Ocean of Opportunity

Good morning! Many things to do today, but I wanted to get this thought out of my head and in writing. I am working on my upcoming speech, and my recent firing will fit well into my content.

In a very recent Saturday morning sales meeting I told the story (that I read by Dan Miller, who credits theologian John S. Dunne for the original) of Spanish sailors who sailed to South America. It was a long voyage in the 1800s, and they had run out of water to drink. Slowly the Spanish sailors were dying of thirst. They had spent many months in the Atlantic Ocean, knowing they could not drink the salt water, as it would surely kill them. What they didn't realize is that they were approaching South America right at the mouth of the Amazon River. The Amazon is one of the largest rivers in the world. It contains over 20% of the Earth's fresh water, and at the mouth is over 200 miles wide. It spills so much fresh water (8 trillion gallons a day!) into the ocean you can detect fresh water over 200 miles from shore! So to America the Spanish sailed, dying of thirst, while they were floating in the middle of the largest quantity of fresh water in the world!

So often in our daily lives we feel like we are dying inside; our jobs are dead end, our customers won't buy, and we don't have any time to enjoy anything. The truth is that we live in and are surrounded by a vast ocean of opportunity just waiting for us to dip into and drink! You can make your life whatever you want it to be. There is opportunity everywhere you look.

So now here I am, 3 days unemployed, being force-fed my own motivational lesson. Oceans of Opportunity. Undoubtedly I have no choice but to heed what I've been preaching and search for my opportunities. I actually feel good about that, and the more I look the more I can see opportunity. The constraints are there, yes, but with an open mind and a drive to find meaningful employment (with employment being paramount), my future is unwritten, a blank sheet of paper onto which I can write anything. Who knows, in a week I may be back working grueling hours managing a sales department, with no time for anything else, but then again maybe not! Either way my life has changed and I can taste the opportunities that a person with some talent has, so my long range goals are crystalizing.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Now, back to grinding out a job. Just as in making sales is a matter of setting quality appointments, finding a job is a matter of setting quality interviews, so I'm off to secure some face time with my future employer. Who knows, the salt water I've been swimming in may be turning fresh enough to drink.