There were two men from silicon valley went into Gobi desert with 1.5Million US dollar and left with 150 tons of cashmere. WHAT? Yeah! Yes, it interests me as well and what they have achieved correlates with one of the perspectives I always look at things. Below is the video of their story but what am going to write is not purely about it. That’s a good example to share. Let’s put in perspective how some of us can learn and why that perspective is important in succeed anything.
Let’s assume you are traveling in one of your dream tourist destination with full of nature, the usual way you look at things is you look at the nature (sea, mountain, snow, etc) and get mesmerized, enjoy the god’s great creation, find the list of activities to do, take photos, shop for items, sit, relax, eat, what else we do? hmm… maybe buy souvenirs, etc.
It’s true that when people want to go for vacation > they want to relax, they want to forget about what they have been doing in the past days and sometimes at the end of the trip, most of them say “I wish I can continue here”. Most of the times they only worry about what is the sad side, but didn’t accept that they didn’t do things, that can provide them what they wish for permanent. There are small % of people who get what they wish, not because of lucky but they look for every option they can make it as an opportunity.
So to look for opportunities, we need to change the way look at things to get what we wish for…
When a designer look at the beautiful fish during his underwater diving, she may get inspired how different color patterns the fish has and try to apply this inspiration when she design a dress or something
When a leader is hiking in the most adventurous part of the mountain, every time he thinks of giving up, he will try not to. And once he achieves the final mount, he will always remember this achievement in his life goals whenever he feels of giving up. (He will remember his old achievement that he can do it)
When a businessman walking in the busy streets of Japan or the no man land in Mongolia (like the Nadam.co guys), they will look for business opportunities if there is anything.
When a politician on his foreign trip visiting a museum, He wouldn’t come back empty minded. He would take inspirations how other politician has achieved success or even could find a solution to a current problem he is facing.
When a marketer/project manager from foreign is waiting at a bus stop in China or when he buys things in the small merchant stores in China, He will see how Wechat is advertising its payment solution on the bus and how WeChat small QR code has been used by the merchant to make the transaction easier.
When a philanthropist walks in the streets of the poor village, He wouldn’t just bypass it as a tourist, he will think in a different way how he can empower that people through any ideas.
Not just Travelling, even when we are reading an article or browsing the facebook feed or buying a book or listening to a podcast or watching a movie, etc. We need to look for the things what we are passionate about. In another way of saying, when someone is passionate about something, he or she will be attracted to anything related to whatever the activities he or she does.
I can write few more examples but what am trying share is if you are passionate about something, you know what to look for and how to think differently. I have given here some examples how I have looked at things, the purpose here is not about me but this is how people got their turning point in life. Not everything we see will be a turning point but it could be a small factor that’s going to teach you how to grow. I didn’t know what the definition for this but I very lately realized, those things have shaped my life.
Why is all this important? You need to know what you need to Look for. If you don’t look at important things, you are missing every possible opportunity
Simon is one of my favorite authors, I encounter his speech about this as well. It is within you how you see the things. When you watch his video below, remember this line “You SHOULD know what do you want in your life and what you need to LOOK for it”.
You can keep complaining / blaming about something or LOOK for a way to achieve things in explained way above.
In the end, I wish you all of you find what you want and succeed in your life! As one of the legend of our generation says “Stay Hungry”
In the same time, I want to share what I have looked for while I was traveling… We are launching a non-profit platform to curate non-profit ideas and inspire people across the world for good. Currently the platform in Beta testing mode but still worth to check and vote some interesting ideas > http://ideasforsocial.org/
Follow it’s Linkedin Page> https://www.linkedin.com/company/ideasforsocial-org/
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on November 12, 2017.
