That was the mantra offered to Brockville School's pupils during a visit by motivational speaker and former school principal Marcus Akuhata-Brown yesterday.
The 36-year-old sowed the thought in the minds of Year 5-8 pupils at the school while talking about his life.
Despite a humble background, Mr Akuhata-Brown was the youngest person on the board of citizen participation organisation Civicus, had a special attachment with the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, has worked with the poor and marginalised around the world and his previous speaking engagements include events at the White House and with the British Royal Family.
Mr Akuhata-Brown told the Brockville pupils about his first encounter with Prince Charles.
"I saw him enter the room and something in me said 'I have to meet that man'. I tried to catch his eye, but he walked on past.
"So I plucked up the courage from within and I said to that bright shiny spot on the back of his head, 'pleased to meet you, sir'. He turned and said 'pleased to meet you, too'."
The message to the pupils was clear - people had to make and take opportunities.
"It doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, how old you are, how rich you are, what colour your skin is - if you learn to make good decisions, you can be anything you want to be.
"If a fella like me from the East Coast can travel the world and have dinner with the Queen, so can you."
Brockville School was one of four schools he will visit during his two-day Dunedin visit.
He will give similar talks today to pupils at John McGlashan College, Columba College and Caversham Primary School.
