I’m beginning to think that you are born with the most extraordinary potential.. and that in part the futility of life strips you of this potential bit by bit. This is an extremely depressing statement for someone as generally happy as it’s possible to be. Yet, whilst pondering the 3rd of my life that I have already got through (judging from current expectancies) I begin to think that not only could I have achieved more but that there are many people who probably feel the same way. I definitely know a couple…
So if this is the case is it circumstance that gets us more? Do you really just have to be in the right place at the right time? My experience so far leads me to think that is helps an awful lot. Opportunity seems to me to be something that you can only influence mildly. Although I’m sure the Richard Branson’s of this world would tell me otherwise.
I have of course noticed that trend where the outspoken of this world seem to get themselves “opportunities” slightly more than others. The trouble with this is that really genuine opportunities don’t appear to be affected by this approach. You can’t work your way into the right position to take advantage of an opportunity you notice.. but by taking that one, you almost certainly miss out on another. Perhaps the one you missed might have been more rewarding in the long term. I guess this is the point where most readers think I’m going to harp on about fate, or discuss the possibility of a pre determined path in life. I’m not… because I believe life is indeed what you make of it. Is that a contradiction? Well no, it isn’t.
So how do you make sure that you are going to have lived the life that you wanted? How can you put in place the kind of safeguards that prevent you from having all kinds of general mishaps in life. The honest-to-your mother truth (rather than god as I’m sure he doesn’t need your honesty if he is real) is that you can’t. There’s absolutely no way. What we really are trying to do with our 9-5, monthly wages, consume-a-lot approach to the world is guarantee a bit of a smoother ride. We don’t conform to the “Mr and Mrs Jones” way of life to ensure success. Problem for me is that this is a somewhat blinkered view. Why try to prevent the problems being problems? They are going to happen regardless. I suppose we do it for security. Predicting the future is impossible, planning for it isn’t. So do we minimise the risk of something untoward happening by being mundane? By conforming to the social stereotypes that we are labelled with.
My point here is that this country wide act of “toeing the line” possibly minimises the randomness and frequency of the events that are going to occur to us. In turn, this potentially minimises the number of events that are to provide us with opportunity.
Everybody knows one. There’s a person in your life who is slightly wacky. A bit of a zany character that somehow seems to stumble upon some truly incredible opportunities. It’s that thing that they are doing that is different to us. The lack of planning. The increased spontaneity in their life. They just “do” and avoid being hedged in by the continual repetition of events that make up the “secure” life that everyone else leads. I don’t feel hard done by that these people get these opportunities and I may not. It the fact that I feel this way that makes most of my days easier and makes them a little harder for other people.
Opportunity becomes very relative when talking about where people have come from and where they have got to. Ol’ Branson for instance, was hardly the poorest boy in Britain as a child. Besides… when I was younger I remember feeling I’d witnessed something unjust happening to me. I remember saying to my Dad:
“Dad… that’s not fair!”
My extremely wise Father then turned to me and said:
”Well life’s not fair.”
So if this is the case is it circumstance that gets us more? Do you really just have to be in the right place at the right time? My experience so far leads me to think that is helps an awful lot. Opportunity seems to me to be something that you can only influence mildly. Although I’m sure the Richard Branson’s of this world would tell me otherwise.
I have of course noticed that trend where the outspoken of this world seem to get themselves “opportunities” slightly more than others. The trouble with this is that really genuine opportunities don’t appear to be affected by this approach. You can’t work your way into the right position to take advantage of an opportunity you notice.. but by taking that one, you almost certainly miss out on another. Perhaps the one you missed might have been more rewarding in the long term. I guess this is the point where most readers think I’m going to harp on about fate, or discuss the possibility of a pre determined path in life. I’m not… because I believe life is indeed what you make of it. Is that a contradiction? Well no, it isn’t.
So how do you make sure that you are going to have lived the life that you wanted? How can you put in place the kind of safeguards that prevent you from having all kinds of general mishaps in life. The honest-to-your mother truth (rather than god as I’m sure he doesn’t need your honesty if he is real) is that you can’t. There’s absolutely no way. What we really are trying to do with our 9-5, monthly wages, consume-a-lot approach to the world is guarantee a bit of a smoother ride. We don’t conform to the “Mr and Mrs Jones” way of life to ensure success. Problem for me is that this is a somewhat blinkered view. Why try to prevent the problems being problems? They are going to happen regardless. I suppose we do it for security. Predicting the future is impossible, planning for it isn’t. So do we minimise the risk of something untoward happening by being mundane? By conforming to the social stereotypes that we are labelled with.
My point here is that this country wide act of “toeing the line” possibly minimises the randomness and frequency of the events that are going to occur to us. In turn, this potentially minimises the number of events that are to provide us with opportunity.
Everybody knows one. There’s a person in your life who is slightly wacky. A bit of a zany character that somehow seems to stumble upon some truly incredible opportunities. It’s that thing that they are doing that is different to us. The lack of planning. The increased spontaneity in their life. They just “do” and avoid being hedged in by the continual repetition of events that make up the “secure” life that everyone else leads. I don’t feel hard done by that these people get these opportunities and I may not. It the fact that I feel this way that makes most of my days easier and makes them a little harder for other people.
Opportunity becomes very relative when talking about where people have come from and where they have got to. Ol’ Branson for instance, was hardly the poorest boy in Britain as a child. Besides… when I was younger I remember feeling I’d witnessed something unjust happening to me. I remember saying to my Dad:
“Dad… that’s not fair!”
My extremely wise Father then turned to me and said:
”Well life’s not fair.”
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