It occurred to me today that when I meet someone, I tend to engage in a little mental conversation with myself about what I don’t really like about them – thighs a bit too fat, hair a bit too thin, teeth a bit too yellow – you get the idea.

It also occurred to me that I can choose to do the opposite, and take note of things I like about people when I meet them.

A few years ago I decided that I was going to become what I termed back then as “an opportunist”. My thinking was that as we are making our way through life, at certain points opportunities just seem to appear and each time they do we have a choice to respond. Most people decline, usually through fear of failure.

Now, several years later, I want to write here how my ideas on this have “evolved”.

I believe that the process is initiated by us first creating movement. For instance, we phone a friend, we visit someone, whatever it is we actually decide to get up and do something. This movement creates change, and part of that change is opportunity. Now recognise the opportununities for what they are and seize them with both hands, knowing that doing so creates more movement, more change, and more opportunities.

There you have it.

Now for most people this doesn’t work, and for the silliest of reasons. Most people just sit there. Same job. Same church. Same TV shows. Same beer. Same conversations. Same whatever. They bemoan the fact that life is so boring, such a dead-end street. But they do not see that they do not create movement, and so do not even get off the starting blocks.

Others create movement, actually get off their arses and get out there. Strike up a conversation. Talk to someone they don’t know. Sit at a different table for lunch. Whatever. But then when opportunity is created from this movement they shrink back into their shells. “Oh no”, they say, “oh no, I couldn’t possibly do that.” And they will come up with a thousand good reasons why that opportunity is not for them. They are paralysed with fear, fear of failure.

A very few seize that opportunity, seeing it for what it really is. These people see success as seizing an opporunity and running with it as far as it can go. That is the measure of succes: A path to more movement, more opportunity, more growth, more experience, more life. How that living like that ever be anything other than successful?

I don’t care how strong your convictions are about what people should or shouldn’t do, you are just going to have to learn that you can’t legislate morality. If you think people should not do this or that, you cannot repeat cannot stop them from doing it simply by making it illegal. All that will achieve is make them aware, as they continue doing whatever they are doing, that they are violating your rules. And do they care? Not a jot. And why? Because each person who lives and breathes does what they believe to be good for them. All of us. No exceptions. Do we need a law to forbid people from drinking sulphuric acid? Of course not, because why would anyone do anything that is so obviously bad for them? Do we need a law that says you must breathe every few seconds? Of course not. People do what they do because theyare utterly convinced that it will benefit them in some way. So if you try and stop that through some law or rule, one thing is for certain – they will not stop. Why would they?