 So planning is the process of thinking about the activities required to achieve a desired goal. It is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought and the capacity to think ahead is considered to have been a prime remover in human evolution and a fundamental property of intelligent behavior. It involves the use of logic and imagination to visualize not only a desired end result, but the steps necessary to achieve the result. With inflation in double digits and the seeming freefall of the Naira against the dollar, the spending power of the average Nigerian, whether rich or poor, has been significantly impacted. As we approach the festive season with its associated increased expenses, prudent planning is more than a nice to have. It is an absolute necessity. What are your goals for this season and have you put plans in place? Please let us hear what you have to say. Remember you can join the conversation and send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 0818 038 4663, tweet to us at WeShowAfricaOne with the hashtag WeShow. So, joy to the world. Oh, that has come. Oh, come on, you're faithful and all of that stuff. Yes, my favorite is driving you for Christmas. And of course, we know Mariah will soon come. Ah, yes, so the Christmas. Oh, hold on, I want for Christmas. Every year. So, you know, it just has come around so quickly, right, so that I literally woke up and I was like, oh, hang on. It's a few weeks. It will be December. And it just creeps up on you. And I remember this time last year I said to myself, ah, once I get into 2023, every month I'll be saving money towards 30 December, because to be fair, last December, I felt like we had, we started from December 1st. And enjoyed it. We had an incredible, the usual, or should I say an amazing Lagos, December, so it was really a lot of fun. But it can get very expensive, right? It does. Plus the one you planned for, plus the one you did not plan for, the, I was going to say the obteners, the receivers, the beggars, you know, there's just so much that brings to that for the thought process of how much you have to spend. And it might seem like it's early, but I mean, 15 days or 13 days, these are very short periods of time, right? And people have to sort of start thinking about what Christmas means. So let me throw the question out there. Since we are all planners, have we added the festive season to our planning mode? I, Alaydeh, would like to say that I have not planned a goddamn thing concerning Christmas. All I know is I hope my family, my nuclear family will be together and God will cover us with His mercy and His graces and let them return safely. That's my only hope. I find that you really can't plan for me when it's Christmas. Like you said about, it's a given period. As much as you think, oh, this is what my budget is for giving, I have an attitude that I am training myself continuously about that if anybody asks you for something, pray to God that you're able to let them smile away when they're leaving you. Because I believe God would always reimburse you and restock your household. So while you're planning that, oh, this 50K, we're going to use it to go buy tickets for dirty December concert or something. Someone may have a need that is more important than what you want to spend the money on. I tell you, no liability. Give it to them. Not because you are doing double for your money with God. I'll tell you, you know, people do that. We've got testing. If I'll give you 10K, you'll return 20K by tomorrow. Give it to them and let God use what He does to bless you back in a way that you will see that it will all end in place. Back in the day, we used to do Christmas. I had kids who were in the rainbow. I wanted to excite them. One day I couldn't afford it. I saw cardboard, Christmas tree cut out. And I put it in one corner. What do you want for Christmas? What did I give it? I do stress myself unnecessarily. Well, you see, that example you gave is a good one because abroad, you can have a quiet Christmas. You can sort of, you know, but I think culturally here, right? Because I remember growing up, Christmas was that thing that we waited. It's not like now, sorry, I show my age a little bit. And some people only ate chicken at Christmas. It's not like now that chicken is the, in fact, some people... We used to have a feast. You know, chicken, Christmas was, you kill a chicken. Chicken and ginger, yeah, there's rosemary. Exactly. So it was a big deal. And you know, it was that thing that took so long to come around. I mean, from a child's perspective, it took so long to come around. But it seems like it has blossomed now into something that you really, really have to almost put a box around it and say, okay. If I'm disciplined enough not to step out of this in my planning. But you've even spoken about it or we've talked about it only from an expense point of view. Yeah. But in this town, December is wedding season, party season, event season. So even when we're talking about planning, for those that are lucky enough to have a, you know, an enviable social calendar, let me put it that way. You also have, you know, people are like, literally, I go to one event, I come out, I'm trying to change the car. Change into another event. So even that comes into planning. So what does your social calendar look like in December? It's a time I spend with family and friends. So because of my job, I really catch up with friends on the beats of the homebody during the week. So my December is the best time people can see me. So I, I map out, well, my boss. Okay. So my boss made us every year when we, when we start our strategy session, she says, oh, come up with your vision calendar. Vision. You know? So we do all our financials and all that. And that has helped me to identify what my needs and then what my wants are, you know? So, and then again, it allows me to prioritize, you know? When I'm thinking December, I'm thinking security. I'm thinking financial expenses. I'm thinking replenishing myself in terms of how I connect with family, how I connect with friends, you know? So all that for me is a lot of planning. But I can say I'm ready for December. It's my favorite time of the year. Absolutely my favorite. There is no, I never get angry with anyone in December. I'm always happy jumping from one place to the other, you know? Anybody wants anything from me in December, they almost can get it. Really? And I plan for that. No, plan me. I'm just going to say that I'm ready to plan. I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. We're coming around to you to make sure that we we insert ourselves in your planning. In your planning. In your planning. In your planning. Exactly. What are your, what's your Christmas plans looking like? I started, not started. Oh. I started already. I have, I'm not in Egypt. I have six wedding in December. I don't know why all my friends decided to get married in December. But then it's been like that. So finally, December for us is the time to actually, that's when everybody's together. So since I was a child, Christmas has always been that special season. We all, because we now have family for two shows. It's just very special like that's for us. I know that there's that already. And then as I came an adult and I started to live by myself, I, well, I'm not a social butterfly, but then in December, be sure to catch me and be sure that it's up. On Instagram. And as it sees now, my faves are having shows here and there in December. So I don't know how I'm going to, I've not been able to because two of the weddings are outside the Lagos. So I'm like, okay. And then there's one concert after. Yeah. I'm like, how am I going, I'm still trying to figure it out. But my social calendar is facts. I hope if you're going out of town, it's a nice segue where you just mentioned, I hope if you're booking flights. So I think it was last month, someone shared with me the potential prices of local flights. And he's like, you can't do that. 85,000, 190,000. And guess what? You can't book. So I wasn't. I'm going to. Yes. I'm going to yield for my cousin's wedding. Right. And then I checked and I couldn't find it. He cares for 27. I called and I'm like, what's going on? And they told me, oh no, it's too early. I have to hold on one or two weeks before my travel day. And I'm like, that doesn't make any sense. Because it means that I'm going to spend as much as 100,000 for one week. So I know that that one is already because it happens two years ago as well. I'm going to go to a wedding in December. And it was at the end of the day. We had to go by road. We decided to the group trip myself and my friends. And then we were coming back. Because it was terrible. We're going to spend 120,000. Just flights away. This doesn't include coming back to Lagos. So I can imagine what's going to happen. Yeah. And the airport. Someone asked me to come and go to Iqiti on the 2nd of December. And I said, travel. You know the superstitious beliefs. That's one thing I also want to talk about. That you should, as much as possible, stay close to home during those festive periods so that you are guarded, you are guided and you are protected. That's one thing Nigerians have always had. I don't know if anybody knows that. That thing of you don't put every single family member in one car to go somewhere. You go out early, come back early and just protect yourself. Because as festive as it is, there's the side of the people who are living in abject poverty and that is when they see you, theft, editing. And they can easily identify and grab. So I'm very conscious about that. Especially because my children don't live here. My greatest prayer is, God please help me take them back when it's time to move. Everything is with a leap of faith. So that's my festive planning. Calculations are hired. They will be the IJGBs. That's a different part of the conversation because some people plan to attach themselves to the IJGBs. I thought it's been too long and I can't claim IJGB anyway. But in those days, you spend money from the minute you arrive to the minute you leave. But for the people that want to start planning, I said all of a sudden there will be a bad plan. You may have a close friend coming. Exactly. So it's all part of the planning and assessing your situation, opportunities, threats. It's a whole sort of analysis. Income streams. Making hampers. For my business to speak at engagements, weddings, birthday parties. That means it's nice. So you guys are going into work mode. Yes, we are. That's what I keep telling people that what you call working days are not my working days. Especially when we're trying to calculate when the gen comes on in our coma. I said that's when I'm sleepy. So you have to consider me as well. Industries differ and timing also differs. December for people in the entertainment industry is the busiest period. So maybe like Valentine's Day and then we chill again till Easter. It does get quite busy. So I actually want to now come back. I think we've touched a little bit on everything. But for those who don't have events, everybody's got to eat. Right? And when we talk about smart planning, it's really important that some people might say I don't have money. So I'm not really thinking about it yet. But you'd be amazed how much you can save when you start to take opportunities. I mean Black Friday has become a whole thing in Nigeria that a few years ago it was not. Right? So there are opportunities as we get closer to you know even before we get. So I typically when I'm doing my Christmas shopping I'm a bulk buyer. I typically like to do my shopping at the latest the first weekend in December. So everything usually I go for end of November. I try and you know buy the stock up and just because I mean the price of staples just like rice. The other day I saw someone posted on social media a picture of a particular brand of a bag of rice and nothing could have prepared me for the fact that I raised $82,000 for rice. It's not even a full 50K bag. That size is about 45 kg. Shop to eat for Christmas. $2,500. So when we even think about it some of these things in terms of cost savings and being able to make it as cost effective as possible because we know that once it gets into that period again it's supply and demand. You first of all have things that are out of season. So I like to buy my vegetables and things when they're in season. So you find that you're not coming in and rice has gone up, meat, chicken, all of these things really do go up. So in terms of that smart planning that's one place where I think people can also look at starting early and it doesn't have to take a lot. It's not within your means. But the earlier you can buy the better you can actually say. I just came up with something. I thought of something. When we're talking about Christmas and shopping, don't put the pressure on yourself alone. If Uti, Lide and Adiola and Chinilo decide let's buy a bag of rice together. We know that we eat our chicken in 20K as opposed to stocking a whole bag for a longer period and then it will be fresher when we're buying because people share cows. They share goats. They share all kinds of meats so that you take smaller portions and you get a bit of everything. Absolutely. So let's take a short break and we'll be right back. Stay with us. So if you're just tuning in it's our 80s night out and we're discussing the topic smart planning for the festive season we still love to hear what you have to say. Remember you can join the conversation send us an SMS 0384663 or tweet at us at West Show Africa one. Our phone line is also now open so please call us on 0702 5007749 so you can tell us how if in fact you have started planning and how you are planning for the festive season. So I love the suggestion that you just gave because I think when we also were going to talk about this topic in my mind I thought a lot of people would be like there's no money to do. We're going to start planning for the future but the idea that you actually just mentioned it reminded me of something we did I think it was Christmas of 2020 right because of COVID and all we were kind of not sure what we were doing there was no going out at least for me and my friends anyway so we all just decided that you know what we were going to have a Christmas day at home and that was in the craze of Bridgerton when the first Bridgerton came out so we decided it was going to be a binge watch of Bridgerton but what we did was that everybody ordered something so we didn't even cook so it was a bit like a potluck just bringing stuff and everybody hung out and it was nice because of course all the kids were then together and could play and all but there's something we haven't talked about gifting and presents My kids and I my daughter came up with it she said this year can we all gift one another something you know about it now everybody gets somebody but you don't tell them you got them so I said I don't want to get you because I don't have bone straight small hair because that's what she's been putting on her birthday is coming up and she's telling us combine the birthday and the Christmas so I said my god let me get my son because I am buying no bone straight for Christmas came doing nothing but it's true we used to back in the day when I grew up National Theatre always had events and things for kids I was talking about the other day I was standing in front of City Hall and I was like I mean back in the 80s National Theatre was where you went for Christmas it was where the Santa Grotto was that's where you went and sat I think I almost have like year on year maybe Kingsville would feature or something Santa would be in the UAC you know all those things Leventis and all that there was enough to do to occupy your time and then you remember those people that I used to walk around back in the day I can't remember the country they come from those swords that I don't cut you never saw them not that I can remember oh you guys must be young when it was Christmas time back in the day Christmas back in the day this meant from wherever Uganda Ghana I don't know used to walk around the streets and the choir come in to sing Christmas carol we used to look forward to them and what they used to do was have swords of all sorts and be cutting themselves and we didn't see if they would cut so even when that wasn't really necessary because entertainment was coming to meet you but back again to back in the good old days there was enough food I mean it wasn't about chicken there was turkey there was chicken there was beef there was lamb there was ginger there which was a Christmas drink we need to find a way to get our children those memories we used to have I think the memories are just changing right because again this conversation there's sort of feeding itself actually because it's good to say that planning as well for the children because you have them on holiday they're closed maybe by the first second week maybe second week in December and then you've got to entertain them on holiday until December you've got to also entertain the kids and whilst we may not have those staples like we have then with National Theatre and Papa and Museum and Park and all of those things we are in made time yes we're in a time where we still have but we also do have a lot of activities for children as well because interestingly enough not mentioning brands and all but some companies have been consistent they've managed to build consistency in activities for children so from that planning perspective as well it's something to add to your plans researching activities for your children whether it's going somewhere to get Santa gifts and play and paint all of these different activities but it's also part of the planning because your children need to be involved in the festivities right because to be honest your own version of Dirty December is so, so completely different their own version is to go to a wedding there for all them concerts so there's just so much that you have to think about because even when we're talking about gifting I was having a conversation a few weeks ago and I said last year my team was a lot smaller this year I'm like where do I begin because in fact I had a boss a few years ago who as we were coming around towards the end of the year for the Christmas holiday he just walked in and said your gifts and he had Ankara for each person and I thought it was such an innovative idea and I said to him I said how did you plan it and he said well when he thought about it he thought about the size of his team and he just found an Ankara vendor and said you know what just pack give me and supply and he had started paying her all the way from about September so that he would just pay and pay and pay and so last year I did something similar and just was like chicken life chicken ah they send images to tell us that we have we do youngest old man youngest old man is he there welcome to the show welcome to the show welcome to the show welcome to the show yes I think the lady there or the mom there because with her analysis is like she's the youngest old mom I don't even know what I'm talking about they start cutting onions first before they take the knife to their body yes they cut them the entire they are some of them are cannuris they come from the farm lot they do those things for money and sometimes they will scare you I remember in those days man how are you doing they don't even go through this now but not for me they don't know the situation the inflation we are smart you're smart planning so that is not the problem because no matter how you plan anything you budget the inflation will just come and cut out all the thin and it gets to the brain in fact it gets to the inner part and the pain is different in these days you can't even plan you can't even project because of the inflation in my project of 40000 the inflation double these days but the good news there is that we are being created to stand the toughest of times and right in us we are built with love no matter how difficult it is we are different people in this life so I know that we will do the right thing and we will try our best to survive and at the same time we should not forget to give to the I think the mother the motherless those people are very very important because with all your planning somebody don't even have parents to help them plan some are not even seeing their daybreak they don't even know how it's going to happen they are not even thinking Christmas they are thinking on how to exist how to even survive it's a luxury for them so for me in all we do it takes a lot out of our pockets but at the end of the day it takes a lot of challenges that we don't even know that's all I need to say but I really like the memory of the the memory of the having a nice day thank you so much I'm glad he said what he said I was quite impressed with my daughter well not today but she's turning 25 in November thinking about having a dinner having friends plan music, plan car, plan everything and then all of a sudden she called me and said mommy I decide I want to do an outreach find me a charity that is reputable that we know that when we do something for them the kids are going to feel it and I was so impressed because I'm not that charitable I believe my charity is around me but she's actually planning a printed t-shirt telling her friends if you're for me on my birthday we're going to spend time in a home spend time playing with the kids apart from giving them things and then probably start a cause where we can do it every month so it's not just for the Christmas and they don't see us again until the following Christmas I think that, I mean it's so important but one thing that I also notice which is something that I do what I was talking about before is we often everybody focuses and it's not a bad thing because I think we have another phone call we have Jeremy on the line hi Jeremy are you there from Abuja okay I think we lost him so yeah in given to in this aspect of giving right people tend to give so we think when we think given we think the orphanages we think the motherless babies homes and I remember going to one right and the feedback was in fact they opened the room to show us I said look rats are here eating the noodles eating the rice because everybody is coming here and what it actually showed me was look you don't have to go to these symbolic places there is so much need because when you just said that around you so it doesn't mean that in your own little sphere there are people who are needy yeah exactly there are people who are needy so you think about it your security guard your domestic stuff people around them so in December it's like I have a process so in December my nanny I pay for her there's money when she's going home and then I give her rice oil and all these things to take home so we realize that we can make such an impact it doesn't have to be grand gestures where we say oh we're going to present bags of rice and then we take pictures you know but we really need to identify people around us that we can feed and then if we you know go the extra mile and say okay yes I want to go to an orphanage and things but I think it's also important to just bring it home to say you know we can help those around us I also wanted to say the fact that most people go at the same time at times they run the risk of having to stock those things which they will eventually not even be able to consume because it's the pantry rats are there cockroaches are there also instead of we really have to practice this when we say we want to do an outreach not really just an outreach take care of someone okay just hold that I think Jeremy is back hi Jeremy are you there yeah I'm still here guys good evening welcome to the show yeah so talking about making my choice here was Christmas celebration you look at basically what I want to say is you cut your coat up for this to your size not everybody can do okay well I think we lost him there but he does make an important point in fact I think we've moved on from apart from even cutting to your size now you cut to your cloth to the material that you have right so important that we're not spending beyond our means and when we talk about and that's why we say smart right it's because it's not everybody's capacity is different so what is it that we're going to actually be spending we're almost coming to the bits where we're starting we're running out of time we're running out of time but what kind of what else should we have our viewers thinking about today in terms of planning for Christmas we've touched on the food we've touched on the giving security absolutely right right so in terms of improving your security I think like they gave the suggestion of not going far from home but we also know like you don't have a choice you're going away you don't have a choice yeah Christmas and New Year's Eve I don't go anywhere I don't even do all that to the watchover service you don't jump straight except the people who wants to collapse on my head and in my house crossing over I have a slang I'm so sorry I just want to teach people this thing I have a slang that I call bowling on a budget bowling on a budget means you're smart to achieve the same effect without expanding yourself okay so for me it's um I like to say that if anything were to happen to me it should never be on a Christmas day right right right I don't want anybody to have to mourn or be sad because of me on Christmas day I am at home right now I go home I just like to mind making lovely days but you know it's funny that you actually mention not actually going anywhere on Christmas day so for me that was how I was raised right it wasn't a it wasn't a not go but that was just we didn't go anywhere because we were home everybody was home you eat until you are almost so yeah people might stop by but it was really a family thing and then of course there's no movement as well so people don't like moving around well when I say there's no movement there are no buses there's no public transport so people really have to plan and all of that so it was really for me always a family holiday so I found it weird when I came to the journey that people were having a party on Christmas day why are you having a party on Christmas day yeah okay so I was going to say when planning for Christmas you should also remember what happens in January January is the longest month and then there are a lot of expenses so there's school fees for people that have well you know and you're starting a new year and you have to down start putting yourself so that you don't come and start complaining generally a drinking gallery and start running so there's that superstitious belief also that if your January starts on the Cray level but it's such an important point because January is really that longest month and this is where 6 is long and this is where you come back to that element planning that you really really need to not only plan for December but plan for how you're going to get to generate the success so at least to payday on January if you have a job too that's also another very very important point I like that you touched on security but I think that we have another call coming through okay Jeremy back okay I think we may have lost him again the typical telco phone networks and the rest one thing I want to say please plan less bangers this year let me tell you fireworks and bangers there should be with the security anxiety that everybody has how are you when I hear I'm telling you I'm telling you for someone that has fireworks I mean you know I'm half cast so something has to be but for some reason my spirit has never been able to get used to bang bang bang bang bang but how would you know it was December that's like culturally that's how you know it's December in fact funny enough as a child you have to try to distinguish because I mean what security used to be back then in those days you'd have to try to distinguish between conscience and gun guys that used to also be a thing but I mean one key thing that we I think we haven't talked about as well because these were people to fight and to swear for people why are you going to the wedding the planning of the outfits is another matter tell us you will swear for them oh oh oh oh oh in fact she told me three weeks ago she said oh no I'm not taking anything because no those are the ones that love themselves and I love when they say we're fully booked we're done for 2023 we're still taking bookings for 2023 but we're done for 2022 it's not the ones that was here don't get them don't get them the morning of the wedding all of these ones what you said just now I swear for the best of them she's never done that so that's another aspect of planning I think we've done a good job of running through all the things that people need to plan but more important than that is having a safe secure festive season we know that ember months typically the heightened security concerns of course we're also approaching elections so there's so many reasons why even in whatever movements that we're making and the fantastic and wonderful part of the season please please please let us look at our security as like they said keep us, God keep us into the new year and everybody have an amazing festive season but it's been such a wonderful and enriching conversation I hope that we've been able to give our viewers some great ideas before you go I think there's a message that says good evening my dear beautiful sisters what are you saying it's not planning for the festive season like they say if you fail to plan you plan to fail let us apply wisdom when planning for the festive season because it is very key we do not have to wait for December to come before doing our shopping because of the increase in price of things considering those who love travelling let us suspend travelling for now because of the recent killings and kidnappings it is only someone that is alive that can enjoy Christmas we may even have financial challenges but God is in control God bless you beautiful sisters in Jesus name amen my name is Daniel where is regular 5 okay there's another comment here from Austin from Delta and Austin says a good topic to discuss it is unfortunate that most people going to unnecessary stress during the time because they want to belong or be asserted and mourn inwardly after we must remember the reason for the season and not time to display false affluence by going a step further to borrow or overspend your budgets please be yourself and remember the bills waiting for you in January considered as the longest month if you cannot afford chicken on Christmas it's calm if you cannot afford Brazilian hair go low cuts God bless you all Uncle Uti you are doing well but please wear it she will be back next week yes she absolutely did but thank you so much ladies I enjoyed you Uti I was scared because I was like Uti thank you so much before we go do ensure you follow us on instagram at we show Africa you can interact with us further drop a comment and most importantly follow all our social media engagements remember to like share comment and invite your friends and family to watch us and follow us so if you missed today's quote here it is again a dream written down with a date becomes a goal a goal broken down into steps becomes a plan and a plan backed by action becomes reality so we look forward to seeing you again tomorrow at 8pm as we bring another great conversation to your screen bye bye