Choosing to Take the Elevator: On Ownership, Opportunity, and the Environments We Choose
Not everyone follows your very same path. It’s understandable. It’s okay if they don’t. Live yours with the best information you have...
Years ago, I heard an analogy about opportunity. Not everyone arrives at the same building. Of those who do, not everyone enters. Some take the elevator, but they don’t all exit on the same floor. And even fewer choose to walk through the doors that open before them.
The remarkable thing about being human is that we can help shape our own destiny. Your vision is yours to materialize.
If I had listened to those who discouraged me from being a ‘schoolboy’, I wouldn’t have continued on past-farmworker. If I had listened to those who discouraged me from dating outside my community, I wouldn’t have seen more or taken my first trip to Canada and seen Whistler.
If I had listened to some worrying about my safety, not enlisting and joining the Army I wouldn’t have expanded my military and subsequently veterans advocacy network.
If I had gone to Western Washington University (I was considering their pre-law program) or University of Washington, instead of out-of-state college, I wouldn’t have gone to Oregon State University and expanded my network in more ways than I can count. At the time, my English instructor, Jovita Lopez, would encourage me, “Mijo, reach for the other side of the horizon.”
Had I embraced the ‘stick with us’ mentality, I likely wouldn’t have pledged Sigma Nu Fraternity. They weren’t exactly mentioned growing up. No parent, uncle, aunt or siblings had been a member of a fraternal organization.
We are shaped by our environments. And the environments we choose for ourselves and those we love can slow us down, hold us back, or accelerate our trajectory.
Sometimes a mentor or counselor, a colleague, a boss might pull you aside and say, “Hey, I’m putting your name in the hat for this position. Make us proud.” And, you take it. Even if you think you’re not ready.
Not everyone starts with the same opportunities or circumstances. Beyond focus and the ability to stay the course, is the importance of taking initiative when opportunities appear.
That’s how I became an aide-de-camp to a general officer. The position exposed me to working at the 36,000-foot view, what excellence looks like, and expediting delivery of service at warp speed. Generals T.K. Moffett and Eldon Regua were blessings in more ways than I can count. But it wouldn’t have happened if my battalion commander at the time hadn’t seen my potential.
Not everyone follows your very same path. It’s understandable. It’s okay if they don’t. Live yours with the best information you have.
You don’t always get to choose where you start, but you can make deliberate choices about where you go next.