Make the Most of Every Opportunity
My friend Jason is in med school. His Instagram stories typically consist of either 1. his powerlifting training (his passion/hobby), or 2. his studies. School is, quite literally, his life right now. I can only assume he hits the gym to help keep himself sane - lifting weights is quite the stress reliever, after all.
He is relatively newly married, and while his wife is busy building her career here in the Chicago area, he’s off at med school -- nearly 200 miles away.
Between the stress of school and the pain of being away from his new bride for extended periods of time, Jason has every reason to complain about his situation. He’s busy. He’s tired. Exams are difficult, and he is away from the love of his life.
But recently, when I asked him how school was going, his response stopped me in my tracks.
“I am definitely trying to make the most of this opportunity,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but it will be well worth it all in the end.”
Jason views his several sleep-deprived, stress-filled years of school as an opportunity.
How many of us go through our days complaining about our work, grumbling over how many meetings we had to sit through, or how many emails we got, or how many meetings that should have been an email, or that someone microwaved fish in the kitchen again?!
How different would our lives be if we viewed each new day as an opportunity?
An opportunity to make an impact, or to broaden our horizons, or even the opportunity to learn something new - is always available to us. We just have to open our eyes and see it, the way my friend Jason does.
He could certainly gripe about the amount of studying he does. But instead, he highlights cool things he’s learning. He could lament over not seeing his wife; alternatively, he tells me how excited he is to see her next.
Jason focuses on the big picture (finishing medical school) over the day to day grievances of studying or (I’m guessing) lack of sleep.
Sure, the whole “opportunity” thing sounds a little cliche, right? We start our days with great intentions - calmly sipping a freshly brewed cup of coffee, going through today’s tasks, feeling confident today is going to be just so productive and amazing and absolutely “boss lady” (or boss bro) status.
And then, seemingly out of nowhere, 3pm hits and you’re buried in emails and you realize 4 projects are overdue and - oh shoot, I gotta take this call.
Of course it’s easy to get a little tripped up sometimes; not every day is going to be a home run. But I really think it’s the bigger picture that matters here. It’s not how you view your day - but how you view your life.
It’s so easy to get buried in “the little things.” The mess-ups, the failures, the things we dislike about our days. And sure, those things are all valid. It’s okay to not always feel like the day is made of rainbows & butterflies.
But what if we flipped our failures into opportunities to learn from our mistakes? What if we viewed things from a different perspective? How would that change our outlook on life?
Now, I’m not saying to never admit you fail, or to cover it up somehow. Failure is important. And it’s important to admit. (insert some quote here about Michael Jordan getting cut from his high school basketball team.)
But if we constantly wallow in our own pool of Debbie Downer wah-wahs, we will never rise up and see our own glimmering potential. We will never get to the next opportunity to succeed, because we’re still caught up in the last thing that tripped us up.
Look at your next difficult project as an opportunity to learn something new. Got a presentation that scares the living daylight out of you? It’s an opportunity to work on your public speaking skills. Too many projects on your to-do list? Opportunity to fine-tune your prioritization skills (this one’s me). Stuck in gut-wrenching, pull-your-hair-out traffic every single flippin’ day of your life? Opportunity to listen to that book you’ve wanted to read, or meditate, or call your best friend, or just have a rockin’ solo karaoke session.
You could say this sounds a lot like “finding the silver lining,” and I suppose you’d be right in that. But to me, finding the silver lining is seeing the situation as mostly bad, with a teeny bit of hope. Opportunity, on the other hand, is viewing the situation as a whole as a positive.
I’ve been criticized in my life for being “too positive.” That I’m too optimistic, that I don’t think realistically enough. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather find an opportunity in a bad situation than wallow in its storm cloud any day.
Take it one day at a time. One week at a time, even. At the end of each week, sit down and review your highs and lows. Really look at where things could be better - and how you can make that happen. Discover one opportunity for yourself.
You might be surprised at what you find.
What opportunities have you found or discovered lately? Tell me in the comments!
