The Big Opportunity in Tiny Opportunities
People sleep on opportunities because the opportunities that come by don’t look or feel like the opportunity they are waiting for.
Making the most of opportunities is partly seizing opportunities that are already around you, partly preparing yourself for opportunities that are yet to come and partly creating opportunities for yourself.
Seizing Opportunities
Accept less than perfect opportunities
Opportunities rarely come when or how you want them to. The art of seizing opportunity is the art of turning quarter and half opportunities into full opportunities. Turn less than optimal opportunities into gold.
Don’t despise the immediate opportunity you have because you are waiting for another opportunity that is yet to come.
We live with the stubborn illusion that we will always have tomorrow to do today’s work. It’s a lie. We need to live with a sense of urgency about the work we do today. It matters not just because an opportunity lost today is an opportunity lost forever, but because the way that we engage in our work ultimately affects the way that we engage in our life as a whole. Don’t waste the opportunity. Todd Henry — Die Empty
Specialize in picking up crumbs
Make the most of crumbs — those ill-defined and tiny chances and microscopic opportunities.
Find the tiniest wedge and get your foot in the door. Look for the tiny crack, the small glimmer of hope, the tiny bright spot in each day, and magnify it. Grab the tiniest loose string you can find — it will lead you to the huge loom.
Open your eyes — the “get-out-of-jail” keys are everywhere.
Make the most of failure
Some of the biggest opportunities are born of failure.
Every error, every flaw, every failure, however small, is a marginal gain in disguise.
We learn not just by being correct, but also by being wrong. It is when we fail that we learn new things, push the boundaries, and become more creative. Matthew Syed — Black Box Thinking
There is no point in failing and then dealing with it by pretending it didn’t happen, or blaming someone else. That would be a wasted opportunity to learn more about yourself and perhaps to identify gaps in your skills, experiences or qualifications.
Comparison kills joy
Your opportunities are going to come — just not at the same time or in the same sequence as everyone else.
Creating Opportunities
First you become the type of person that attracts opportunities, then opportunities follow; not the other way round. You must have rehearsed for opportunity in some way.
“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets planning.” — Thomas Edison
Spend all your effort preparing. When you are ready, the opportunity will come — Abraham Lincoln
You’ve got to be intentional about where you’re going, and you’ve got to be prepared to act-immediately and without hesitation - when the right opportunity presents itself. Jeff Gothelf — Forever Employable
Become the opportunity
Focus on what you are becoming. Only certain types of people can attract certain types of opportunities and generate certain types of results.
There are two types of opportunities:
- the work assigned and expected of you
- the skills and opportunities you build which no one has asked for
Focus on the latter. You may not understand how a particular skill will serve you at the time you learn it. Be perpetually ready for bigger and better opportunities.
Distinguish yourself
Don’t look for opportunities where everyone is looking. Don’t do what everyone is doing. You will miss low hanging fruit on your path because you are fixated on other people’s narratives.
Don’t wait until it makes sense to everyone. By the time it makes sense to everyone, the opportunity has passed.
