No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

CREATIVITY

WHAT THIS MEANS

Opportunity is not evenly distributed, and many people facing real barriers have every reason to name them. What holds up is something narrower. People who achieve a great deal tend to spend little time on what they were not given and a lot of time on what they can do with what they have. Complaint, however justified, rarely creates a new opening, while close attention to small openings sometimes does.

You are free to be angry about unfair conditions, and sometimes anger is the right fuel for changing them. Alongside it, keep a short list of the openings that do exist for you now, however modest, and act on one.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

When did you last complain about a lack of opportunity?

MORE IN PARADOX, METAPHOR & FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.