“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” – Ann Landers
Don’t shy away from hard work. It’s what will set you apart from the herd.
Tag: opportunities
Change your attitude to change your life
You get what you look for in life. If you’re grouchy or mad or sad and you just want to be in a bad mood, you can find ways to reinforce those negative thoughts. But if you are positive and “happy go lucky,” if you are always looking for the silver lining, you’ll find that too. Your attitude shapes your perception of the world.
Change your attitude for the better and you’ll change your life for the better.
Thoughts on different types of equality
Equality of outcome is not possible, nor should it be desired. We should be striving for equality of opportunity. Everyone should be afforded the same opportunity and then they can choose whether they want to take those opportunities or not. Opportunity will never equal outcome because other factors still play a large part in determining the result. You can affect the result through hardworking, working efficiently, working creatively, working collaboratively, etc. You can get better at networking or delegating. You can get better at doing. And you can always run into good luck or bad luck.
People should be compensated based on their production, results, and merit, but that’s not always going to happen. Because unlike playing sports where you have the same objective and many ways to track results with tangible numbers, we can’t always quantify the value of a team member. And then there is the human, team morale, and leadership aspect to consider too. How can you quantify what that is worth?
We should always strive to be better – for ourselves, our family, friends, co-workers/team, company, city, state, nation, and world. We should strive for a more equal playing field and never stop striving for it. But the best way to start change is to start with yourself. Control what you can control, try to influence what/who you can influence, and realize that nothing is perfect.
Adversity, self-improvement, and fulfillment
Challenge and adversity sucks when you’re in the thick of it. It can seem like the hardship will never end. But just like all good things must come to an end, so too must all bad things. Life goes on – it stops for no one and nothing.
The great part about overcoming adversity is that it tests you and lets you know what you’re really made of. When life seems too easy and you’re completely comfortable, we often lack the intrinsic motivation to strive for self-improvement. But when we face difficulties and need to get something done, often times you will rise to the challenge. How will we know our limits if we never challenge ourselves (or are not challenged by outside circumstances)?
Think about how you can push yourself today – how you can test yourself. Have you been living a soft, cushy life for too long now? If so, do you feel that you’ve come close to reaching your full potential or is there more to go? And the other, more important, question…do you even care to reach your full potential? There’s no judgment if you don’t. You need to feel fulfilled and only you can determine that.
Start being excited about what could go right
Get excited!
Read, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos, talk to others, and actually start taking action.
Things can always go wrong (especially if you haven’t taken the time to properly prepare). But if you’ve mitigated your risk by doing everything you can ahead of time, you need to think about the opportunity cost of NOT taking action.
Most actions are reversible (or you can at least get back to a similar position if things don’t work out). So what’s the worst can that happen? You try, fail, and end up back where you’re at? Oh well. At least you’ll know you tried. And then you can use your experience to learn and try something else, should you decide to keep going after it.
If you never go for what excites you, you’ll always wonder “what if…” Why do that to yourself? Get excited about your potential and the opportunities that await and start taking action!