ALUMRISE

I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about a coming year of global gloom and doom.

Certainly, the business environment is sobering. Whether it’s unexpected loss of wealth due to greedy Madoff-style swindling, or a growing mistrust of the large and amorphous corporate bureaucracy with its many heads — or just the general steep decline in net worth, there’s cause for concern.

But in this post, I’m offering a personal point of view, with no certainty that this resonates for others, but a hope that it does. For me, 2009 is a year of opportunity. It’s the beginning of the rest of my life.

Probably because I’m somewhat familiar with adversity (who doesn’t fight at some point or another to achieve a goal), I believe that in times of struggle, it’s actually easier to define your own goals and desires and be more succinct, and more creative in how you realize them.

I’ve been thinking about what the word “opportunity” itself means. Does opportunity mean wealth, a new car, a private school? Or does it mean the right to do what one loves, on one’s own terms, at a fair trade-off price? Does opportunity mean a 9-to-9 job with a large corporation and a pension check? Or does it mean exciting, challenging assignments or positions that fit a changing personal lifestyle?

Does opportunity mean doing something completely irrational but wholly satisfying that ordinarily would be considered difficult and impractical, like starting a new venture? Or offering one’s services to unpaid goals like charitable or social projects just because of the deeper and more important satisfaction of the soul?

This year, I am excited by achieving goals that are personal and specific, not broad and social. And I wish the same for every ALUMRISER.

My advice when an opportunity knocks? Be specific in stating what you want. Be open to opportunities that fit your needs, even if they don’t seem like poster-board examples of success. And every day, do believe there’s new opportunity around the corner.

While all this is easier said than done if the worry is a paycheck or a mortgage payment, I believe 2009 offers the opportunity for all of us to be a year not of gloom and doom, but instead a year to grow personally and professionally in some new and exciting, unknown direction.

I hope this for all past, present and future ALUMRISERS. It’s 2009: Opportunity knocks.