The Opportunity of a Lifetime; The Lifetime of the Opportunity
The Opportunity of a Lifetime; The Lifetime of the Opportunity One of my leadership heroes is Dr. Jimmy Draper, the President Emeritus of LifeWay. I had the privilege of working for Dr. Draper as the Vice-President of one of LifeWay’s divisions before his retirement. Although I learned many things from Dr. Draper, I find myself reflecting often on statements he made which he attributed to his father, James T. Draper, Sr. “The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity.” Here’s why this statement has become a powerful leadership principle for me. 1. We never know when the opportunity of a lifetime will come. Just about the time we’re ready to give up, something new, fresh, and exciting comes along. Often it comes unannounced and unanticipated. But that opportunity can change the trajectory of our lives. That reality helps us anticipate each day since we don’t know what will come. 2. We must seize opportunities. No drive-through windows for opportunities exist. Opportunities must be recognized, chased down, and seized. Leaders take initiative to see what others do not see and pursue what others deem silly. 3. Every opportunity has an expiration date. From the time we see an opportunity, the timer has started, counting down to the moment when that opportunity will no longer be available . . . at least not to us. For that opportunity to become our opportunity, we must act and act quickly. 4. We learn to spot opportunities by missing opportunities. This is good news. Just because we miss a great opportunity doesn’t mean there will never be another one. A missed opportunity makes us wiser at spotting opportunities. Perhaps the timing wasn’t right in the past. Maybe the opportunity we think we missed would have destroyed us if we had caught it. So we keep watching to see what comes with another day. The Wonderful Thing About Opportunity Over years of working and leading, we discover that opportunities actually come. They become the opportunity of a lifetime when we seize them in the lifetime of the opportunity. Don’t fret about the ones you missed. Seize the next one. Maybe it’s right in front of you now.
