Does this seem like a time filled with opportunities for you?

Probably not!

Well, if that is your assumption, you’re missing out.

Businesses are failing everywhere.

The reason they’re failing is because they are carrying an ongoing financial overhead that can’t be supported with today’s revenue.

They’ve got lease payments, utility payments, business loans, payroll taxes and state and federal income taxes.

You, however, can start out without those burdens while you build a new business slowly with an overhead that matches the present diminished demand.

As demand grows, as it will, your new business can grow with it.

People will still need those services that are being lost.

The irony is that many families are desperately trying to get by while the amount of money in individual savings accounts is unusually high.

So, there still is demand.

Think about it.

If not today, when?

One of he biggest and long-lasting results of the pandemic is the growing trend of working at home.

Starting out as a temporary way to avoid infection, an increasing number of employees are being told that they will not be returning to the office.

Many employers have learned that employees are just as productive working at home without time wasted driving to and from an office.

Employers are also saving money without the expense of leasing and maintaining an office.

Working from home has practical and emotional consequences for employees.

This is particularly true for those who have young children at home.

Another complication is the adjustment your teenagers have had to make not being in the classroom for the last year.

So, working parents and their children have had to deal with an entirely new daily routine.

I hope that these changes have brought you more positives than negatives.

As my wife always says in times of stress, “Keep on marching.”

Yes, after 690 episodes of my blog, ifnottodaywhen.blog, it is now a podcast on SPOTIFY!

Just copy the link onto a new tab.

You’ll hear a male voice converting my PRINTED WORDS into SPOKEN WORDS.

I think the most amazing feature is the inflection in the voice.

It would seem that the voice actually understands the printed message and is conveying its true meaning with the proper emphasis.

The podcast is short in length, only about one minute.

The first blog recorded is a recent one, “Hard Won Wisdom.”

l, hopefully, will reach more people.

If not today, when?

This is an important question for each of us.

Do you have a certain set of goals that are not negotiable?.

Or, is the attainment of your goals really not a front-and-center priority??

Let me suggest four questions:

1. What are the goals that are MOST important to you.

2. What do you have to do or not do in order to accomplish them?

3. What are you doing now that is jeopardizing your chances of ever reaching your goals?

4. Are you willing to make some corrections in order to be true to your goals?

In order to live with yourself, you must align your decisions and behavior with your goals.

If not today, when?

A definition: WISDOM-The quality of having experience, knowledge and GOOD JUDGEMENT!

The sooner we can assimilate WISDOM, the fewer bad decisions we’ll make in our lives.

And bad decisions can sometimes set our entire life on the wrong trajectory.

It’s really just that simple, but not easy.

So, how do we gain wisdom?

In the definition, the word EXPERIENCE jumps out at us.

Wisdom can come from both good and bad experiences.

A good experience makes us ask, “Why was it good and how can I have more just like it?”

A bad experience makes us ask, “Why was it bad and how can I avoid doing it ever again?”

We shouldn’t wait for someone else to help us build wisdom.

We must be SELF-TAUGHT!

Greater wisdom will lead to greater happiness and fewer wrong decisions.

If not today, when?

This is the Empire State Building all aglow in RED lights while celebrating the U.S. landing on the RED PLANET!

The rocket left Cape Canaveral last July and made a flawless 130 million mile flight traveling at 20,000 miles an hour.

As President Biden said after the landing, “If we work together, with American ingenuity, we can do anything.”

Do you feel something very good is possible in your future?

You MUST BELIEVE IT TO ACHIEVE IT!

I know we have had a lot of bad news thrown at us lately.

But, we’ve got to get up, dust ourselves off and get back in the game.

I’m talking about the game of LIFE, YOUR LIFE.

According to the NASA manager, it took thousands of parts to work perfectly in order to make a safe landing.

If we can do that, what can you do to build a great future for yourself?

Every time I go to the grocery store, I am met by the greeter.

The greeter’s job is to make sure all customers are wearing a mask and to keep the shopping carts organized.

The greeter I see early in the morning is an older man.

He obviously takes his job seriously because he’s always doing something over and above the call of duty.

When there is a lull in customer traffic, he is out sweeping the sidewalk in front of the store entrance.

Or, he’s washing the sliding glass door entrances.

My point is that he does more than is expected of him.

Do you do more than is expected of you?

As a son or daughter? As a spouse? As a parent? As an employer or employee? As a friend?

If not today, when?

He’s 26 years old and has never been on an airplane.

He is a product of Detroit’s inner city. So far, he has led a very sad life.

He has been betrayed by his family.

After cashing his paycheck one day, he was shot by a friend who stole his money.

Although his friend aimed for his head, the bullet just grazed him and removed his left eyebrow.

Out of high school for nine years, he still doesn’t have his GED.

After much sorrow, heartbreak and disappointment, he is boarding an airplane and hopefully beginning a new life.

He has chosen a city in the South where he will try to find work.

He saved enough money to pay for the flight and five days of food and lodging.

If he can’t get a job, he has a return ticket.

He told me he never wants to return.

May God bless him on his quest!

“Thy will be done” is a part of “THE OUR FATHER.”

I believe God plays an indispensable role in our lives if we allow it to happen.

How do I arrive at such an audacious conclusion?

Because of all the coincidences in my life that really aren’t coincidences!

Maybe, the most memorable one is the instant I first saw my future wife. It was a stroke of lightning.

She told me that she was attracted to me as well.

Fifty seven years later, that lightning stroke is still at work.

Have you had your share of non-coincidences?

Some like to refer to this phenomenon as “Listening to your better angels.”

Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, hoped the country would “Listen to its better angels” just after seven states had seceded from the union.

God is talking to you. Be prepared to listen! The message may come through another person, something you hear or read. It probably isn’t a very loud voice or a banner in the sky! Just be prepared.

If not today, when?

Yes, Andrea Bocelli, the famous, blind Italian tenor who gifts all of us with his voice!

He once said, “I COULDN’T SEE. SO, I TRY TO TOUCH!”

He has certainly touched us.

A sightless man is giving such a gift of love to the world!

Can you imagine being blind and traveling the world while coming into constantly changing environments?

He is certainly an inspiration to those of us who have our sight.

Bocelli is another example of someone overcoming obstacles and making a difference in the world.

I am always humbled by such examples.

How about you?

Can this story help you overcome a challenge you’re currently dealing with?

Don’t sell yourself short!

Go for it!

If not today, when?