Optimal Opportunities

If only home runs were counted as runs earned in a baseball game the outcome of the baseball season would be quite different. As well, if only hole-in- ones in a golf match were worth noting it would destroy the interest in golf. In tennis if the ace serve was the only significant happening of the game it would indeed be a boring event. So why then must we try to live life by figuratively focusing on homeruns, 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 was a phrase that I often heard from my - no, not my bookie - financial advisor. The "sucker bet" is 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 however such an event is entirely out of our control. It would be much more practical and successful if we would take daily actions to get to he 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 show up that takes us further on the road to our objective. Although opportunities some in all sizes more often than not they just seem to 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 homerun 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. Being greedy and holding out for the perfect circumstances to show up can keep us stagnated in our current situation forever. When we have serendipity we have an abundance of optimal opportunities.