The Secret of Success

Some considerable number of years ago a very great truth was shared with me by a fellow radio personality in Australia. His name is John Laws, and the comment he made has stuck in my mind as one of the great truths that affect our lives.

John was asked if he attributed his success to being in the right place at the right time? John replied that everyone was in the right place at the right time at sometime in his or her life - the true secret of success was in recognizing the fact that you were there!

I was Associated Press's photographer in Malta at the time that an international dispute broke out between the government of Malta and the British government. More importantly I was the only international journalist on the spot. The morning following the outbreak of riots my pictures appeared on the front page of every daily newspaper in the world! My total compensation back in 1957 was under $100.00.

I dare say the Associated Press photographer who entered the Florida home and caught the chilling shot of a machine gun in the face of the young Cuban child Elian Gonzalez would comfortably be able to retire on the proceeds.

In the late '90s I was Hilton's Grand Vacation Clubs representative based in Hong Kong. I received an invitation to attend Resort Condominium International's Convention and University to be held in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur. It was a most informative and entertaining event and I boarded my return flight to Hong Kong completely exhausted. Despite my attempt to sleep on the flight I was bombarded with questions from the Asian gentleman seated beside me. Despite my irritation I did my best to politely answer his questions; he had obviously attended the same convention as yours truly.

On arrival we exchanged business cards and I must confess I placed his card in my breast pocket without reading it. All I wanted to do was get to my Hotel suite and sleep for 8 hours! It would be three days later that my telephone rand and my secretary informed me that I had a call from a Chinese government official. It was my inquisitive passenger friend!

It turned out that he had been sent to the convention to locate a projector director to develop a project for the Chinese Government in Zhuhai, China's southern most province which adjoined Macau.

He offered me a contract to convert a section of the Paradise Hill Hotel, a spectacular 5 star property frequented by China's President, to timeshare villas. The job housed me in the Presidential Suite, the choice of 8 on-property restaurants, a chauffer driven car at my disposal 24 hours a day etc. Needless to say it was too good an offer to refuse. Unfortunately, 6 months into the project, a resurgence of a previous cancer condition forced me to leave China, however the experience will remain a highlight in my life's experiences.

There is little doubt that my opportunity to assist in the development of one of China's foremost timeshare developments was due to being in the right aircraft seat on my return to Hong Kong from Malaysia, even though I failed to recognize the opportunity. It did however teach me a very valuable lesson. One I should have remembered from my old friend and colleague John Laws - "everyone is in the right place at the right time at sometime in his or her lives - the true secret of success is in recognizing the fact that you were there!" - and I might add doing something about it!

Take a look at your present surrounds - perhaps you're there also!