Don’t Wait for the Knock

It would be nice if we were all blessed with 20:20 hindsight. The ability to recognise a great opportunity when it appears. Unfortunately such an ability does not exist and as a consequence, many of us allow opportunities to pass us by. Think for a moment about things you could have done, actions you could have taken that with the gift of hindsight, would have been tremendously rewarding, but for whatever reason, you ignored. The problem for many of us is we don’t recognise an opportunity until it has already passed by – or so we think.

Lots of people are waiting for opportunity to knock on their door. Some will wait a life time in the vain hope of hearing that elusive tap. The truth is opportunity will never knock. It never has and it never will. An opportunity is not something out there floating along that with a little luck will bump against your door. You are opportunity. Opportunity is always there because it lives inside of you, but so many of us miss it because we are so busy looking outside, when all the time it was right there inside of us. The term ‘opportunity’ is often reduced to a business or financial idea, a chance to increase wealth. But this is a very limited way to view opportunity. Everyday you are confronted by countless opportunities to be kind, to thrive under pressure, to be grateful, to learn and grow. The opportunity to become more than we are is within our grasp everyday.

All we need to do is decide to take advantage of the abundance of possibilities that present themselves to us on a daily basis. We do not suffer from a lack of opportunities in our life, we suffer from a lack of courage to act on what is available. Dr. Maxwell Maltz wrote that, “opportunity is your chance to be an archaeologist and dig under the debris of tension and conflict to uncover for yourself a sense of self-acceptance that will give you inner peace and comfort.”

My way of saying this is, that by being who you truly are, you find ease. You can surrender to the challenges of life or you can fight to be who you know you can be. To live your purpose, to shine your unique light on the world and be all you can be. Seneca, the Roman philosopher said “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” When we look at the word ‘preparation’ in this context, it means that you are ready, you believe in yourself and are willing to act. When we do not trust ourselves we will either not see opportunities or simply ignore them. Whilst many people are not happy with the current status of their lives, they find a great comfort in staying with the familiar, the known. To embrace opportunity means stepping into the unknown. Perhaps we elect to speak out about something that has been bothering us for years. We cannot be certain how others will respond. We are stepping into the unknown. Like a great explorer we must venture to new places in our hearts and minds and begin to discover the hidden parts of ourselves. The parts we have buried away believing there would never be an opportunity for us to realise that part of us.

You may feel that opportunities never present themselves to you. That you are unlucky and unlikely to ever be the benefactor of good fortune. It is this type of thinking that blinds you to your potential and all the opportunities available to you. History is littered with examples of people who overcome enormous obstacles to shine. Don’t defend your bad luck; we all face challenges and along any journey there will always be frustrations and barriers. But it is only through overcoming these obstacles that we grow and become more than we were. All too often people lose faith in themselves and therefore turn their back on the opportunity in front of them.

Thomas Edison suggested, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed up in overalls and looks like work.” It is work. Opportunities don’t come gift wrapped and delivered. Sometimes the most brilliant opportunities are the ones disguised as impossible situations.

Don’t wait for opportunities to knock, really look at what is around you, recognise what is inside you and take advantage of the abundance that surrounds you everyday.

Keep Firing

Paul McCarthy