Missing an adventure as a lemon agent

From our Halloween Specials series

Opportunity knocks, they say. It must be an old idiom, from the days when opportunity came to your front door.

In more recent times, opportunity may announce itself with an "oh, oh" custom email notification sound. Or, it may be there with you, quietly, not saying anything, not knocking or otherwise alerting you.

And when opportunity presents itself, you have to accomplish two things, first, recognize it, second seize it.

The blogster has been rather proud of the ability to seize things. It is incredibly good for the ego when you save a damsel in distress at the grocery store checkout counter. Say, you stand there looking at nothing when, in the corner of the eye, you notice a wine bottle right right beyond the customer divider tilt, staring to fall because the belt jerked, and proud you bends and snags the bottle out of the air halfway down. You stand up nonchalantly, place the bottle onto the conveyor, in the middle, then you smile at the owner as if you perform stunts like this every day.

Recognizing things is different, more haphazard, in particular if your brain likes rearranging information in order to present you with multiple interpretations.
The obvious drawback, on the job and in the rest of your life, is the fatal appearance of slowness, or downright sluggishness.

But I'm thinking really hard doesn't fly after first grade.

There is a bright side to that, too. For instance, it may be a factor in avoiding, say, STDs.

Some adventures you miss due to slow recognition of an opportunity are likely not as cool as commonly believed.

Take this example:
Heathrow Airport, arrival gate, you step out, looking around to get the lay of the land.
A man in an ill fitting suit, aka. a driver, steps in front of you: Mr. Z from Frankfurt for the Israeli*** embassy?
Now, that's an opportunity!
You smile, say, No, he says Sorry, and you continue to check for the connecting flight.
Some quick thinking and a desire for adventure would have lead to a very different outcome.
You smile, say, Hi, how are you, he says something like Welcome, this way please.

Imagine the possibilities! **

So, imagine the pickup had been for an agricultural specialist sent to London to negotiate a new lemon and related citrus fruit contract with a major British grocery chain. It is a thought experiment, we have no idea, for instance, if embassies have to do with lemons and other citrus fruit. For all we know it could be lemons only, or lime only.

So, you'll never know if you missed the opportunity to become a famous lemon broker -- all because you were a tad slow recognizing an opportunity. Or, it could have become a disaster, making you the laughing stock of the lemon trade.

Years later, you might get the opportunity to write a post about lemons, who knows.

** When asked for your name, do not say Walter Mitty.
*** We wanted to say Icelandic embassy but remembered just in time that the Icelandic citrus industry is still in its infancy.