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Picture your life as a trip to a global amusement park. The opportunities surrounding you in life are the 'rides.' At any popular amusement park, there is often a line at almost every ride or event, your learning curve. How do you handle the waiting?

Every ride or opportunity has a fantastic appeal. You ultimately want to ride everything in an amusement park, except rides you may think are too risky or too boring. Imagine yourself in line waiting for the ride you came upon first. In line you have progressed forward some and have a long time more to wait. You look up and see right over there is another ride that looks even more exciting so you go over there and get in line for it. You move forward a little in that line and just outside the que you notice the most exciting show! There's not too much of a line for it yet so you can be near the front and get in fast, 'ground level.' That is when you notice show time arrives in about 30 minutes. While you're waiting for show time you have lots of time to think. You realize you have just spent a few hours at the park already and have not ridden even one ride. You decide it was a mistake to leave the first one and change so you go back to the first one. While you are in the first line again, you realize why you changed to the other line in the first place and you really wanted to ride the other ride more so you change 'just this once more.'

Can you see how with a strategy like that you will never get to ride any ride? You could have ridden EVERY ride if you would have just seen the first one through, then had gone to the next one and the next. When you entered the park you were probably handed a map. If you had the patience to sit down and create a plan, connecting the dots for velocity of doing all or in order of favorites and stuck to that plan, you would have had time to do every single thing in the park and with no stress or frustration. You would have certainty that you would get around to each. Then, as you went along, if you did notice one ride taking way too long because of its popularity, you could have skipped it if necessary to get the most variety or you could stay all day in that one line if it were worth it.

Opportunity is like that. You MUST look around you and see the niches available. And you MUST know the niches that match your deepest core passion. If you're like me, you can see something you like in just about any opportunity. But does that opportunity match your core passion? The first opportunity or 'ride' you take on must be the one that is the most deeply matching you to make sure you are fulfilled by the end of the 'ride,' the results. Having done this first, you will be able to ride the less compelling fun rides as well and with more joy since you are fulfilled in your deepest core of who you are.

There are people who just seem to know themselves well and know what they want very early in life. Most people don't. They graduate from high school and even go on to college having no idea what they want their lives to be about. Are you one of those people? If so, you could wait in a lot of long lines getting almost to the mark and then falling short because you skipped the basic step of knowing yourself . Then how to move through the line with the most velocity possible to the result. You may not even know for sure what 'ride' or opportunity you even want in the sea of opportunities available.

Find the one key element to who you are first and then find the opportunity that most quickly gives you an access for expressing yourself. Then, you will save many years of 'waiting' and will live a life of untold joy and wealth if you wish from this point forward. You are your own guarantee.

Copyright 2005 Juanita Bellavance