Your Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity

Who are you rooting for in the NBA playoffs this year? Do you have a team you’re hoping to see make it all the way to the end?

Imagine the week of the finals  is here and and you’re team has made it all the way. You’re excited to watch your team dominate, destroy the competition, and win the whole championship.

But a friend gives you a call. He’s going on a trip to New Zealand to tour the countryside. He has an extra ticket and wants you to come along. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The only catch is, you’ll have to miss watching your precious championship games. What do you decide to do?

If you have half a brain, you’d take this once-in-a-lifetime chance and forget about your team. What have they ever done for you? You’d be crazy to pass up this opportunity for a simple bit of entertainment.

Unfortunately, many of us do this sort of thing on a daily basis.

I get to see this more directly than many people do. Each day, during my work hours, I have the opportunity to let entertainment distract me from what I’m working on. I could easily remove my hands from my computer and walk five feet to my TV. I could watch all my DVRed shows, trashy soap operas, or spend hours on YouTube.

But I don’t. And the reason is, I believe what I’m doing is more important than all that. I have a once-in-a-lifetime change to make an impact on others. To create something meaningful.

And to accomplish that, I have to believe what I’m doing is more important than any TV show. Than any YouTube video. Than any sporting event.

If not, I’ll let myself be distracted. I’ll fall victim to entertainment.

Those things will always be there. There will always be something exciting and awesome to waste my time on. But the opportunity to make a difference with my life won’t always be there.

I have the opportunity to experience something amazing—one-in-a-lifetime. I’m not going to let entertainment keep me from that.

[Blog photo from Mopho.to]