Realise opportunities & don’t forget to enjoy the journey.
We’ve all heard the cliché’s about creating your own luck, and seizing the day and don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I’m sure you could rhyme off a number of others however there’s so much to be said about really taking an opportunity and running with it.
Opportunities for one person can be seen as risks to another.
How do you see it?
Opportunities are in front of us everyday however sometimes we create excuses not to action them when it just doesn’t ‘feel’ right.
I regularly say and hear, ‘timing is everything’. Is it timing or willingness?
Regardless, whatever decision that’s made there’s always a way to justify actions. My Mum continuously tells me “What’s for you won’t go by you” and never a truer word spoken.
The past 6 months or so, I’ve had an opportunity to do something that could ultimately change my life and until recently I continued to let it pass on by.
Simply because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, ‘the timing was off’, I wasn’t brave enough and also because I didn’t believe it was a possibility.
Possibilities are only questions that have yet to be answered
So recently I took the bull by the horns and decided to take an opportunity and find out if it could possibly become a reality. I took a chance.
Now this opportunity could be business, sport, family, friends, love, the point is I did something about it and it was the right thing to do.
For most people to seize or realise an opportunity you really do need to take a chance and go with your instinct or in other words your gut.
Something that doesn’t necessarily add up but feels right can result in you being happy which I believe is priceless.
In sports how many times do players see an opportunity and take it. Whether they succeed or fail is the risk they are willing to take, or opportunity they are hoping to realise. They become a hero to villain in a matter of seconds.
Within business, people find themselves in similar predicaments, whether you’re the CEO or the starting your first job. All the planning and strategising in the world goes out the window when it comes to making a decision that you believe has so much opportunity. Don’t get me wrong following a strategy helps your business remain focused yet there are times when decisions need to be made without a strategic influence.
Sometimes its better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
And while we are all results of a recession that saw so many around us suffer throughout it, be it personally or in business, so many others succeeded.
I can’t count the number of stories I’ve heard where people found themselves unemployed, feeling that there was no light at the end of the tunnel in terms of work, their families were taking the brunt of the stress and yet they were able to positively refocus their lives by making changes during the worst economic times in living.
It’s inspiring.
They re-educated themselves or repositioned their careers and found out what it is they really love doing. Now we are seeing the fruits of their labour and it should be used as motivation for those in times of concern or doubt.
We spend too much of our time trying to achieve goal after goal and we rarely get to appreciate all we’ve done to get there. For me, that is a reflection of people’s ambition and drive. That’s is also why people are inspired by others, through their actions.
I recently worked on a campaign that illustrated the dedication of a certain sports star:
I asked him what was is like getting his first cap and he said that once he reached his first cap, he refocused himself immediately on getting 10 caps, then 50 caps and now its 100 caps. Constantly striving to do more and more. That for me epitomises an ultimate professional be it in sport or business.
However it is so important to keep everything in focus. Aiming to achieve goals is great, also aim to appreciate and enjoy all that’s around you while you’re on the way success.
Don’t let your ambition cloud your view of the good things that surround you. Its important to have perspective otherwise what’s the point? Otherwise you’ll achieve your objective and have missed out on some of the important moments along the way.
So when you see an opportunity out there and you decide that you’re going to give it everything you’ve got, be sure to give all those moments of happiness along the way the focus and enjoyment they deserve too.
People are remarkable and remarkable things happen throughout our lives so enjoy them.
If you’ve the opportunity to be a successful sports star or reach new heights in business, live in your dream house or country, or more importantly if you’ve the opportunity to have a family take that leap of faith and give it everything.
Don’t forget to enjoy the good times with those important to you.
After reading this post look for your next opportunity it could be staring you straight in the face, just open your eyes.
