Opportunity is officially defined as a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. The fact is
Opportunities are everywhere!
The key is to learn how to recognize them. This is something I learned at a young age. If I was first up on a Saturday then I got to pick the channel for the TV. And yes this was a big deal as my only sibling is my 6 years younger brother … needless to say our cartoon tastes were not the same.
I didn’t know it at the time, but this is a classic example of preparation and opportunity meeting and success following. What was my preparation? It was everything from KNOWING what I wanted (or didn’t want), OBSERVING others, PLANNING activities, taking ACTION and BELIEVING anything is possible.
It all started because I knew I did not want to watch He-Man or GI Joe any more. So I studied our TV Guide that we got in the mail once a week to see what was on. Remember – this is the late 70s – before remote controls and cable tv. I found all kinds of fun things I wanted to watch from cartoons to the Disney nature shows to geeky science shows.
Next I watched how my family did things. Everybody stayed up late on Friday and slept in on Saturday. I learned that if I went to bed close to my normal time, I’d wake up close to my normal time which meant way ahead of everyone else. So I made the decision to go to bed after Dukes of Hazard so I could do my thing on Saturday morning and to this day, I still have no idea what came on after Tom and Luke Duke did their thing in the General Lee.
As a 9 year old, I was definitely going against the norm to wake up early on a Saturday morning. I didn’t go along with everyone else and I believed there was value in what I wanted. I made decisions and took actions believing it was possible to have what I wanted. The habit stuck and has served me well over the decades … my quiet Friday nights even shaped my first date with my hubby of 23 years but that is a whole other story.
Something to ponder – success is not possible without preparation. To be successful you need to seize the opportunity. So was my Saturday morning takeover simply preparation or was that creating an opportunity? Think about it …. when you prepare for things through study, practice, exploration, or invitation, how often does opportunity seem to show up? Take the chance. Prepare for what you want. Walk through the doors of opportunity that show up!
