Is It The Right Opportunity?

Recently I was listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast and Ryan Holiday was interviewing Ian Happ.  Ian Happ is an Outfielder playing for the Chicago Cubs in Major League Baseball.  One of the analogies from the conversation that has stuck with me is the idea of learning how to ‘wait for the right pitch’.

Hitting a baseball is one of the most difficult things to do in sports.  In high school baseball an athletic kid could probably get away with swinging at a lot of bad pitches but the higher up you go in levels, the more it pays to be selective with the pitches you swing at.  Just because a pitch is in the strike zone doesn’t mean you need to try to hit a homerun.

The same is true in life.  Just because an opportunity looks good doesn’t mean it’s the right opportunity for you.  Recently a coworker offered me an opportunity to do some private security for another organization.  It’s a temporary gig that pays twice what I’m making now.  I would have to pick up a shift or two outside my regular hours.  It was very tempting to go through with.  However, when I went home and thought about it I realized that the time I would spend on the second job would be time away from not only writing/YouTube but also time away from sleep, exercise, cooking, my wife, and chores at home.  If I were in a situation where I was trying to pay off debt or save for some very important purchase, this would have been a great ‘pitch’ to hit.  As it stands however, this isn’t my opportunity so I need to let it go by.

This is something that’s happened several times over the last 10 years.  An opportunity that seems like a no-brainer to others is something that I end up passing on.  My suspicion is that most of the time people are just looking at the money involved and sometimes you have to do that because you have to pay bills.  But when bills are paid and retirement is being funded and you don’t have debt, why not be more strategic with the obligations you take on.  Recently I’ve had two people ask me to present at their companies.  There’s no money involved but it’s an opportunity to spread my message.  These are the right ‘pitches’ for me to swing at.  

We have to always be vigilant to assess opportunities based on the full picture of our lives and not get bogged down on narrow aspects.  A pretty face is not always the right person for you.  Lots of money may not always be attached to the right work for you.  Loan approval for a big house may not be the right sized mortgage payment for your situation.  We want to look for the ‘right pitch’ to swing at.