I came across this short movie by Peter Reynolds via Patty Digh’s excellent blog 37 Days. Bonding with our “inner child” has been all the rage these past couple of decades. Personally, the whole idea of an inner child has not particularly thrilled me. It has always felt trite and too contrived. Yet I know that a part of me still has my childlike wonder, creativity and incessant desire to learn new things. This child part of me was also not afraid to fail in the service of learning of new things and was much more authentic in expressing her feelings before she learned what was appropriate in her family and the world. The child in me who has now morphed into an adult still lives and still longs to express herself in both good ways and ways that are not always best for the adult version of me.
“He Was Me” provided me with an opportunity to ponder the many experiences that I have chosen to forgo because they are not appropriately adult. Most of these experiences involve having fun, pretending, being silly and much to my surprise, involve a healthy amount of creativity. It’s sad for me to realize that I have an unconscious picture of adults being stodgy, serious, uptight and definitely not fun! This could describe my parents who were my first role models in the world of adulthood. Read the rest of this entry »
I just came across a wonderful blog post by Allison Arieff who writes the By Design blog for the NY Times. In her latest entry she highlights the work of Steven M. Johnson whom she describes as an “inventor/author/cartoonist/former urban planner”. Johnson excels at using everyday items as catapults for thinking “outside the box”. Looking at his drawings, I’m amused and at the same time fascinated that his mind connects disparate things in the useful way that he does. I, for one, never associated driving with baking prior to seeing Johnson’s creative illustration.
Steven M. Johnson
Upon first seeing this illustration, I laughed out loud. Then on second look I thought, “Yes, that’s an interesting idea!” With even further reflection, I realized that Johnson had inspired me. What other ideas and activities could I put together that would enhance the quality of my life and others’ lives as well? I don’t have an immediate answer to this question. However, I will definitely take time to think about it.
I love the way that Johnson’s work is at once utilitarian and playful. Who wouldn’t use a toaster oven to heat up a quick bite on the way to work? On a more serious note, those people who have been forced out of their homes and are living in their cars would surely benefit from the hot meal that this toaster oven could provide. What initially seemed goofy, now feels practical. In fact, now that I’ve taken this idea seriously, I’m wondering whether a microwave oven could be even more useful.
What ideas have you dismissed as too goofy to be taken seriously?
When you remove your negative judgment about the idea, what is left?
What’s the opportunity that is waiting to be discovered?
I initially wanted to label this post: Opportunity Is A Contact Sport! However, upon thinking more about contact sports and their proclivity for injury and damage, I decided that contact improvisation would be a much better and more “opportune” metaphor. According to Wikipedia.com “contact improvisation is a dance technique in which points of physical contact provide the starting point for exploration through movement improvisation.” This notion of connection and contact is so inherent to The Opportunity Game it is quite easy to overlook it.
Connection is the engine that fuels the power of The Opportunity Game. Cultivate your internal connections (your personal aha! moments) and your online and offline interpersonal connections. These can spur any number of unexpected opportunities. A great example of connection leading to opportunity occurred for me earlier today. A student of mine contacted me for help in regard to a coaching issue. I answered his question quickly and easily. He gratefully responded although he also bemoaned the fact that there was no specific place to go to receive answers to the type of question that he was asking. Immediately, I saw an opportunity that would benefit me and other coaching students who had similar issues. I could resurrect an old online column that I had stopped writing a couple of years ago that specifically responded to these very sorts of questions. While my student was the one who made the initial connection, as a result of our conversation this afternoon, I will create an opportunity for myself that will be mutually beneficial. Acting on this opportunity will then create numerous other opportunities for me that I can’t even foresee today. Read the rest of this entry »
A man is slowly walking down the street, his head is facing down, his back is bent forward and he is seemingly unaware of anything but the sidewalk beneath his feet. There are people walking toward him and behind him but he plods along neither greeting nor stopping for anyone. If I were to ask you how this man is likely to be feeling, what would your response be?
I have used this scenario over and over again and nine times out of ten, people tell me that the man is depressed or sad. “What is the evidence for this?” I ask. People answer, “His head is facing down and he’s not looking at anyone. Plus he’s walking very slowly and not particularly aware of his surroundings.”
“On the contrary,” I reply. He’s actually very excited. His head is down and his back is bent forward because last month as he was walking down the same busy street he found a lottery ticket. Nobody claimed the ticket and he won a million dollars. He thinks that if he was lucky once, he could get lucky again. He may be greedy but he’s certainly neither sad nor depressed, merely dedicated to his task. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes golden moments exist in the midst of trial and tribulation and sometimes they arise in the midst of success and joy. In my experience, the most golden moments are those when life has thrown me lemons and I’ve squeezed all the juice out of them that I can. For me, to share that juice with others, it just doesn’t get any better than that!
Ten and a half years ago I was diagnosed with a very lethal form of cancer. Because ovarian cancer is particularly hard to detect in its early stages most women die of this disease. I was lucky to have experienced several particularly searing pains that allowed the cancer to be treated relatively early in its development.
During my treatment, I decided that there was no point in having a tragedy if I couldn’t make it work for me. Read the rest of this entry »
![[del.icio.us]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[Ma.gnolia]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/magnolia.png)
![[Reddit]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Email]](http://theopportunitygame.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
