034: Opportunity Walks

There is this one episode of Seinfeld that I’ll always remember. Off the top when Jerry is doing his stand up, he talks about finding a pair of shoes he likes, and then wanting to buy as many pairs as he’ll need for the rest of his life. Then he’s set, he’s done. No matter what happens he knows he has this one thing covered and he’ll never have to worry about it again. It’s silly, but it’s interesting to think about. Although it’s something none of us would do (I hope!), I believe it’s something we all wonder about more often than we’d like to admit. And not in relation to shoes, but to more important things.

The whole crux of this idea is that there is some absolute end we can achieve. Once it’s done we can check it off the list; never to worry about it again. When it comes to shoes, you just need to buy enough pairs and you’ll be set. But what if you approach everything in life like this? Find the ultimate goal, complete it, and it’s gone from your list of worries forever. Seems like a plausible way to eliminate a lot of our ongoing stress.

Unfortunately this doesn’t take into consideration all the unknowns that could come up, and I’m not just talking about shoe styles. What if you have to move across the world, do you ship all the shoes? What if your house burns down? Now you’re back to square one. What if COVID hits and you never have to go outside again? What do you do with all the shoes?!

We like to over simplify problems and think we are in control. We believe we can predict the outcome, but we can’t. 

We all liked to think we were on a path, moving forward in a sensible way - working to achieve our place in the industry and advancing our career. And then everything changed. All those things we were doing that we thought were serving a purpose, that we thought we could just check off and move on from; none of it matters anymore, at least for right now.

Instead of trying to make the best decision for some future that you are (let’s be honest) really bad at predicting, make the best decision for yourself now. 

How many times have you talked yourself out of doing something because it might not be the ‘best thing for your career’? How many chances could you have taken, gone for something bigger, followed an out of the box idea  - but decided not to, and instead ‘played it safe’? 

Is it better to have all the shoes you’ll ever need in your closet now, or be ready for a time when you may not need them at all?

~ Steve