H. Jackson Brown Jr. said, “Opportunity dances with those who are ready on the dance floor.” That’s pretty good information to have in your pocket for these challenging times. I have always believed that it is not what happens that determines your future but what you make out of what happens. Often you have to sort of ignore what is happening all around you and plod on ahead to your goal. You certainly cannot let the doom and gloom merchants on TV impact your thinking. I guess it is important now that we hear our own drummer and march to our own beat. Most of my life I have been out of step with those around me and there is a certain thrill in being unique and although it separates you from the crowd, every now and then it puts you ahead of the pack.
Are you out there on the dance floor ready for opportunity to come up and tap you on the shoulder? Are you moving around and making new friends, new contacts, making yourself available for new challenges and new opportunities? Have you developed the habit of following up with those you meet? Send them a note saying how pleased you were to meet them.
Most successful people can point to the time that their life changed for the better. When I met my mentor Herb True Ph.D. I hadn’t even been invited to that meeting. There were perhaps fifty others in that room but I was the one who stuck my neck out and went up and gave Herb a few new jokes I had written. He hired me as a part time writer and it changed my life.
When we had a horrible employee triple amputation incident, I was the one who called the Exec. VP and challenged him to come over and visit the injured man in the hospital. He came, we met and on the way to the hospital I told him about my dream for a safer, better railroad and that meeting changed my life. I spent the next ten years making my dream come true and our safety record improved dramatically.
Although I didn’t really know the steps, each time I had a breakthrough in my life I had somehow thrown myself out on that dance floor and made myself available for opportunity.
Some look at what is happening in America today and say that this is the very worse time to hope for anything good to happen, others will see this as one of the most opportune times ever in America. It is all in your point of view. Get out there on the dance floor today.
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