The "Million Dollar" Challenge

In my new book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, I quote my friend and colleague Carlos Vignolo from the University of Chile who says, "If you go somewhere and don’t meet someone new, you have certainly missed out on making a friend as well as on the possibility of making a million dollars." He tells his students that every time they walk onto a city bus, a million dollars is waiting there for them — they just have to find it. In this case “a million dollars” is a metaphor for learning something new, making a friend, or, indeed, making a million dollars.

So, here is my challenge to you... The next time you go somewhere - the grocery store, an airport, your neighborhood restaurant, or when you ride a city bus - make a point of meeting someone new and figuring out how you can extract something valuable from that encounter. I'm confident that if you make a habit of doing this, you will find that incredible opportunities present themselves every day.

Feel free to post a comment with your experiences. It will be fascinating to see the range of responses... Perhaps someone will find a million dollars, or something worth just as much.

Problems/Opportunities

It is really true that all problems are opportunities? It certainly isn't easy to see the "opportunity" in sickness, war, and pain. However, having the attitude that problems are opportunities allows you to look around the problem to see potential opportunities waiting in the shadows. Obviously, nobody wants problems, but they often unlock possibilities that would never have been revealed otherwise. They also allow you to stretch your imagination in a attempt to find the gems waiting to be found. For example, some people write amazing poetry when they are depressed. They channel the emotions through their writing, creating something wonderful from their pain. This poem is remarkably evocative, and obviously grew out of a lot of grief: http://www.openfloodgate.com/creation.htm?creationId=372