I got a letter in the mail the other day, and was pretty surprised at first. After all, who writes letters anymore? I opened the envelope to find a newspaper clipping with a handwritten post-it note attached. I thought to myself, “Was I mentioned in a newspaper somewhere?”
The first clue was on the outside of the envelope. It addressed my first name (I’m called by my middle name). Could have easily been an oversight, I guess. On the post-it note inside, also addressed to Michael. And as I looked at the newspaper clipping, it had nothing to do with me, personally. It was a fake newspaper article about a local car dealership who was running a “special pricing event.”
This is a car dealership I’ve bought from before, and I have a family friend that works there. I have shopped with them several times looking for new cars. People there know my name when I walk in. I don’t honestly know what’s more insulting, that they couldn’t even take the time to address it to the correct name, or that they actually thought I would believe this was a real newspaper article. [click to continue…]
On the ladder to success, it’s awfully tempting to take every great opportunity we’re given. It’s only natural to want to make the very best of them. All of them.
The problem with this kind of opportunism is that in a very short time, you can find yourself overloaded and spread too thin. I’m talking about literally overloaded, in terms of the shear amount of time devoted to different projects and priorities.
You might find that your mind is also overloaded. With too many parallel initiatives, it can be difficult to focus and think critically about them. They all suffer individually because of the mental weight of the collective.
But opportunism also has another, even higher, price. The opportunity cost of taking every great opportunity that comes along, is that you will soon be confronted with one you simply cannot take because you are overcommitted. And it may be the one opportunity that could have meant the most to your career or life goals.
So next time you are presented with an opportunity, think carefully about your other obligations before jumping in and saying “yes.” Although it’s difficult, sometimes the most valuable opportunities are the ones we said no to.
We all get complacent sometimes. We fall into a comfort zone, and stop pushing ourselves to achieve our goals. Last week I realized I’ve gotten complacent, too. After speaking at ConvergeSE in June, I decided to take a few weeks off, spend a little time with my family, and reevaluate my priorities. After a year of promoting my book, including 22 speaking engagements, I needed a break.
But somehow, a break of a few weeks turned into a few months. I stopped focusing on finding speaking engagements, and as a result, by the time I speak again it will have been almost 3 months. A lot can happen in three months! Every professional speaker I know says that you have to keep practicing, keep working on your craft.
There’s also the loss of momentum that comes from slowing down or stopping for a few months. When my book published last June, promotion started out a little slow. The more I traveled and spoke, the more momentum I built up. Toward the end I was speaking 2-3 times per month (which is a lot considering my full-time job and other commitments). Then nothing. For three months.
It’s going to be tough, but I’m already working on getting that momentum back. I do have several speaking engagements already in October (and am still interested in speaking in September if the right opportunity presents). Going forward, I’m going to be sure to not get lazy and lose too much momentum.
What have you gotten complacent about lately?
I’ve submitted to speak at the 2011 South By Southwest conference. My panel, Luck is a Four-Letter Word is about being proactive instead of sitting back and waiting for things to happen. It’s about seizing opportunities.
But it’s more than just a motivational self-help speech. Over the years, I’ve had some amazing opportunities… and it had nothing to do with “luck.” I’ve also, like everyone, had some misfortunes from time to time. But although we don’t have complete control over what happens to us in life, we do control how we handle those situations.
My session is all about how to watch out for opportunities, and when there aren’t any, how to make them. It’s practical advice on how to move from waiting for good things to happen to taking your life by the horns.
Please consider voting for my talk at the SxSW 2011 Panel Picker.
If you think it’s a good idea and want to vote for me, here’s how. It will take at most 5 minutes of your time:
