energize your thinking

Optimal:
Most favorable or desirable.
 

Opportunity:
a good position, chance, or prospect, as for advancement or success.
Dictionary.com

Optimal Opportunities

If home runs were the only runs counted in a baseball game the outcome of the baseball season would be quite different.  If a hole-in-one in golf was the only objective it would drastically change the game.  In tennis, if the ace serve was the only way to score it would indeed be a boring event.  So why then must we try to live life by figuratively focusing on home runs, hole-in-ones and ace serves?  

 

We spend a lot of money chasing jackpots such as buying lottery tickets, playing various games of chance, getting into get-rich schemes, investing in questionable ventures etc. No doubt, most of that money could be channeled into activities that would be more fruitful and fulfilling even though lacking in the appeal of striking it rich or getting something for nothing.

 

“Suckers bet on the long shots.” This is a warning that may be heard from a financial advisor as well as from a well meaning gambling mentor. We are an easy target when we expect to receive a large return on our investment even when the odds are vastly against us.

 

Waiting for our “ship to come in” is a fantasy that we seem to relish and pursue even though such an event is entirely out of our control. It would be much more practical and successful if we would make plans to get to the ship rather than waiting for it to arrive.  If we can get past our greed and quick-solution obsessions and put our attention on just taking the next small step in the direction we want to go, we will likely get there.

 

Opportunities often come in small doses but when we are expecting some gigantic and miraculous happening we will likely ignore a real opportunity of lesser stature. An optimal opportunity is any possibility that shows up to take us further on the road to our objective. Although opportunities come in all sizes, more often than not they just seem to be the next logical step if we are highly attuned to our mission.  

 

One small, seemingly insignificant event can be a turning point that impacts the rest of our life which in retrospect turns out to be indispensable to our success. We have all had pivotal incidents in our lives and can appreciate the import of one “small” incident.  

 

To take advantage of optimal opportunities we must lose our propensity for demanding radical change to occur overnight. Let us take the one small step in the right direction with gratitude. If a home run is the result of one of our efforts we can accept it with gratitude knowing this is the exception rather than the rule.  It is misleading to designate any step in the right direction as small or insignificant.

 

All appropriate actions and accomplishments, no matter the magnitude, are part of the process that accounts for our successes.  Holding out for the perfect circumstances to show up can keep us stagnated in our current situation forever.  When we attune to our goals and aspiration and behave accordingly we are likely to have an abundance of optimal opportunities.