I stumbled on a story of adventure, love and happily ever after recently. And somewhere in this exciting story, the writer said, “There is no expiry date on opportunity”. I initially thought, oh, that is so true. Then I thought oh no, that is not very correct. There is definitely expiry date on opportunities.
I remembered one exercise that Stephen Covey made us (participants) do in one of the classes which I attended some years ago. He said: Close your eyes, see yourself at the end of your life, old and ready to meet your maker. What would you regret about the life you have lived? Open your eyes, you are still very much alive, and you are not on your death (yet), what did you write down?
As morbid as this sounds, I have found myself using this exercise several times on myself and in my personal effectiveness class. And afterwards I would ask a series of questions:
Why are you not doing those things today?
What is standing on your way?
Or rather, let me ask it this way:
What is the cost of not doing those things or that single thing?
What do you stand to lose by not doing that or going on that journey?
Maybe the best question is:
What will you gain if you embarked on that journey? Followed that dream? Pursued that life goal?
Surely, there is an expiry date for opportunities. The expiry date is when all you have is the vision of the life not lived, journeys not embarked upon, purpose left unfulfilled, and you have come to the end.
If you can fast forward your life, what would you wish you did? Every single person who is able to do this exercise still have the opportunity to pursue those goals and follow the path of purpose and live the life of meaning and impact.
What is holding you back? Fear is a constant so brace up and face it. Procrastination is a silent killer of dreams and purpose. Whatever you have been putting off, shelving, and tucking away… begin your journey towards purpose today… every dream, every purpose, every goal has expiry date. Don’t let yours expire.
Amara Emuwa