Play Your Hand?

Certain types of people (MBAs, Type-A Personalities, Those who are very ambitious) have a natural tendency to be extremely focused on their goals and have a clear vision of what their success should look like.  I have personally been guilty of this syndrome at various stages of my development…where I should go to college, what the “right” job was post college, where I should attend Business School, and even currently as far as what the “right” job and company is to pursue post MBA.  This post is not anti goals or focus because I think the more clarity one has on what they want the higher the likelihood they can find it and ultimately be wildly successful in that pursuit.  This post is about remembering to not be so blinded by your goals and ambitions to overlook great opportunities that are right in front of you that may not be packaged exactly as you had planned.

I have recently (over the past year or so) experienced a variety of pursuits, experiences, and occurrences that didn’t pan out exactly how I wanted them to. But in each and every one of these situations, something bigger and better than my previous expectations has happened as a result of walking into the opportunity that was placed in front of me.  It wasn’t always easy, I spent a lot of time looking at closed doors and thinking about ways and strategies to reopen and revisit lost opportunities.  Looking back, that was wasted time and energy that would have been better spent  running through the doors that were open to me.  We’re all responsible for creating our own luck (with significant help from fate and destiny) and should remember that despite the cards we’ve been dealt there’s someone else who has been dealt an even worse hand and would be thankful to be in our shoes.  With that perspective in mind the impetus is on us to play the heck out of our hand.  Good luck!