Whether you believe it or not, each day presents a favorable circumstance in your life. This circumstance (or series of circumstances) stares you in the face and gives you a chance to react, then runs away quickly as if to mock you for your hesitation.
That bait is what I like to call the “small window of opportunity” or SWO. Every day presents many small unscheduled chances for you to act on appropriately but if you don’t answer in a timely manner that chance can be lost forever.
My mom told me that her father said once that if a person dies without having any true regrets, then that person may not have lived at all. This is sage wisdom.
What he meant was that he let some opportunities pass him by during his lifetime which caused him to have deep regrets later in life. It’s human nature to have regrets because regrets involve active decision making and sometimes we don’t make the best decisions. Without deviating too far away from looking at these small windows of opportunities, let me tell you a small story:
Recently I saw an iconic photo of a man sleeping on the subway while former President Barack Obama stood next to him. Now, I am assuming the man slept fully through what could have been one of the more profound interactions of his year or of his decade in conversation with the man standing beside him. Instead, he was fast asleep and that small window of opportunity to have a life changing moment passed him by. A connection could have happened, but it didn’t. That particular SWO was lost forever.
You can graduate from the best University, know the best people and have the best car but if you allow a small chance to slip by you may miss it for the rest of your life. What small windows have you missed lately and how can you prevent that from happening again?
Conclusion
Don’t spend your life stuck in the past with your head down and don’t spend it being too stressed about your future. Look for the small windows of opportunity each day and act accordingly. Leave no regrets on the table.
Ryan
—
Previously Published on Medium
—
