Often when we see this phrase (especially on LinkedIn) it means “I’m looking for work,” but we should all be on the lookout for new opportunities to learn and grow.

Recently I attended a lecture given by a physics professor at the university down the street. Much of what he said went over my head, but I did gather that incredible advances have been made in harnessing the power of x-rays. His team took a piece of equipment that covered a mile and cost $600 million and shrunk it down to fit in a lab and costs $6 million. The resulting x-ray beam acts like a laser and can cut through steel like butter, but the real benefits are in imaging. The beam’s particles are so fast and precise that it can make movies of protein synthesis and electron rotation. It is truly amazing and eye-opening technology. The two hour investment of time yielded great benefits: I met some interesting people and greatly expanded my understanding of the world.

Too often we can get stuck in a bubble and isolated from new thinking. Look for new opportunities; sometimes they can be as revealing as an x-ray.