Looking for Clues at the Scene of the Opportunity

Early in the last century, a world renowned ornithologist was visiting a colleague in New York City.  During rush hour, they were making their way to a nearby restaurant when the bird enthusiast suddenly stopped and began scanning the canyon of skyscrapers.  His friend asked him what was wrong.  “Wrong?  Nothing,” he replied, “I distinctly heard a Purple Finch.”  “A Purple Finch!” his friend exclaimed skeptically.  “How can you hear anything in this traffic?”  The man smiled, reached into his pocket and flipped a silver dollar into the air.  When it hit, all along the busy sidewalk, pedestrian traffic came to a halt as people scoured the pavement for the coin.

Seek and You Will Find

Our brains are designed to see and hear what we are looking for.  “Seek and you will find” is not just a promise, it is a statement of fact.  Do an experiment: pause for a moment and scan wherever you are reading this article looking for the color ‘red.’  Your eye will keep searching until you have found it in several locations.

This capacity to focus in on some things, while tuning out others is one of the wonders of the human brain.  However, unless the “can” of this ability is linked to the “will” to act on it, the potential will lie dormant.

Perhaps You Need a Tune-Up

Since we have this potential to isolate our focus it is imperative that we determine what we are going to tune into.  Investigators scour a crime scene for clues that will lead them to the perpetrator and in the same way most things we want in life leave a trail of bread crumbs that can help us find our way.  In fact, where can we go to set our receivers to catch the continual broadcasts that will clarify our destination and lessen the costly detours on our journey?

1. Explore for Examples – We all have people whom we admire, who have to some degree hit the target we are shooting at.  Therefore, like an explorer who is preparing to trek into some uncharted region, our first step should be to find and interview every brave soul who has been there and returned.  With few exceptions these intrepid individuals are enthusiastic to share the keys that unlocked the doors to their dreams and the pitfalls that could have derailed their quests.  What is more, we have over 3,000 years of recorded history, with data as relevant as anything you will see on CNN.  As Churchill said, “You cannot say the past is the past, without surrendering the future.”

2. Reframe Your Reasoning – One cannot underestimate the motivating and filtering power of our beliefs.  In fact, behavioral experts contend that when, even subconsciously, you believe for instance that you shouldn’t succeed or that people will betray you, subtly, you will sabotage relationships and opportunities based on those subterranean convictions.  Ask yourself, “What beliefs do I have that are holding me back (professionally or relationally) and where am I going to be in five years if that belief goes unchanged?”

3. Know It Isn’t Just Knowledge – Anthony Robbins said, “Knowledge isn’t power, it is the knowledge that you act on that has power.”  Our word “decision” comes from a Latin root which means “to loose the moorings” or “cast off the lines.”  Decisions are our way of choosing to leave where we are to move to something or somewhere else.  The only way that valuable insight is going to change us is if we act on it.

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