HALF TIME THOUGHTS, EPISODE 29: EIGHT OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE TAKING
In Episode 28 of #HalfTimeThoughts, I laid out my New Year Solutions – seven ideas that I plan to use as reminders (spurs, maybe?) to make 2022 a better year than those that preceded it.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to expand on some of those ideas as I think more deeply about how to make them meaningful and effective.
“Wait a minute!”, I hear you cry. “You mean you didn’t think deeply about them before committing them to paper (and an article!) as your 2022 goals?”
Define “deeply”.
I don’t take goal setting lightly. But nor am I hung up on having the most rigorous, analytical process or sticking bloody-mindedly to goals if they become irrelevant or unhelpful partway through the year.
I like the goal framework that I’ve constructed and published. Let’s see whether that’s still true in a few weeks and months as I turn those well-intentioned words into real actions.
Meanwhile, here’s some added color on the first idea: making the most of opportunities.
The Challenge and Proposed Solution (reprise)
For each of my seven ideas, I described a challenge that I observed when reflecting on my life in 2020-2021, together with a solution to help make things better in 2022.
Here is what I wrote for “Opportunities”:
Challenge: Logical restrictions on movement, gathering, and social interaction mean fewer opportunities to experience life beyond my day-to-day routine.
Solution: Apart from the obvious “get my arse off the couch”, it’s imperative to take advantage of the viable opportunities that remain.
I noted that doing new things can seem inconvenient, expensive, and even unnecessary, yet it’s the experiences that enrich our lives and generate memories we can enjoy for years to come.
A strong gravitational pull exerted by our status quo constantly pulls us back to doing what we’ve always done, and COVID has persisted long enough for us to establish a new, diminished status quo where we’re doing less and what we’re doing is less varied.
This makes it even more important to break away and do … stuff.
A Quick Aside to Define Opportunity
At risk of sounding like a psychology paper, I want to spend a hot minute explaining what I mean when I use the word “opportunity”.
According to the dictionary, it means “a set of (favorable) circumstances that makes it possible to do something”. Some definitions also include the word “chance”.
The word’s etymology involves the Latin opportunus meaning “convenient”.
The sense I had in mind when selecting this idea for 2022 is making sure we spot and take advantage of circumstances (chances) to do beneficial things that we might otherwise not do.
The two elements are worth emphasizing. First, recognizing that the favorable circumstances exist. Second, doing something with them.
The two elements are worth emphasizing. First, recognizing that the favorable circumstances exist. Second, doing something with them.
Living in our humdrum COVID cocoons, it’s easy to slip into a dystopian mindset where we believe that all opportunities to do beneficial things are restricted. As I’ll discuss, that’s simply not true.
It’s also easy to get caught up in the self-pity and woe that inevitably accompanies a two-plus year pandemic where hundreds of thousands of people have died. We can start to feel guilty for doing something fun, enjoying a different experience, or admitting life isn’t quite so bad after all.
Types of Opportunity
I’m going to discuss eight types of opportunity. These are just the ones that came to my mind; individual results may vary.
I will seek opportunities to: (in no particular order)
1. Reflection and Gratitude
I’m an action-oriented person, which means this is something that’s easy for me to neglect. Ironically, it’s also a great way to pick oneself up when things are looking bleak all around.
You don’t have to make it a daily practice (although mental health coaches certainly recommend that approach) but taking a semi-regular pause to stop and smell the proverbial roses is valuable.
Is there anything about our current circumstances that stops us from doing this? I don’t think so. If anything, we’re getting more time to ourselves during which it ought to be possible.
More likely, we’re falling into the trap of assuming that we’re not achieving very much while fenced-in by pandemic-related restrictions.
Don’t be fooled. You’re accomplishing more than you give yourself credit for, and it’s worth pausing to acknowledge that – as well as saying a quick thank you to those who make your life possible.
2. Reading
Some people are voracious readers. Others are not. On that spectrum, my wife is 150% and I’m maybe 50%.
Over the holidays, I picked up a physical book for the first time in what felt like ages. It was a Christmas gift, I was staying in a hotel, and I had some downtime between family obligations. Talk about fortuitous circumstances!
The experience reminded me just how much I enjoy reading if I give it a chance.
More often, I listen to audiobooks while driving or exercising. However, my listening list is skewed toward non-fiction and a mix of business, historical, and scientific topics. (My Christmas paper copy was Stanley Tucci’s excellent memoir, Taste: My Life Through Food.)
I also have an email folder creatively titled “To Read”.
Today, it contains 1,750 messages. Most weeks, I add a handful of items that I find interesting but not of sufficient importance to digest in the moment.
Unfortunately, I seldom make time to read any of the – presumably insightful and worthwhile – messages, links, and articles that I’ve saved.
This is low-hanging fruit. Each message might only take 5-10 minutes to read but could contain the inspirational equivalent of a winning lottery ticket.
In addition to picking up a physical book more often, I’m going to dip into my “To Read” reservoir during some of those ten-minutes-to-kill gaps that sneak onto my calendar from time to time.
3. Experimentation
Nothing kinky to see here. Move along now.
I’m talking about carving out a few minutes to try something new that’s piqued your curiosity but hasn’t qualified for a slice of your precious time.
How often do you find yourself asking “I wonder if…” but then abandoning the line of enquiry because you’ve got other (note, I didn’t say better) things to do?
On a good day, I scribble these ideas on my desktop whiteboard but I’m sure a high percentage don’t make it there or get erased later without fuller investigation.
I’m particularly curious about apps.
Yes, they are a dime a dozen – or, more accurately, nothing a million – but that doesn’t mean finding an app worth using is impossible.
I occasionally read about them in newsletters and articles, mentioned by the author because they’ve found them valuable enough to highlight.
I frequently see them advertised on LinkedIn, although it takes a very good ad to catch my eye amid the onslaught.
If I never stop to investigate, download, and try, I’m guaranteed never to benefit from functionality that might have been written for someone exactly like me.
I might even find a solution that unlocks an opportunity I didn’t even realize I’m missing (or solves a problem I don’t yet know that I have).
4. Experiences
This was the ancestral idea that begat my 2022 commitment to opportunities.
Experiences are the things that we remember long after material possessions have been discarded and apps superseded or uninstalled.
Experiences are the things that we remember long after material possessions have been discarded and apps superseded or uninstalled.
They’re the things we tell our family and friends about, reminiscing about a shared experience or bragging (in a nice way) when we’ve richly enjoyed something they ought to try if they get a chance.
This is also where social restrictions have taken their greatest toll.
From theaters, to restaurants, to large-scale events, we spent months staring at a blank calendar. The litany of permanent closures has been heartbreaking.
But the world has adapted.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, I enjoyed theater performances in Houston and London’s West End. I’ve eaten at excellent restaurants in a dozen cities across the USA and the UK. I’ve seen wonderful art exhibitions feature Hockney, Van Gogh, Calder, and Picasso – including the mind-expanding Interactive Van Gogh installation.
It would have been easy to turn any of these down. They’re more complicated to get into (although I don’t find pulling out my vaccination card especially onerous), less comfortable to enjoy (although I’m quite accustomed to wearing a mask), and tickets can be expensive.
But it’s worth it.
Consider that statement for a moment. What is an experience worth in units of time, comfort, or convenience?
There’s clearly not an exact answer. Time, comfort, convenience, and memories aren’t fungible into a common currency of value. It’s all relative.
How much is the time spent absorbing the experience of an art exhibit worth compared to the same time spent on the couch watching on-demand TV?
How much cost should I attribute to the inconveniences of waiting in a socially distanced queue, proving my vaccination status, and sitting close to people who might be carrying an unpleasant virus (wittingly or unwittingly)?
My hypothesis is that long-term benefits (the memories) are worth more than short-term inconveniences, and that I should take advantage of circumstances favorable to accruing those benefits rather than committing the same units of time to things that are easily accessed and always available.
5. Contribution
Most of the opportunities I’m describing are acts of consumption or at least primarily for one’s own benefit.
This one is different.
Opportunities arise where I am offered a chance to contribute. That is, dedicate some of my resources – time, experience, physical and mental energy – to producing something of benefit to others.
From volunteering in service of the less fortunate (sorting goods at the food bank, for example) to writing a helpful reply to an online question, these opportunities range from two-minute to whole day commitments. It doesn’t matter which you choose.
The act of diverting time and effort away from self-serving activities into something primarily for the benefit of others is both satisfying and rewarding. It scratches a primeval itch to collaborate and be part of a community.
In today’s America, that sense of community spirit has ebbed. I’d like to think it’s reaching a low water mark but sadly I can’t say that with any confidence.
Every little helps as charitable organizations are quick to remind us.
A few moments invested here and there without any expectation of return are a contribution to a better world.
A few moments invested here and there without any expectation of return are a contribution to a better world.
If you’re stuck at home wondering what to do, look for a chance to contribute. Don’t worry about where it will lead or whether your time could be better spent elsewhere. Whichever community your contribution benefits will appreciate you.
6. Breaking from the Routine
I’m a bit of a robot. Knock me out of my morning routine and there’s no telling what might get forgotten.
Some routines, I will argue, are valuable. They make sure the basics get done without consuming any more mental energy than necessary.
Others are just habits. We become so used to doing things a certain way, in a certain order, at a certain time that they put down roots and build defenses. After a while, doing anything else feels like a violation of the rules.
Those are the routines that I’m suggesting we break free from, occasionally.
I’m not advocating for wholesale lifestyle changes here, although don’t be afraid to make them if that’s what you truly need.
Rather, I’m looking for opportunities to step outside the established pattern once in a while in a deliberate act of favorable circumstance harvesting.
What the hell, why not? That’s the sort of reaction I’m fishing for.
Tacos on a Wednesday? It doesn’t rhyme the same but, sure, you do you.
Taking an hour to read a book after lunch instead of diving straight back into email? Hey, is there ever anything in that inbox that’s so urgent an hour makes a difference?
Your routines – helpful or habitual – will be different from mine. There’s no recipe to follow here, just a general hint.
Look for the repeating patterns in your life and ask yourself whether they are externally driven or something you’ve chosen (or slipped into) by yourself. Then wonder aloud what would happen if you skipped out for an hour or a day.
7. Celebrating and Having Fun
One of the most difficult things to do when people around us are suffering is to have fun – especially if that fun will be visible to others.
We feel embarrassed, even ashamed, to let positive emotions spill out when others we know are suffering or grieving.
Under many circumstances, that’s a totally reasonable thing. We want to respect their situation and show empathy for their hardship.
At other times, celebrating in the ways to which we’re grown accustomed isn’t possible because of public health directives or travel restrictions.
These are unusual times. There are far more people suffering – in myriad ways – because of the global pandemic than would normally be the case (although it’s never safe to assume the happy-looking people around you aren’t suffering on the inside, as mental health and suicide statistics show).
If we have a chance to celebrate or just have fun, without shoving it in other peoples’ faces, then that’s an opportunity we ought to take. We must do what we can to redress the happiness balance.
Celebrations can be virtual. Send each participant a party package with items relevant to your occasion and then enjoy them together over Facetime or Zoom. As an unanticipated bonus, you might find yourself including people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to make it.
My bottom line on this one is that there’s nothing wrong with being happy. I know a lot of people are suffering but that doesn’t mean we have to spend our lives in mourning. Laughter and joy are (ironically) infectious and simultaneously healing, so let’s be positive super-spreaders when we can.
8. Escape!
Maybe this is just the culmination of everything above. A sum-product that brings the overriding feeling of entrapment to a head.
When the opportunity to escape presents itself, seize it. Run with it. Run as fast and as far as you can.
When the opportunity to escape presents itself, seize it. Run with it. Run as fast and as far as you can.
Travel is one of those hotly debated topics that sounds like an excess when we’re making choices every day to help extinguish privileged society’s worst disease outbreak in a century.
But it need not be a pariah.
If you’re willing to follow the rules (please do, for the sake of those who are paid to enforce them and those around you who just want to go peacefully on their way) and you’re willing to take a measured amount of risk, going places is neither complex nor controversial.
Maybe it’s just a drive out into the country to enjoy a change of scenery.
Maybe it’s a road trip to the next city for an overnight stay at a nice hotel and dinner at a special restaurant.
Or maybe it’s an intercontinental flight, unlocked by multiple COVID tests and requisite paperwork, to visit relatives whose lives have fast-forwarded three years since you last caught up.
Whatever your escape, don’t dismiss the opportunity without giving it a chance.
With plentiful uncertainty surrounding how the macro situation will unfold in the coming months, waiting for things to get better isn’t much of a strategy. We all tried that in summer 2020 and look where we are now!
Photo by Ilona Bellotto on Unsplash