Maximum Impact Opportunities (MIOs) - The Affirmation Spot for Tuesday October 9, 2007
Today's Affirmation:
I prepare so that I maximize my opportunities when they count.
Good morning. We spent a beautiful day yesterday at Epcot at Walt Disney World in Orlando. We attended some wonderful shows and saw some amazing things!
One of my favorite attractions was a virtual ride called Soarin'. It was a genius combination of motion technology and IMAX images that created an exceptionally realistic experience of hang-gliding over scenic parts of the United States. It was breath-taking. The experience itself was only about eight minutes, but the line to get in was almost two hours.
It occurred to me that our lives are very much like that. We spend so much time preparing for those big moments and so we want to make them count.
Think about a major league baseball player who dreamed from the time he was 10 of being at the plate in the bottom of the ninth of game seven of the World Series with the game on the line. He prepared his whole life for that moment and when it arrives it is such a brief blip built on a lifetime of work and preparation.
For most of us the stakes are not quite that dramatic, but we all have these relatively few key moments - maximum impact moments (MIOs) - or experiences on which our lives turn. We work for weeks, months, or years on something only to have it come down to a few minutes.
Maybe you're a salesperson who has been working for two years to get an opportunity to pitch to this big client, or football coach who always dreamed of coaching in the big game, or an actor looking for his or her big break. Each situation comes down to a few minutes in front of that client, a single game, or that big audition. The difference between people who succeed and those who do not is that they prepare themselves to take advantage of their MIOs. They do the long preparation and are ready to harvest opportunity when it comes.
I waited two hours for that eight minutes on Soarin'. I was determined to take every second of it in and maximize my experience. We can do the same in life. During the long hard work towards our personal MIOs, we can stay motivated by remaining focused on that one shining moment that will be the result. Once we are in that moment, enjoy, experience, and achieve. That moment is yours. You earned it!
Quick Tips for Meeting Your MIOs.
Stay Ready - Develop daily habits that align with your goals, so you're prepared when opportunities arise.
Visualize Success - see yourself in that moment and succeeding long before the moment ever comes.
Keep Learning - Constantly seek knowledge and skills—they'll make you sharper when it matters.
Trust Yourself - When you encounter a MIO, trust in yourself, your abilities, and your preparation. Know you deserve to be where you are.
Knock it Out of the Park - You’ve out-prepared everyone else in this moment with you. That’s your advantage. You worked this hard, go all the way and achieve the outcome you envisioned.
Stay Resilient - Even with the best preparation, we can’t win every MIO. Remember that setbacks happen and let it only make you more determined to get back to that moment and to succeed next time.
Make today peaceful, positive, and prosperous!
Ray