S3 Ep. 199 Seizing Life's Opportunities: Strategies and Insights from the World Cafe

Speaker 1: Hello there, welcome to the World Cafe podcast. This podcast has been designed with created content that centers on the power of words. Can we really do anything without speaking? Can we really do anything without the agency of words? Yes, that is what this podcast is all about, and I am your host , amakri Isuboye, your neighborhood word trader. I believe in the power of words , for it is the unit of creation . I trade in words to profit my world. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good everything. How are you all doing? Yes, I had to start it that way . Ah, super excited. And uh, we are in a new year, 2024. Yes, uh, pretty, the year is pretty young. But before I go into all of that , how are you? How are you doing? You doing? Has it been? Yes, I know, I think I've been. I've asked you this question this year, but anyway, I'm still going to ask it again because I'm fine and knowing that you're fine, listening to me gives me so much joy. Yep 2024. So much joy, yep 2024. Yep, ah, we have so much to look forward to. What are we going to be doing today? Well, I want to talk to you about something I call the strategy, called opportunity, but before I do that. You know, before I came into the studio to do this, a thought crossed my mind, an experience I had with my daughter, and one of these days, in, you know, in her usual self, she just asked me this question, like we were driving home and you know this minute of the day that we call rush hour, and she said daddy said yes, why is it called rush hour? Rush hour, I expect the cars, you know the roads to be, you know like that, everybody, the cars should be moving so fast and all that, but you call it rush hour. It's like you have this traffic jam and all the irony of life, and and I tried to explain to her, like you know, everybody's in a hurry to get home, so they call it rush hour. You see, everybody's in a hurry to get to the office, to the place of work, you call it rush hour. But you know the other thing Days when the roads are free, we're not in a hurry, we don't rush, we drive with this ease, easy, like Sunday morning, you know, and we drive with this ease. Well, I tried explaining it to her anyway, but in any case, I just told her that's the irony of life. Yep, so it brings me to what I want to share with us today this strategy called opportunity. You know, there's this tradition. You know, every should I say january or 31st of december breaking into a new year, we always come up with this goal setting and people drop stops. You know, be it private, personal, business, formal, informal, you have all of this, you know work going in and planning, and planning, and planning, and planning, and all of that, and somewhere along the lines, those things are gone. Know where did they all go? And all of that I just like said to myself, overhearing conversations and all that, what if your strategy is opportunity ? Yep, what if your strategy is opportunity? You're taking our advantage. You know these two words strategy and opportunity. They are hinged on time. Yes, when you look at opportunity, when you look at strategy, strategy has to do with your plans, the things you want to, maybe how you want to achieve that particular goal. This is how I'm going to go about it. You know, if it's a health goal , if it is a business goal, if it is name it marital goals or what have you. So you now put up like a strategy. You know, you put up a plan. You know this is how I want to achieve this. So basically it rides on the platform of time. It could also mean you evaluating your, the way you've been going about achieving your goals. You evaluate them, you go back in time, you know, you retrospect. So to say, you go back, you check, you evaluate, you ask yourself so I could you know? Strategy, then opportunity, yes , you know when that thing opens up, you know and all of that. But come to think of it, what if your strategy is opportunity? And this is how I view it. You know, when you say opportunity, it speaks to recognition, you recognizing an opportunity. How do I see, how do I know this is an opportunity? So now it comes to the part of me training myself, my hearing and my seeing. So the other day, when I was pondering over this, this scripture popped up to me yes, the seeing eyes and the hearing eyes, both are made of the Lord. Seeing eyes and hearing ears both are made of the Lord. Your ability to see and to hear speaks volume in the recognition of an opportunity. So let me paint a picture for you. Like you know, a good opportunity. Yes, I'm going to use a Bible story. When the crowd was around Jesus, they were thr droning on him and all of that. And a woman who had a health challenge. You know, she heard Jesus was going through. That was an opportunity. She had a need, a health challenge Only God knows for how long, but she's been going through that. And she heard that there was this man who heals I mean, she's heard about his healing and all of that and it was coming through her neighborhood. Yes, she had to strategically take that opportunity. Yes, she did not care what anybody would say based on cultural traditions and what have you. She pushed through the crowd and she touched him. From scriptures, we see she touched him so that she took that opportunity. But you know what? A lot of people were there. So many other people were there . I want to believe some other of people were there. So many other people were there . I want to believe some other sick people were there. But she had the eye and the ear , she saw an opportunity, she heard and she took it. Well, did she get healed? Yes, of course she did so. 2024, how are you going to go about it? Yes, as in the thing you want to achieve Last year, 2023, you had all your strategies, your military strategy, and what have you? You mashed out all the plan, but were you able to recognize an opportunity? I heard, when preparation meets an opportunity, what happens is a miracle. Let me take that again. When preparation, you are adequately prepared and it meets an opportunity, what happens A miracle. But now you must have that ability to recognize an opportunity. I'm going to give you another story, again like to drive this woman this time around. It's about alexander the great, yes, the story of the guardian knot. You know, I'm going to read out some things you know, uh, about the guardian knot and how alexander the great took, you know, that opportunity. The curtain of the guardian knot is an ancient Greek legend associated with Alexander the Great In Guardian, in Phrygia that's in, you know, it's a city regarding a complex knot that tied an ox cart an ox cart, yes, repeatedly. Whoever could untie it would be destined to rule all of Asia. You heard that in 333 BC, alexander was challenged to untie the knot. Instead of untangling it, you know, laboriously, as expected, he dramatically cut through it with his sword, thus exercising another form of mental genius. It is thus used as a metaphor for a seemingly intractable problem which is solved by exercising an unexpectedly direct, novel, yes, rule-bending , decisive and simple approach that removes the perceived constraints. Now you see, this was opportunity. Alexander the Great has been, you know, on his military campaign, going about expanding the free jar, and he saw, like maybe a prophecy, whoever the guardian not, that whoever unties it, a complex knot will rule all of asia. And what have you? And he did not. You know what, when I read that story earlier, as in growing up, what came to my mind was there was no specification on how to untie the guardian knot. The rule is whoever gets through the guardian knot will rule all of asia. How you untie it is left to you . And he got there and he looked at it. Everybody saw the guardian, not . They were like it's too complex to untie. They all passed it. It's been there for ages. But when he got there, he brought out his sword, the, the. The underlying message is untying it. How I untie it is irrelevant, he's just going through that complex whatever. And he brought out his sword and he took it off. So more or less it's like this is an opportunity. He recognized it, he heard it and now he recognized it. And it's like I must take advantage of this. And when he did what happened? Well, I won't say, the rest is history. We know the history. He became Alexander the Great yes, I mean the youngest general who conquered the world. So what is it going to be for you in 2024? Opportunity, they say it comes, but once. Not true Opportunities. Opportunity does not come just once it's there. Do you know why? I know that it's there Because we have time. The scripture says time and chance happens to them, or that's opportunity, but your ability to recognize it speaks volumes. So you know what. Don't stop preparing Don volumes. So you know what. Don't stop preparing, don't stop, you know, disciplining yourself. Don't stop doing those things that ain't as much as you are doing them. Open your eyes to recognize the opportunity and when you see it, don't shy away from it. Just like Alexander the Great, alexander of Macedon, pick up your sword, pick up that object you walk with and go for it. You may break the rules sometimes, but hello, go for it. You may break the rules sometimes, but hello, go for it. You may not follow the traditional way, hello, go for it. You may Not. You know this is not how to do it. Well, form your own, go for it, but recognize it. Somebody may ask you what is your strategy? Oh, I have a 10-step strategy. Good for you. Oh, what's your strategy? Oh, I have this military formation that is watertight, economic based and blah, blah, blah. Good for you. But do you know what? How would you recognize an opportunity when you see it? I think that is a strategy that you must hone in 2024. I just said to stop by and do this with you, share it with you when you're going through this 2024 amazing year. Strategy should be opportunity. Yeah, your ability to recognize it, your ability to hear, speaks volume. So you must go with the heart or mindset of sensitivity, sensitivity. Don't say I cannot do this. Don't say it. When opportunity presents itself, pick it up, yes, take it , go for it. Don't say it, go for it. Don't say I can't do it. It's an opportunity. That particular opportunity may not present itself anymore. You might have a lot of challenges coming at you and all that. That might be an opportunity for you to pivot. Yes For you to. Should I say transit. It might be an opportunity for you to pivot. Yes For you to. Should I say transit. It might be an opportunity. You see, it's a blessing in disguise. Actually, it's an opportunity. Yes, it is an opportunity. It is not disguised. It's for you to see it, unwrap it, unravel it. Ah, yes, it is All right. Guys, I celebrate you and I wish you well. I pray for the best for you in 2024. But, whatever you do this year seeing eyes, hearing ears both are of the Lord. Seek them, be sensitive and know, rather, to know and recognize an opportunity. Yes, well, you know how we do it on the show. This is the space where we come in to lean on one another's experience to forge a positive path. A lot Good, I mean it's ahead of all of us in 2024. Whatever you do, don't give up till I come your way again. Bye for now, till I come your way again. Bye for now. Awesome time it has been with you on the World Cafe Podcast today. Thank you for being there. You can catch me up on my social media handles Twitter, facebook, linkedin and Instagram , all at Amakri Isoboye. Also, you can get copies of my books A Cocktail of Words, the Color of Words by HRO Notebook and Hawkers Focus on God on Amazon and Roving Heights online bookstores. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel at the same address at Amakri Isoboye. I love to hear from you and how this podcast has impacted you. You can leave me a message at my email address, amakrigaribaldi at gmailcom. That is A-M-A-C-H-R-E-E-E-G-A-R-I-B-A-L-D-I . Yes, till I come your way again . Bye for now. Thank you.