The greatest ideas start with a simple thought, start with a simple comment made.
The greatest opportunities start with a connection made, a discussion had.
The greatest relationships start with a handshake, a comment.
Great things emerge from the simple. Whether we choose to hear it, or whether we choose to be too busy and too distracted, that is on us.
Truth is, we tend to look for greatness, to search out the big idea, the right relationship, the big opportunity, and in doing so, often dismiss the ordinary. We look past the 99 percent to find the ideal 1 percent...if it even exists.
Focus on what is around you. Truly make an effort to engage with the people and environment that are within your reach. You will be surprised what comes your way. You will be surprised at the opportunities that present themselves to you. But if you are moving fast, looking straight ahead, focused on a very clear picture of what opportunity looks like, you will likely leave much in your wake.
I just read a great book by Dani Shapiro called Still Writing. She writes:
We are revealed to ourselves...through our daily actions...when making my son's breakfast, I try to focus simply on cracking the eggs, melting the butter, toasting the bread. It doesn't get more elemental than that. As I drive down country roads taking Jacob to school, I remind myself to focus on the way the sunlight plays on the surface of a pond, the silhouettes of cows in a field. I've learned that it isn't easy to witness what is actually happening...But my days are made up of these moments. If I dismiss the ordinary - waiting for the special, the extreme, the extraordinary to happen -- I may just miss my life.
Don't dismiss the ordinary. That is where opportunity lives.