"To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions."

A recent article in The New York Times (7/30/03) points out the growing interest among economists and other scholars in studying sports. Particularly, they are documenting the tendency for managers and coaches to avoid risk, even when the statistics reflect a greater likelihood of success than failure. Writer David Leonhard observes, "Be it at Chicago, Duke, Harvard or the University of California at Berkeley, some of the nation's top economists, psychologists and statisticians are coming to see sports as a subject that requires their attention. Trying to understand human decision-making, they are writing papers about such choices as when to punt, or when to take out a basketball player in foul trouble . . . Their research is quickly leading to a theory that will resonate with any fans who have ever screamed for their team to go for it on fourth down: the professors say that managers, coaches and players are often far too cautious for their own good. "Teams are averse to going for all or none," said Steven J. Sherman, a psychology professor at Indiana University . . . "Teams don't want to do something that puts the game on the line right now." Leonhardt notes, "The professors say that coaches and managers often go awry when faced with a decision involving an obvious, yet ultimately sensible, risk. They seem to focus too much on the worst-case scenario: the Bonds home run, the game-ending brick, the failed fourth down." (Click here to read the full story; you may be asked to register before viewing the story.) It's worth asking ourselves as church leaders: are there times when we miss hitting "home runs" in our work because of an inordinate fear of risk?

paraphrase: Every morning the alarm clock goes off--what a horrible name, the 'alarm' clock. Why can't we call it the 'opportunity clock' or the 'it's going to be a great day clock'

If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it! -- Jonathan Winters

“One thing I know… is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for later; give it, give it all, give it now… Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.” – Annie Dillard

Let your daily wisdom of life be in making a good use of the opportunities given you. -- William Blackie

For of all sad words of tongues or pen the saddest are these: It might have been... -- John Greenleaf Whittier

Whether these are the worst of times the best of times, they are the only times we have. -- Art Buchwald

When the time to perform arrives, the time to prepare is past. Chance favors only the mind that is prepared. -- Louis Pasteur

As a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information. -- Benjamin Disraeli

When asked what they regret most in the last six months, people tend to identify actions that didn't meet their expectations. But when asked about what they regret most when they look back on their lives as whole, people tend to identify failures to act. In the short run, we regret a bad educational choice, whereas in the long run, we regret a missed educational opportunity. In the short run, we regret a broken romance, whereas in the long run, we regret a missed romantic opportunity.

While he [Galba, successor of Nero] was a private citizen, he seemed greater than a private citizen, and would have been considered capable of the imperial office by universal consensus if he had not been emperor.

Augustus used to remark that the type of people who chased after slight gains that involved disproportionate risk were like fishermen who used a golden hook: no catch could compensate them for its loss, if it were carried off.