Opportunity? No, thanks!

Comments among film trainers

Virginio De Maio:

Are we losing something? Most definitely. With all our habits, commitments and races against time, we constantly miss “opportunities” that are invisible to the eye.
However, not all opportunities present themselves “on a bus on a deserted road”. Often, they are often confused, above all in these times of “globalization”.

The web has literally spread opportunities everywhere, in every space and in every time, contributing in shattering this attempt to focus on such opportunities which in their entirety have become a real challenge.
Is it possible to enter into a “state of grace” which favors acknowledgment and perceptiveness of opportunities? Whilst looking for the answer, we need to take in the message of this scene: when you’re not ready, you’re not ready!

John Gardner say “Most quality organizations have developed a functional blindness to their own defects. They are not suffering because they can’t resolve problems, but because they can’t see them”. The same can be said for opportunities, to the point that at times one becomes stupid…

Max Damioli:

…a scene put together impeccably to keep us on tenterhooks … one says: “someday we’ll get our break too” and the other agrees with a sigh… and adds “we’ve just got to keep our eyes open”… but when the occasion arises they let it get away THREE TIMES.

There are many themes in this scene. The first one is STUPIDITY. Saying that a person is “stupid” seems like a judgment, but in truth it is a simple way to “scientifically” diagnose stupidity.

In a Cartesian diagram where the vertical axis represents ONE’S OWN BENEFIT and the horizontal axis represents BENEFITS TO OTHERS, 4 sectors are individuated.

The result: in the film there is a minimum advantage for everyone and this measures the quantity of STUPIDITY in this behavior.

Another theme is the CONTROL of DIVINE PROCESS… and I would like to tell you a tale:

“One day a man dreamt that an Angel told him that God would cause a flood, but that He would save the man”.

The day after, it starts to rain. The flood waters rise covering the ground floor of the house, so the man goes upstairs to the first floor so that he does not drown. The police arrive with a dinghy and he tells them to go and save others, as he will be saved by God. Then the water gets higher and he has to go on the roof. The Coastal Guards arrive in a dinghy, but he sends them away saying that he will be saved by God. And in the end, a helicopter belonging to the Red Cross arrive, but he sends them away saying that he will be saved by God.

A gigantic wave arrives and he is swept away. He dies and when he comes before God he asks him why he did not save him and God answers: “But I sent you two dinghies and a helicopter!”

Often we have our own ideas about how our dreams need to be fulfilled and in doing so, we force the Universe to follow a path which is necessarily “mental” and not necessarily the most simple and feasible.

This desire to bend the Miracle process to our needs of rationality often keeps us away from the results.

Virginio:

In fact, Lloyd and Harry in “Dumb & Dumber” are an example of this: they suffer while waiting from some miracle to happen, and they do happen continuously but they do not know how to grab them. Every day we are probably an example of this too. Even at this moment in time, there may be an opportunity in front of you, but you cannot see it. Or, the opposite might be the case, you may see so many opportunities that they get mixed up with the right one.

So, which signs help us to identify the opportunities that arise for us? The following questions have always helped me:

1. Would you grab it without being paid? Or paying for it?
2. Did you dream about it as a child?
3. By taking the opportunity would you learn something?

If you have answered yes to all 3 questions, then what are you waiting for? Get on that bus!!! 🙂 If you have answered no, it means that opportunity was not for you, but only a “bewitching mermaid”. Before taking the opportunity I would need to have give at least 2 definite “yeses”.

When you have grabbed the opportunity and start going uphill these “yes” answers will help you to face the necessary sacrifices. Day after night, nothing will stop the excitement of a child before his “toy”.

I remember when I was a child, all the sleepless nights waiting for my uncle at the window. The very few times I was able to convince my father, it was an amazing gift for me. My uncle took me fishing and the excitement was so great that I could never sleep. I wish I could have gone a thousand times, I used to daydream about it and I used to learn millions of new things.

Nowadays, when I struggle to keep a balance between my professional life and my personal wellbeing, I have to pay attention to not falling into a trap of confusion, to ignoring the “mermaids’ enchanting songs” and concentrating on just a few essential things.

That is why nowadays an outing to go fishing still represents an opportunity for me and after 30 years

• I would pay to do it
•  I dreamt of it as a child
• I still learn new things

Max:

…it is like what Forrest Gump said “That’s all I have to say about that.”

Virginio:

…apart from the fact that we have re-opened membership registration with a “super offer”. So now it ‘s up to you to decide whether:

• you would pay to have it
• you dreamt of it as a child
• you would learn something from it 🙂 🙂 🙂

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“… and in case I don’t see ya…

good afternoon, good evening and good night!”…

(The Truman Show)

Virginio