Tag: opportunity

The ‘not’ cost

There’s nothing wrong with spending an hour on social media or watching Youtube or playing a video game. But there’s a cost involved.

The cost is not spending an hour having a conversation with an old friend and not reading a book and not exercising and not…

There are some benefits, of course, but each hour of Instagram costs quite a lot. Sometimes, it’s probably worth it.

Obligation or opportunity

Is a one-hour commute to work an obligation or an opportunity? What about coaching a school sport team? What about supervising students in the playground? What about a visit to the dentist? What about writing student reports or marking papers? What about parent meetings or annual performance reviews? Obligation or opportunity?

There are some people who are brilliant at acknowledging an obligation and immediately seeing the latent opportunities. ‘A one-hour commute is a great chance to listen to my favourite podcasts or to call a friend.’ ‘Supervising students in the playground gives me a chance to develop my relationships with them in a situation where they are more open and relaxed.’

And there are others who practise seeing only the obligation.

Every obligation has opportunity hidden inside. Sometimes we need to go looking a little harder to find it. But when we do, the opportunity starts to make the obligation feel less obligatory.