Month / April 2016

Opportunity Shows Up

Opportunity is important. It’s a version of luck. You need to be ready when opportunity shows up.

Opportunity is not a one time visitor. It shows up all the time. When it does it makes an offer. An offer you can take or reject. Sometimes you should drop everything and take the offer. Other times you should let the offer go because taking it would cause more harm than good to your life.

You need to learn to recognise which to take and which to leave.

Opportunity shows up and makes an offer. A random offer. It might be something you want, or not. But you don’t have to accept that system. You can influence the offers. You can make it so you get more offers of the things you want. You can make your own opportunities. Just like you can make your own luck.

If you want something you have to work hard for it. That way when opportunity shows up you have a better chance of being offered the deal you want. Sure, you could not work towards something at all and hope to get randomly picked. Hard work, though, hard work rigs it in your favour.

by Colin Brosnan

Anti X Bias

Every now and again there’s a news story about someone accusing someone else of an anti x bias. Where x could be pretty much anything but is usually something related to religion, politics, or other topics with strongly held opinions.

People with a strongly held view are very sensitive about it. It is often so strongly held that it is part of that person’s identity.

Being sensitive about a topic means a person accusing others of an anti x bias do so because x is their thing and they notice any slight against it. Other topics, say l, m, n, o, and p may also have been discussed in the same manner but the person is unable to see that. Or they see any criticism of x as an attack on x and can’t take it or accept it.

There are situations where the anti x bias is real and not imagined, though I find it is usually imagined.

Last month, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, was released to lots of bad reviews. For most movies that would be that. But BvS is a comic book movie, based on DC comics, with a huge fan base. Some of these fans accused the reviewers of being bought off, by rival comic book studio, Marvel, to give the movie a bad review. Very strongly held opinions. Very sensitive about those opinions.

No doubt any of us are capable of being sensitive about the opinions we hold. But if we find ourselves accusing others of a bias against something we hold dear, perhaps we should first determine if it is ourselves being sensitive. Not an easy task when we see something as part of who we are.

by Colin Brosnan

Make it Work

You won’t always have an abundance to do with what you will.

You may be short on materials. You may be short on time. You may be forced to use materials you don’t like. You may be forced to deal with all sorts of constraints.

No excuses. Make it work.

by Colin Brosnan

We Are Links

None of us work in isolation. Each of us builds on the work of those that came before. The work we complete will be built on by those that follow.

We are a chain. Each link important to the strength of the whole.

On the day, in the moment, it may seem like we stand alone, unsupported. We don’t. There may be no one with us but we are not alone. We have the support of the fullness of history. The tools we use are there because the past has provided them. The knowledge we have is there because the past discovered it.

No piece of work is less important than another. Today’s work may not have the scale of yesterday’s but without it tomorrow’s work could not happen. Without it tomorrow’s work could only build on the work of yesterday. Without it tomorrow’s work would be a step behind. Or perhaps today’s work is at the largest scale. But don’t forget that without yesterday, today would not be possible.

We are a chain, with each of us a link. Don’t break the chain.

by Colin Brosnan

Failure Contradiction

Failure is not an option. Failure must be an option.

Everything is riding on this. You must succeed. You can’t fail. Failure is not an option.

If you don’t allow yourself to fail – possibly over and over – you will never grow enough to succeed. Failure must be an option.

Both can be true.

by Colin Brosnan

Contradiction

Do the work. Spend more time with your family. Exercise. Don’t forget to hang out with your friends. Take some time for yourself.

Each contradicts the other. You can’t do it all. But you can do a little of everything. Sometimes that’s not enough and you have to go all in on one thing.

A lot of advice contradicts other advice. Just do what’s right for you at the time. But no excuses.

by Colin Brosnan

You Can’t Just Work

You need to do the work. You need to put in the hours and the time. But not just with the work.

You need to have more in your life. There are more aspects of your life that are important. You need to pay attention to all of them. It can’t just be the work.

You need more in life to survive. You need more in life to keep going.

The work is important, but life is not just about the work.

by Colin Brosnan