Talent, Oppourtunity and Motivation

Has it ever happened to you that you are the youngest in your class in school, youngest in graduation, youngest member of your project team at work, youngest member of a substantially big onsite team? I have been in such shoes. I was in London for work for sometime alongwith some of my colleagues doing a project for a UK Client. One day our manager asked us to make a list of everyone's full name, age and other credentials, it was going to be a common list. At the end of this activity, I got a number of emails from people saying oh you are so young, you are the youngest here so on and forth (guess people do compare age!!!). I somehow found a sense of accomplishment in this. They said, you are young, talented and you have so many years ahead of you to do excellent work. Once in another crucial project, a colleague told me, you are very talented, keep it up and you will go places. No doubt I was flattered to hear such comments.

Now the present, I am an experienced professional, no longer the youngest member in what I do and doing the same as what some of the above complimentors are doing. Not an inch better or worse. I wonder what happened to the talents they were speaking of, did I stop having my talents or I lost them somewhere down the road, both assumptions are incorrect because I am doing even better work personally then I used to.

This leads me to believe oppourtunites do play an important role in what you make out of yourself. Every person talented or not needs something to work towards. How can an arrow find its destination if the archer did not have one in mind? People say, you make your own oppourtunities, I am not sure how far this is true. When we take a decision out of two/three options that are equally promising, its only after you see the result that you realize, oh gosh, I should have taken the other route and more often than not it is too late to change your mind.

No, I have not given up and I am not blaming anybody not even destiny for the oppourtunities I didnt get or am not getting. But the thought that I could have done better does cross my mind.
This is where motivation plays an important role, motivation to do better than my best in whatever I do, motivation to prepare for THE day when my oppourtunity will come calling, motivation just to be a better person!!! I cannot change the game rules but I can certainly change how I prepare myself to play the game. A while ago, I was reading about this 30 something lady who was pretty healthy till she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. She said, she took it in a positive stride and now she maintains her weight, leads an active lifestyle, watches her diet and she is now in the best shape of her life. In her own words, diabetes proved to be a boon in disguise. I guess these are the real achievers and winners in this marathon called Life.

Some lines by Robert Frost and hoping they come true for me:

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I-I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.