Making the Most of Every Opportunity

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to have quite a number of incredible experiences and adventures, for which I am extremely grateful.

I have tried to seize on any opportunity that has presented itself over the years, the venture out, step away from the day to day, and see what I could of the world. Even past the age of 50, I feel like there’s still so much to see and experience, and I hope that I get the chance to fulfill the large number of items on my bucket list.

Most of us having a limited number of these opportunities throughout out lifetimes. Whether it’s a summer after high school graduation, college summers, the period between graduation and your first job, changing jobs, graduate school, etc.
It drives me nuts when a friend leaves one job on Friday and starts the next one on Monday. When you’re old and sitting in your rocking chair, are you going to look back and remember fondly how you didn’t take a single day off when changing careers or companies? I doubt it. But you sure as heck would recall fondly that backpacking trip you took with a good friend, or that sailing adventure you undertook with your spouse.

So, my comment “mind the gap” means take full advantage of any opportunities you get in life to explore, to rest, to recharge your heart and mind. Because time moves fast, and for some, these chances don’t come around very often. This notion of “some day” is utter nonsense, because as the old CCR says, “Someday Never Comes”.

And my last comment is on the workaholic culture. It too, is a horrid joke, and plenty of studies back up the notion that working long, hard hours is actually counterproductive. Not only will a chronic lack of sleep put you in an early grave, but if you work more then 35 hours a week, studies have shown that your productivity can turn negative. That’s right, you can do more harm than good. Yet somehow, this idiotic culture has persisted, and some people see working long hours as a badge of honor.

I had a great mentor when I worked at Florida Blue who had done some amazing stuff in his life. He told me that he had made twice as much money in half the time as his peer group at the Stanford Business School, and that he had also played twice as much. I found that knowledge to be truly inspiring and I have tried to live along those lines as much as possible. Perhaps what he left out was that when he did work, he probably worked with three times as much focus and intensity to achieve the results he achieved.  

Nothing wrong with that, either, so long as you take the time to recharge.

To your health and productivity,

Todd H. Smith, Founder & CEO