The Opportunity Game

‘the perilous journey …’ from Nic Askew on Vimeo.

THIS FILM IS BEST EXPERIENCED …

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THESE FILMS ARE BEST EXPERIENCED WITHOUT THE DISTRACTION OF THE MODERN WORLD

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They concern the ability to see. And to pay full attention. A challenge in a fast paced world.

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WARNING : DO NOT ATTEMPT TO VIEW IF ANYTHING ELSE IS GOING ON

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1. LOWER THE LIGHTS.

2. SWITCH THE OFF THE WORLD. HEADPHONES ON. IF ALONE.

3. PLAY FULL SCREEN. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the big deal about opportunity? The answer lies in its very definition. According to the Random House Dictionary an opportunity is “a situation or condition favorable for attainment of a goal.” The Opportunity Game is played by shifting every situation or condition so that it is favorable for the attainment of some goal that is important to you. Naturally, there are many opportunities that you seek to avoid. Those that deliberately cause pain, injury or death to yourself or others are clearly opportunities to be avoided. However, even in seemingly negative situations there are possibilities to be explored.

The key to becoming masterful at playing The Opportunity Game is to be agile in mind and heart. In the game of life, the rules frequently change, often without prior warning. You must be prepared to catch whatever is thrown your way and run with it to the finish line. Your ability to quickly shift your attitude or perspective about any given situation will afford you far more opportunities for success than if you are stuck in a mindset that doesn’t support you. An old Taoist parable speaks well to this issue:

When an old farmer’s stallion wins a prize at a country show, his neighbor calls round to congratulate him, but the old farmer says, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?”  The next day some thieves come and steal his valuable animal.  His neighbor comes to commiserate with him, but the old man replies, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?”  Read the rest of this entry »

I have been thinking a lot about greed these days. In a culture that prizes things over people, it is not surprising that greed is running rampant. However, like Buddhism’s Hungry Ghosts who are filled with unquenchable hunger and whose tiny necks are too small to let any nourishment into their huge stomachs, our greed precludes satiation. Like the junk food we mindlessly eat all day, the food that arrives in our bellies leaves us malnourished and craving more.

Greed is seductive, beckoning you into “the safe”, it then locks the door leaving you with no strategy or nor way to exit without help from someone else. The person whom greed hurts the most is you (or me when I am in its thrall). It separates us from others and diverts us from our own desire for true happiness. Read the rest of this entry »

How would you react if you were greeted this way by a group of people you had never met? How long would it take you to open up and receive the welcome these strangers had planned for you?

Thinking about the numerous times I’ve flown into the JFK International Airport not expecting to be met by anyone that I knew, I know that my first response would be denial, “No, this welcome is not for me,” and I’d immediately correct their mistake. When my “Welcome Committee” persisted, I would no doubt become more assertive in my refusal to accept their gift. My second response would then be to actively convince them that they had mistaken me for another Judith. Only after these generously welcoming people refused to take “No!” for an answer would I finally surrender and receive their gift with open arms. Why would I expend so much energy to refuse a welcome? Read the rest of this entry »

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 »