 Not all opportunities are equal. There are opportunities that are just right for your organization and opportunities that you should overlook because 1) it is not enough to be a sustainable venture; 2) it takes an enormous amount of time, effort, and monies to get it off on the ground and even maintain; 3) it doesn't represent your current wheelhouse and departing from what works could get you distracted and confused; 4) it is a fake opportunity, a carrot being dangled without the evidence of its real value and feasibility; 5) you are overreading into the situation. Not all ideas are germane as business opportunities. Not all offers or interests should be taken seriously. Test them diligently and be sure that they represent most viable vehicle towards your ultimate goals. Know the people that you are talking with or will work with and check their track record of success or achievement. There are no shortcuts to careful thought and consideration of the issues that you weigh in. The real value versus the actual costs of making those investments including the time it will take to get it fully completed, should not be underestimated. Most of the time, new projects and initiatives collapse under their own weight putting too much at the beginning when it is important to be light on the foot and formless when things are in flux. If you are not the decision-maker, it is better to be flexible and adaptive, listening to counsel and opinions of those that can make it or break it. Remember to be positively inactive when there is no need to take action, especially when the gains are far less than they tend to appear.
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 Frustrated, defeated, and feeling that there are no options left but to quit? This post is not about that, but when does quitting becomes an opportunity to get on track or refine one's vision of life, work, career, or business. Quitting or the process of quitting opens up the possibility to give chance to reinvention and self-affirmation; Quitting or the process of quitting clarifies your own contributions, the strength that you brought to the table and the qualities and assets that you can take wherever you go; Quitting will identify who the real friends are and who aren't: they will provide the insights of your contribution without you asking them for it; Quitting releases the drive to make the most of what you had and gathers the strength to move on with things that you want to continue building and enhancing; Quitting earlier than later means that you are taking control and that frees you up to do the things that you love and want to do; Quitting can be a dramatic exit which you can leverage in an organization where the stakes are high and you can make a big difference out of leaving; Quitting does not mean that you will not try again in the future. It is not definitive as long as your reasons are clear and that you don't burn the bridges to future interactions. Before you quit, ask yourself, how can my quitting helped me become a better person, professional, and entrepreneur? Quitting isn't always a bad move! It can be the most liberating to do when you know how to bring the best out of a seemingly bad situation.
 An unexamined life is not worth living- Socrates A lot of what happened in our lives, careers, and organizational lives happened for a reason. Some of these reasons were unbeknownst to us from the beginning. In hindsight, it unraveled with greater clarity. The speck in our eyes got dusted off and pretty soon, with honesty and candor, we began to search for real meanings. The unexpected successes that we have cannot all be credited to luck. Luck is product of being in the right time, in the right place, presenting your best, in worst and glorious conditions. For example, walking along the cafeteria, you met an old friend and started having a conversation, and before you knew it, he gave you a piece of insight that helped you in your current project. Who would have thought that it could turn out that good? Not expecting it would be an understatement. We live in an interconnected world that is hard to ignore. We are all part of the system, whether we like it or not. We belong to a small whole, that is part of a bigger universe and so on and so forth. Luck is being prepared when the right opportunity comes -- come snow or high water. With that in perspective, it is easy to brush off a one-time issue, problem, or challenge. When it gets repeated with same results, you better get down to it. It's a pattern that can be corrected or if positive, maximized or that is a symptom of far greater thing you can't possibly handle all by yourself. You might need a telescope rather than a microscope. You might need a rheostat than a thermostat. You might need a nimble, light approach rather than CAT scraper. Depending on the situation, examine your accidental prosperity, favor, or success. Let that give you the fuel to seek what is right around the corner, and seize the day with vigor. I was in the emergency part of the hospital again this weekend. Triage system is applied in seeking medical treatment, in disasters and in other situations when there are limited resources for overwhelming need/severity of the condition. Sorting them into three groups: those people that cannot survive even with care and treatment, those that will have 50/50 chance of survival, and those that can be saved/can benefit from treatment and care. In the waiting room, there is a huge sign that says, it is not a first-come, first-serve basis but people who are hard in breathing, bleeding, and in life-threatening situation will be administered first. Taking this out of the context of emergency and humanitarian situations, triage will be hardly useful except when practically applied in priority-setting. What should be the number one priority for the year, which will have tremendous life-empowering impact to you, to your family, to your economy, and your career/organization? What actions/activities you should discontinue doing because it has lost its value, become burden than a joy, and lacks the challenge you require? What support systems would be required to get you on the right track to accomplish the 'priority of the year'? In the larger schemes of things, our actions should be aligned to the most important objective, not on the "non-urgent and non-priority, good-t0-have." Imagine what you are losing or giving away unintentionally when you don't do this at the beginning of the year?  My three-year-old daughter claims that "she pressed the wrong button" and apologized for making a mistake or making a minor infraction. I don't know about you but I find this to be very apt. We have a lot of buttons in front of us all the time. We try to press the right button but that doesn't mean that we do it with 100% accuracy. We do the balancing act: searching for understanding in light of uncertainty and complexity, looking for commonalities and broad-based agreements, pursuing the high road. Understanding the right cues and contexts, and ensuring we practice empathy, active listening, and regard for others is always good at any situation. But sometimes, we misread people and situations, we overreact or become stone-walled, or sometimes react badly with the slightest provocation. Making mistakes is part of our humanity in the context of many buttons. We have to stop incriminating ourselves, instead treat mistakes as a vehicle for learning and evolution. It is never fatal unless, it becomes an ego issue. Defiance is better left to more substantive issues of the day. |
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