Preparing for Opportunities We Can’t See!

One of the things I fear the most is being complacent and sleepwalking through life.

I believe we all need luck sometimes. Our efforts and resilience alone are not enough, but if you are sleepwalking through life, the opportunity might be right in front of you and you will most likely fail to see it.

Let me give you an example. When I worked as a sales representative, I was in a team of 14, and I didn’t see much opportunity to progress in the job. We often discussed it among the team, how there was no future in that job.

I could have just kept doing the job and looking out for other opportunities, which is what most of my colleagues did, but I made a conscious decision, which was: I don’t know if there will ever be an opportunity to move forward in that job, which is why I am going to keep an eye out for a better opportunity, but at the same time, place myself in the best possible position to take an opportunity in the current job in case that opportunity comes up.

I worked as if I knew a promotion would come, and one time the ASM got approval to appoint a team leader from the sales team, and I was already in the position where no one on the team doubted that I was going to be the one.

Throughout my career, this combination has helped me move forward: luck and placing myself in the best position to get the luck when it arrives.

Being conscious and not sleepwalking doesn’t mean you always make a plan and achieve that plan.

To me, it simply means being aware of your current situation and making an actionable plan of where you want to be in the next few years.

Whether that plan works out or not isn’t the important thing. The most important thing is that you are doing your best, not leaving everything up to luck.

Take some time out, if you can. Block 1 hour in your calendar at the time that you know you will have the least chance of being disturbed. I usually do this at night when everyone is asleep.

Look at your current situation, think of where you really want to be, and what you need to be doing every day to have the best shot at getting there.

You may get there, and you may not, but I strongly believe you will be in a better position than someone who is always waiting for life to happen.

This is what I always tell myself: I can’t control when an opportunity appears, but I can control whether I am ready when it does.

Cheers 🥂