My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [21]
OPPORTUNITY LESSON 1: BELIEVING IS SEEING
We all live on the same planet, but how you see the world is a personal, intimate choice. This individualized view of the world as you believe it to be is your perception, which is a result of your experiences, beliefs, and education. Your perception shapes how you see and interpret the world around you. Your perception is constantly deciding what you can and cannot view as an opportunity. Think about it like this: You are at a party with your friends, and each of you is deciding whether to go up and ask an attractive woman for her phone number. Some of you will look at the woman and say, “No way will she ever give me her number,” and others will not be able to introduce themselves fast enough. Your perception of what’s possible for you determines whether you have the courage to introduce yourself or if you’ll stand alone against the wall looking lost.
Twenty-eight-year-old Alan knows how perception can either blind people to an opportunity or open their eyes to all its splendor. A friend approached him about a new biotechnology that makes protein glow and the possibility of turning it into a commercial venture—specifically, glowing fish. Alan was intrigued. Sure, the concept was way out there, but it did seem possible to him.
So Alan went to his family and friends to get their thoughts on the idea. Everyone he talked to about glowing fish told him flat out that he was crazy. A glowing fish would be cool to watch, but could someone actually create it? And if it were created wouldn’t environmentalists keep it from ever reaching the market? And if it did ever make it to market, what kind of person would actually want to own a glowing fish? The more people told him he and his business partner were nuts, the more he began to sense what others could not: a glowing opportunity.
Oddly enough, the strongest encouragement came when his mom asked him to give up the crazy glowing fish nonsense. She reminded him he had a college degree and serious job offers. He didn’t need to kill himself fighting a seemingly ridiculous uphill battle. Alan set out to make her proud by proving her wrong. He could see that if he and his business partner were able to make this idea work, the same challenges they faced would keep other entrepreneurs from copying their idea.
Four years after his mom told him to give up, Alan is CEO of GloFish, a successful company that is responsible for marketing the first biotech animal in the United States and Latin America—a truly glowing fish. He’s been featured on pretty much every major media outlet and is now considered by many entrepreneurs as a visionary for biotech, someone who can find the glowing opportunities where others see only dead ends.
Like Alan, you can adjust your unique perception of the world to see opportunities that others may overlook or that you might not have allowed yourself to see before.
You’ve seen your unique perception in action if you’ve ever been in a heated argument about religion, politics, finances, ethics, or any other topic that touches on deep personal identity. The argument gets so intense because everyone involved, thanks to her unique perception, thinks she is absolutely right!
During the argument you might have thought to ask the other person, “How in the world can you possibly think the way you do?” Wasn’t the answer as obvious to her as it was in your mind? Yes! In fact, her answer was 100 percent as clear as yours, but it was still different from yours. This happened because, through the other person’s perception, you were every bit as wrong as, from your own perception, you thought you were right!
You can always tell you’ve smashed into another person’s perception of the world when she tells you, “Get real!” What she’s actually saying is to step out of your perception of reality and into hers. If you did, then you would end up agreeing with her, because you’d both be seeing the world the same way.
Clashing perceptions can rip apart