A flood threatens a town, forcing everyone to evacuate, But Joe thinks, "I'm a devout man, God will save me," and stays put. As the waters rise, Joe's neighbor comes by and says, "Joe come with me, we've got to go." Joe declines, "I'm a devout man, God will save me."

The waters keep rising, Joe scrambles to his second floor. A firefighter in a rowboat comes by. "Get in the boat or you'll drown," he says. Joe again declines, saying, "God will save me."

Finally, the flood waters force Joe to his roof. A police helicopter comes by and throws down a rope. "Climb up or you'll drown," the policeman yells. "No, I'm a devout man, God will save me," Joe replies.

Soon, Joe drowns.

He arrives in heaven and challenges God. "Why didn't you help me?"

"What do you mean?" God says.
 
"I did help. I sent a neighbor, a firefighter and a helicopter."

Like Joe, many of us wait for something to rescue us while we miss opportunities to help ourselves. Whether in our business lives or personal lives, we hope for a transforming event. A terrific new customer, a great relationship, a better family life.

But life isn't like that. Like Joe, if we want things to be different, we have to do something ourselves. But where to start? How do we learn to recognize an opportunity when it comes our way?

Make a plan - Form a vision of what you want to achieve, then develop a plan of how to make that vision a reality, To judge whether an opportunity is one to seize or let pass you need to Understand whether it fits your goals.

Make a commitment - Get used to saying no, Get used to saying yes. But whatever you do, do it with commitment and conviction. Like Joe, we have to learn to recognize opportunities and then grab them.

Remember "The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The one who kneels to the Lord, can stand up to anything."

Want More?
Would you like to be notified when new articles are added to our knowledgebase? Subscribe to our Feed and get instant notifications when new articles are added to the knowledgebase.

1. Smart Business Strategy
2. The Master and The Disciple - A Short Story
3. Confidence & Self Esteem
4. Devil's Most Used Instrument
5. The Starfish - Make a Difference Story
6. ABC of Motivation - Motivating Alphabets
7. 10 Success Principles that could change your way of life
8. Don't copy if you can't paste
9. Doubting God and Words of God
10. Control your attention to Control your mind
11. Socrates Logic
12. Golden Words - 31 Golden Rules in Life
13. You Must Read It
14. One Paragraph that Explains Life
15. It was worth the effort - Very Nice Story
16. Words by Great Personalities
17. Dress for Interview
18. Enjoy Where You Are
19. Learn to Appreciate
20. Time - The Best Bank
21. Life's Little Instruction Book
22. I learned from fear
23. Do Good Have Good - Story of an Act of Kindness
24. Five important lessons worth sharing
25. Anger Management
26. Tips to Overcome Fear of Public Speaking
27. 10 steps you can take to reduce your speech anxiety
28. Focusing on Problem vs. Focusing on Solution
29. TIME - A Touching Story
30. 3 keys to happiness
31. Strength or Weakness? An Inspiring Story
32. Forgiveness is Freedom
33. Never do anything in anger
34. The Monkey with The Wooden Apples
35. Know your True Value
36. Why some people have all the luck?
37. How to Stay Young
38. An Inspirational and Beautiful Story
39. Tit for Tat - Do Good & Have Good
40. There is Always a Better Way
41. Law of the Seed
42. Difference between Growing Older & Growing Up
43. Thought for the Day
44. Put the Glass Down Today
45. Handsome is that Handsome Does
46. How to read mind by reading handwriting
47. Five Simple Exercises for Improving your Willpower
48. Hard & Fast Answer
49. To Realize the Value
50. Anger Management Tips
51. Suggestions for Facing Interview
52. Public Speaking Tips
53. Mountain Story - Life Story
54. Inspiring Thoughts
55. Think About It
56. Are you losing your temper at work?