The quote above from the 1st century B.C. shows just how long humans have been looking for opportunity and finding the best ways to capture it. Grabbing opportunity has more to do with instinct and less to do with thinking. It’s a gut reaction to something new and exciting and potentially noteworthy.
Many of us tend to think of opportunity in business terms: a new job opportunity, an opportunity to make more money, an opportunity to show your boss what you’re worth. Opportunity also takes other forms. A random call from your mother may be an opportunity for you to tell her you love her. A solicitation from your favorite charity in the mail may be an opportunity for you to give back to your community.
Your assignment today is to look back through the previous week and list times when you have missed an opportunity. Journal for about fifteen minutes or so about why you didn’t grab on to those opportunities and what you could do in the future to make a different choice.
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This is the last day in our miniseries on opportunity, and it’s a sobering quote. Can missed opportunity really be worse than a defeat? Yes, it can! When you miss an opportunity, you didn’t even bother to show up for the game. It’s not as if you made an attempt and lost. You didn’t play.
It is worse than defeat, because you have no idea if you might have won. Every opportunity is a chance for success, and you can’t win if you don’t play. Are you in the game? Or are you standing on the sidelines watching the players go back and forth, never taking part in the action yourself?
It is risky to act when you see an opportunity, but you will never move forward if you don’t get in the game. You cannot obtain success if you do not grab onto opportunity. If you latch on to an opportunity and fail, you actually have achieved a certain amount of success. You know for certain what doesn’t work, and you can explore other options. If you miss the opportunity, you are left with nothing.
You may think it’s safer to stay away from opportunity, but when you do not participate in life, that, too, is a choice. You are making a decision not to grow and learn and stretch yourself. You are actively choosing not to achieve success when you let opportunity slip by. That’s not safe at all.
Your assignment today is to get in the game! Don’t miss an opportunity when you see one.
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Are you on the right path? Is your life filled with activities that help you and others to flourish, or do you tend to partake in behaviors that send you on a detour away from success? If you are completely honest with yourself, you will know the answer.
You know intuitively if you are on the right or wrong path. You are aware at some level of whether or not you engage in behavior that is healthy mentally and physically, or unhealthy. When you are headed down the wrong path, and you know it, you might want to think about why you chose that road. Do you gain some amount of comfort from not living up to your potential? Why did you choose to be where you are? You do not have the luxury of saying it’s not your fault. You are not a victim. You choose every step of your journey.
Sometimes the more difficult task is to stay on the right path once you’ve found it. You may have an inkling you’re headed in the right direction, but you’re not getting the results you would like quickly enough.
That’s where patience comes in. You must be willing to keep walking, even if you don’t reap rewards immediately. You are in control of the path you choose, but you can’t mandate the amount of time it will take you to reach success. However, if you are on the right path, you will eventually make progress. You will find success.
Your assignment today is to take a look at your path. Are you on the right path or the wrong path? Are you getting impatient?
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