Opportunity Days
This is a beautiful and elegant concept my good friend and mentor, Tim Fifield (www.timfifield.co.uk ) shared with me one day last summer. As well as being a brilliant internet consultant and marketer, Tim is a naturally gifted coach.
"I’m having an Opportunity Day next Thursday” he said. “Do you fancy meeting for a coffee and a chat?"
"Sure” I said “What’s an Opportunity Day?"
"Oh, it’s something I do every now and then to shake off the cobwebs. I line up a few meetings with people I like and respect, drink some coffee, spend a bit of time just thinking, catch some rays..."
"Cool" I replied "What’s the agenda?"
"No agenda, lets just shoot the breeze and see what comes up..."
Thursday came. A bright, warm sunny day in Brighton. Tim turned up 15 minutes late, relaxed in chinos and a pink flowery shirt that somehow looked just right on him.
He apologised and then presented me with an opportunity he’d picked up at his first meeting of the day – again a meeting for which he’d had no real agenda – and I began to understand what an Opportunity Day was about.
And we talked and walked and talked some more and nothing much more came out of it and yet somehow we left knowing each other and each others businesses a little better.
A few weeks later Tim came to one of my seminars, a few weeks after that he introduced me to Simon Drury (www.simondrurycoachworks.com) and a few months later they invited me to work with them on a new coaching business – the Art of Reinvention.
More importantly, as we bathed in the sunshine on Brighton beach we learned a little bit more about our own businesses and ourselves. Now that’s what I call an opportunity!
I now schedule an Opportunity Day each month – usually with a couple of meetings and plenty of time to reflect. It’s a beautiful and elegant way of working ON rather than IN your business and the concept can be extended to other areas of your life – your career, your relationships, your health and wellbeing etc.
When’s your next Opportunity Day?
Last Updated ( Friday, 15 June 2007 )