely make it in Jesus name. Amen.

First published in December, 2012.