Today I registered for a networking event that's taking place tomorrow night in downtown Syracuse. I received email a little later on saying that the event had already sold out. I couldn't blame anyone but myself because the email came last week, but I had too many other things going so I didn't get to the email until today.

How many opportunities are lost because we try to manage time rather than flow along with it? How many problems could have been eliminated if we had taken care of the infrastructure that could have kept things running smoothly?

Quite often, I'm called to go into a place to consult because something went wrong. There's a lot of things I find, and these days I'm not surprised any longer when I discover a problem that shouldn't have been one. A couple of times I've gone into hospitals that were in distress, on the brink of trouble, and had my part in helping them turn things around and moving towards positive results once again. So, when I sent out my marketing material, I often include references to being proactive, while knowing that many of the companies I'm sending things to are not only not being proactive, but probably don't have an idea of where the problem is to begin with.

Have you ever missed the opportunity to tell someone you loved them because they passed away? Have you ever missed the opportunity to teach a child a lesson that could have saved them from harm later on? Have you ever missed the opportunity to teach an employee how to do something, and told them why it's necessary, before they went and did something that harmed business in some fashion?

No one gets it right all the time, but we can all strive to get it right most of the time. I'm going to work hard to make sure I don't miss another opportunity.