4 Carpe Diem!

"Right here, right now."

It was a song of Fatboy Slim. A dance song where you hear only four words for the lyrics. You've guessed it, "Right here, right now." The song has only four words to say, however, this has a strong impact to me. Every time I hear this song through my good old iPod shuffle(2nd generation), I try to remember all of those opportunities that got past without me doing anything. This song always got me thinking of those chances that I missed. The chance to change, the chance for a better job, or the chance to meet an old friend.

Struck by an opportunity? Grab it!

 Opportunities always lead to something. Something good. Maybe another opportunity. A different opportunity. But still an opportunity waiting to be seized. For example, you may have noticed this sign on the pathway saying "Garage sale". You never go to garage sales but you tried this time out of curiosity and went there to see what items are for sale. Surprisingly, you found the last item that you've been looking for to complete your collection... of cute safety pins. That's just one lame example. But you get the point. Yeah?

Let's take my experience as another example. Right now, I'm working here in Singapore and starting to take a freelance writing job. What I didn't thought is that it would only take less than a year to achieve my goals since I changed my attitude towards opportunities. Last year, I wanted to go to Singapore to work. I also wanted to blog, to write about anything that I love. Through reading other blogs I came to know freelance writing, where you get paid by writing articles. It all started when I tendered my resignation from the first company where I worked. When I was currently working on the second company, someone called me for a job interview for a position located in Singapore. I successfully got the offer and flew here. After settling down and spending some months adjusting, I signed up for this blogspot account and created my blog. I blogged day after day, posting my life as I spend it here in Singapore. Then one day, a friend of my wife saw my blog and sent me a message: "Do you want to write for a fee?" Then, as they all say, the rest is history.

You need to do what you gotta do, right here and right now! Take the risk. No more excuses. Opportunity slaps you in the face and yet you do nothing. Why? Are you afraid of change? Are you afraid to step out of your comfort zone? Then don't expect to improve or grow. Don't expect to be better.

The moral of these lame stories is that even if they are indeed lame, you can still get priceless lessons that can help you and improve your life. Like seizing every opportunity thrown at you.

Opportunities present themselves in the most unexpected and surprising ways.™

Photo from: http://scienceblogs.com/