Optimism & Opportunity

October 21, 2021

By Mark David

In today’s challenging times, one must use the words optimism and opportunity as guideposts to be successful. Let us examine both words.

Optimism is having or showing hope for the future, expecting good things to happen. Synonyms are assured, bright, buoyant, cheerful, and confident. I feel good just writing these words.  Successful people know that their thoughts and feelings become their external reality. People who have the ability to have self-awareness of their surroundings use optimism as fuel to drive them to being more successful. Train yourself to automatically think optimistically about life’s challenges. This automatic behavior will put you in the best position to succeed. Therefore, your first response will be looking for ways to find the positive channels to drive your energy and focused attention. 

With my half century of being in the corporate business world, I know how important it is to have expectations that good things will be happening in the future. Practice this strategy every day, throughout the day. The day will be a perfect laboratory for you to experiment with your newly acquired optimistic attitude.

The next word is opportunity. Opportunity is defined as a set of circumstances that make it possible to accomplish something. Most opportunities are earned. They appear after you have put your heart and soul into something. You went the extra mile. You unconditionally cared about others, but you must be awake and aware in the present moment of now to recognize it’s here. Most times opportunity doesn’t present itself with a band loudly broadcasting “I’m here, take advantage of this circumstance”. No, it’s subtle, unobtrusive. You have to be looking for it. You will see and comprehend small indicators telling you it’s in front of you.

I remember years ago, travelling with a friend of mine. He was in commercial real estate, and I was selling telephone systems, and we were making a joint sales call in San Jose, California. The client was located in a barren part of town.  Mike stopped the car and got out. As we were looking at a field of dirt and weeds, he said “I’m going to build a beautiful shopping center here”. He started pointing out where all the tenants will be located, the multiple fountains and movie theater. He went on for twenty minutes. All I saw was dirt and weeds. Five years later he invited me to the grand opening of the beautiful new shopping mall.

Wake up your imagination, creativity, and innovation. Start seeing the opportunities in front of you. You and your family can only benefit from combining optimism and opportunity.

Appreciate the Day,

Mark David

Download the PDF version of this post.