Opportunity Knocks -- December 2017

I recently spoke at the Senior Prizegiving for our local college, I did this partly because I’m the Board Chair and it was expected of me and partly because it was my last opportunity to see the awards presented from on stage. I don’t particularly like getting up to speak in front of a couple of hundred people, but sometimes you’ve just got to do these things if only to see what it’s like.

Of course I had the coveted speaking slot between guest speaker Peter Datlen, an engaging, funny, relatable and highly successful former student now working for Rocket Labs, and the awarding of the special trophies and scholarships; I was quite literally the person everyone hoped would keep it brief so they could get to the good stuff.

And keep if brief I did, partly because they weren’t really there to listen to me but mainly because I forgot to write my speech until just before the ceremony.

In the tradition of speeches from the Board Chair I was expected to give the assembled senior classes a piece of advice for their futures, something simple and catchy that they could immediately forget as soon as I resumed my seat.

The piece of advice I gave them was this: take opportunities when they present themselves, live life and make memories, don’t look back and think “what if?”

Identifying and taking opportunities was something I came to late in life, it was something I learned from my wife who was forever searching out things for our children to try and putting in front of them, presenting them with opportunities and seeing how far it would take them.

I had the opportunity last year to travel to Germany with the college and I very nearly said no due to work commitments. I’m very glad I said yes instead, and Mr Pow the German teacher will be thrilled to know I picked up a couple of hundred new Twitter followers by live tweeting the entire journey. I may have missed some of his very important insights into German culture and history in the process, but I have made some wonderful new friends and have a trove of memories.

It doesn’t have to be a big thing like an overseas trip or taking a job offer or buying a farm, it can be a very small thing like following up on a suggestion made via social media. I almost declined the offer to write this monthly column because I didn’t believe I had anything of value to share, but I took the plunge and it has been very satisfying; my twitter advocacy of agriculture has reached a whole new audience. The reward is when people come up to me when I’m out and tell me how much they enjoyed a particular piece.

Opportunities aren’t always obvious, but nowadays I find myself saying “yes” to new things a lot more often than I used to. And subsequently I’m having a lot more fun.