Taking Chances

 

This week’s Creative Mornings Boston was held at Brooklyn Boulders in Somerville.

Creative Mornings continues to surprise and delight as an event. I think this is the first time I had to sign a safety waiver just to hear a short talk about business.  The morning also starting with the crew from the Blackout Step Team from Tufts, performing an impressive routine (especially for 9am!).

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Then Nataly Kogan from Happier gave a quick but inspiring talk about taking chances – sharing moments from her own life (emigrating from the Soviet Union to Detroit, betting on Constant Contact as a junior partner at a venture capital firm, and spending 2 hours talking happiness research with a cynical audience member who turned out to be a NY Times reporter.

Kogan’s great because she’s no pollyanna – she takes the science of happiness seriously, and recognizes the need to take creative chances, but also understands that you can’t know in advance which chances will work out and which will fail.

It isn’t about taking chances and getting lucky – but it is about that moment when preparedness meets opportunity. If you’re not taking chances frequently enough, you’re minimizing the number of potential opportunities.

What chances are you taking this week that could become big opportunities?