If you want to become unstoppable in 2025, there are some key areas to develop that will unlock your full potential.
This is the beginning of the second month of the year, a perfect time to reflect on your personal growth and set new goals for self-improvement.
The truth is that nothing will work out until you begin to work them out.
Something has to give for you to walk in full goal accomplishment.
Whether you’re aiming to advance in your career, enhance your well-being, or simply live a more fulfilling life, focusing on the right areas can make a world of difference.
You need to develop in some areas if you want to unlock your full potential.
In this blog post, we’ll be exploring 5 key areas to develop yourself in the new year.
Each one is designed to empower you to take control of your future and build the life you have always envisioned.
Are you ready to unlock your full potential and make 2025 your best year so far? Let’s dive in.
Before we dive in, this blog post was gleaned from the School of Money book written by my Mentor Dr. Olumide Emmanuel.
1. Academic Development
One thing scares me, it’s the erroneous beliefs we have allowed our young people to imbibe, the belief that schooling (university education) is not necessary.
In the Nigerian parlance, we say “School is a Scam”
This is largely due to the fact that an academic qualification cannot get you a decent job in the country, our leaders are largely to blame for that.
But another group of people we can blame for this are the parents who allowed their children to take courses and enroll for programs that stroke their own egos.
I digress.
The “School is a Scam” statement makes my stomach churn.
Young people do not see any value in academic education anymore because it is so easy to make money and gain fame on social media.
Doing awkward dances, saying gibberish on live stream, and almost getting naked are the things that bring immense fame and money these days.
Although the phenomenon of people getting fame and money through these behaviours online can be understood in the context of modern digital culture and entertainment, thanks to platforms like TikTok and IG, it’s a disturbing trend that reflects the degradation of what we value in society.
Instead of celebrating talent, creativity, or meaningful contributions, the digital age has created an environment where shock value, attention-seeking antics, and superficial performances reign supreme.
Just a few days ago, a friend was excitedly telling me how a notable international brand had recently signed a TikTok influencer, who almost always push the boundaries of his privacy to achieve fame.
I asked my friend what value this influencer brings to society?
He implied that it didn’t matter because he had over 7 million followers who would remove their heads for him.
Is said brand influencer educated? No. Can he speak good grammar? Nope. Does he bring any meaningful value to his audience? Absolutely not.
But does he strongly influence the young boys and girls who are glued to his content? Yes, he does.
Now because of his fame, many young people are ditching school to be like him.
The sad truth is that 99% of these young ones would not achieve what they think would happen if they followed him.
While that method is working for him, it may not work for you. Stay in school.
There is a huge difference between an educated person and someone who is not. I’m not implying that all educated people succeed and all uneducated ones do not.
We have seen many exceptions to this, that many uneducated people are doing greater and ambitious things than their educated counterparts.
But education is a great advantage, imagine being very successful and having a good academic degree, you would be a global phenomenon.
Illiteracy is like a ceiling for many people, just because they did not go through the four walls of a university, they face some kind of limitations.
There’s a distinction concerning them in the Bible.
The apostle Paul said “For I have an obligation to all peoples, to the civilized and the savage, to the educated and the ignorant”- Romans 2:14.
What a distinction.
Currently, I’m planning to go for my MBA in one of the prestigious Universities.
I won’t stop there, I’ll also do a PhD. I don’t want to be an uneducated rich woman, I want to have money and education.
What about you?
2. Professional Development
Apart from academic education, another level of development you need to be working on is your professional development.
Last year, I took a certification course on project management. It was an engaging and educational 5-day crash course.
I did the course but decided that I would not be sitting for the exams.
My lecturer was surprised.
He wondered why I would pay a huge sum of money and spend five days taking a course only to decide not to sit for the exams.
I gave him two reasons.
Firstly, I took the course because I wanted to know how to actually handle projects.
Because of my temperament and outspokenness, I usually find myself as a team lead on many projects.
So I was taking that course because I wanted to learn how to handle projects properly.
The second reason was that I am an over-achiever (sort-of) and I wasn’t going to just take one course on project management, I mean my first ever course on that subject matter, and sit for a professional exam.
I wanted to reduce my chances of falling the exams because you can only take the exams 3 times a year.
Oh and the exam fees were in 6 figures.
But can I call myself a project manager? Barely (I can but I’d always add ‘budding’ to it).
So while I create digital marketing campaigns, I also have a good knowledge of managing projects, a double win for me that would definitely separate me from the plethora.
Whatever you are doing now, it is important that you upskill or upgrade your knowledge because if the only thing that distinguishes you from your colleagues in the office or the industry is an M.Sc. you’ll soon be redundant because MSc. is the new B.Sc.
If you are an employee, ask yourself “Am I bringing any value to this company?” Find out what you are adding to the company’s growth or bottomline.
If you are an entrepreneur, a digital business owner like me, ask yourself “What services do my current and potential clients ask for?” then find a way to get the knowledge, skill, or certification required.
You need to start thinking beyond your locality and start thinking of how you will compete in the global space.
You need to develop yourself professionally if you want to unlock your unique potential.
RELATED: 10 WAYS YOU CAN BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND AS A WOMAN
3. Financial Development
I want to save a million naira this year, what about you?
Depending on the level that you are, one million naira may be too small, your goal may be 10 million naira.
But what matters is that you do beyond what you have ever done before.
I have definitely spent more than one million naira in a year in my lifetime but I have never saved one million naira a year before.
This is largely because, in this part of the world, bills can be overwhelming.
I started to diligently save some money in 2023, but just as I was approaching my goal, unexpected expenses arose after the loss of a loved one.
I also needed to start buying some gadgets for work so I ‘put hand’ in the money.
This year though, I’m smashing that goal.
More than half of the world’s population lack financial intelligence.
We cry that our money is not enough but if only we will be disciplined enough to track every kobo and record every expense.
In 2025 and beyond, if anything, you need to discipline yourself in the area of your finances.
Cut off every impulse spending habit, and every irrelevant subscription, and create a budget for yourself.
You are no longer a child, quit being controlled by impulsive habits.
Listen, I read a book called The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. It’s one of the best books I’ve every read on financial discipline.
In the book, the author, who alongside his wife was a millionaire, explained how he created standing orders on all his bank accounts, savings, and investments accounts.
On a particular date, every month, a certain amount is deducted from his account and sent to his investment account.
It’s a whole lot, just get the book and it’ll transform your life.
If you have a business, you need to learn how you can separate your business account from your personal account, you need to learn financial discipline.
Invest in the stock market, read about it and get started.
Get The School of Money book and start building wealth.
4. Health Development
I have a confession to make, I completely failed in my plans to eat and live healthy last year. How about you?
I planned to eat more fruits, but that didn’t happen. I promised myself I’d hit the gym, I never did.
I even planned to cut out carbonated drinks but that didn’t stick either.
2024 was a tough year for me. I had two surgeries, one of which was an emergency.
Going through all of that made me promise myself I’d never take my health for granted again. I made a decision to prioritize eating well and getting enough rest.
It’s almost one year now and I haven’t done any of the things I promised.
Don’t be like me. Start living healthy. Eat well, take a lot of fruits and water, sleep well and exercise.
Gym memberships do not cost so much so enroll in one and when you go there, workout, don’t film content.
5. Spiritual Development
I have kept the best for the last. The earlier you develop yourself spiritually, the faster your breakthrough and transformation in life.
Let’s take a look at the things involved in spiritual growth.
Hol’ up a minute, if you loved reading this, then you should consider reading this:
1. Prayer
Prayer works! Prayer is potent, prayer is powerful. prayer works wonders.
For a long time, I found prayer to be very difficult. I didn’t know what to do beyond asking God for my needs, asking Him to protect my family and to provide for us.
During my youth service, I joined my friends at the Nigerian Christian Corpers Fellowship (NCCF) for our rural rugged evangelism, a large-scale outreach where we moved from community to community spreading the gospel.
As part of this, we had something called Chariot Prayer which was a dedicated 30-minute session of intense, uninterrupted prayer.
That was the first time in my life I’d ever engage in such level of intense prayers.
We began, and after about 10 minutes, I had already said all my prayers. But when I looked around, everyone else was still deeply engaged.
So, I started again, praying for things like money, fame, and protection. Yet, no matter what I added, I still found myself finishing before everyone else.
I wasn’t praying in tongues then so it was difficult for me pray for long. From that day, I knew I needed to do better.
When you pray, you must understand that you are communicating with God. Your heart must be tuned to listening to Him.
Don’t let your worries consume you to the extent that you fail to acknowledge God and instead start ranting.
Also, know that you can pray amiss. If you want to understand the ministry of prayer, I recommend the Pray book by apostle Emmanuel Iren.
2. Bible Study
Men and brethren, the key to your transformation lies in the word of God.
The Bible is the most accurate book you can ever read, take it or leave it.
The word of God is powerful and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, read it!
The easiest way to read through the scripture is to have a Bible-in-1-year plan.
My Church currently does this, if you want me to share them with you, just reply to this post and I’ll send them to you every month.
3. Fasting
Biblical fasting is a spiritual discipline where we believers abstain from food (or other comforts) for a set period to seek God’s presence, guidance, and power.
It is not just about going without food but about drawing closer to God through prayer, repentance, and dependence on Him.
Fasting and prayer go hand-in-hand because if you fast without praying, you’re just going on a hunger strike.
At the start of every year, the entire body of Christ go on a fasting break.
Some do 7 days, some 2 weeks, some 41 days and some others 100 days.
It’s a good spiritual exercise to start your year with.
4. Service
Serving with your gifts in a Church is very pleasing to God.
God has blessed each one of us with talents and skills and He is always pleased whenever we use those talents and skills to bring Him glory.
Find a local Church and begin to use your gift to serve, develop your gifts however you can and use it to bring God glory.
Conclusion
In conclusion, let 2025 be the year you breakforth and breakthrough.
Stop wasting time, stop wallowing in mediocrity, stop following what is popular on social media.
See to unlock your potentials and life will answer to you.
If you loved this blog post, leave a comment below.