Where are the opportunities - 18 April 2013

Day 4 – Thursday

In life we all sometimes take a moment where we look back at our lives and to where we want to be heading to, the opportunities that lie in front of us which we are blind to. They say luck is a result of hard work, so I would like to take this moment to make an absurd relation. As absurd as this may sound hope it will open your mind on what I’m trying to get across, that sometimes we overlook this simplest of opportunities in the chase of the golden pot.

According to a google search the first envelopes were made of cloth, animal skins or parts of vegetables and even clay which was wrapped around the item to be sent and then baked. The first paper envelopes date as far back as the 10^th century and were hand made up to roughly 1840. The first documented postal service was started by a Frenchman by the name of de Valayer in 1653. Another website I visited mentioned that worldwide there are billions of different variations of an envelope. Come to think about it there are hundreds upon hundreds of different sizes, colours, shapes, some with windows, some without and they are even classified differently in terms of the materials used to manufacture them. Some you don’t even have to lick to seal anymore.

I am sure that most if not all of you have never taken the time to look up the history of envelopes. Trust me, it was a first for me too, but I had to find something to relate which is so simple but often overlooked as to its importance. Now that I have given you a bit of a history lesson and we have all learned a bit more about envelopes, who would like one?

Now take everything I had to say about envelopes and change the word envelope to opportunity. So in other words what I want you to have summarised is as follows, there are billions of opportunities, not only in this country, but worldwide. Opportunities present themselves in hundreds upon hundreds of different shapes and forms, and opportunities can even be classified just like envelopes.  For example personal opportunities, work opportunities and the list goes on.

Basically that is what an opportunity is, it is a time or set of circumstances that are suitable for doing a particular thing. Important in this definition is the word doing, it implies that to take advantage of an opportunity something must be done.

Truth can then be found in the words of Thomas Alva Edison, who said and I quote ‘we often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work’. Milton Berle said and I quote ‘If opportunity does not come knocking, build a door.’ Once again implying work. What you need to understand is that opportunities don’t just fall into your lap; you have to go looking for and work hard for them.

You have everything at your fingertips, all you have to do is look at the facilities and realise that they are second to none. South Africa has the greatest potential for any person with entrepreneurial abilities who is willing to push the boundaries in order to effect change.

It is however up to each and every one of you to make use of the opportunity that has been handed to you. Remember these words by Sir Winston Churchill ‘A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity an optimist sees an opportunity in every difficulty’. Let’s all be optimists.

Lastly, be true to yourselves and remember that only you are accountable for your actions. Do whatever it is that you want to do and become whatever it is that you want to become. And use every opportunity that comes your way to achieve it all.