The Best Way To Maximize An Opportunity Is To Stay With It

Now is the time, opportunity; Images Credit: GettyImages.com

I don’t know if what I am about to say now is something that only I experience but I am going to say it anyway. There are times you get fascinated when you see some numbers or letters or a combination of both as if they were your lucky charm. For me, I feel really lucky if I see time on the clock, or my wristwatch, or my mobile phone. It makes me feel so ‘on time’ when I see that the time showing a combination of 1’s only or 1’s and 0’s, as in 11:00 or 11:11. But only until recently did I realize what lesson we all need to learn from that.

On a particular day, a fateful day you’d say, I saw the time reading 11:07 and I wanted to see it at 11:11 too. So, I continued with what I was doing keeping in mind that I would soon see my favourite numbers once more. But the next time, I looked into my mobile phone and the time was saying 11:13. So disappointing, I felt but within me, I was just wondering how 5 minutes just rolled by so quickly. But then, it was all over. My life did not depend on it, after all, they are just clock numbers. So I continued with what I was doing. Then, a few days after, I saw the time again at 11:10. So close, you’d say. But guess what?

There are times we miss our great opportunities all because we push them till later. But the import of this story is that you realise that you need to take your chances into your hands the moment you see them. What would it cost you to wait a little longer until you have seen and harnessed your opportunity? 

I don’t know if you are still guessing what happened the next time I say the time, but voila, I did have to wait one more minute so I could see my favourite time. I did not take the chances as mere fate as many people do with their opportunities. I could have just gone away thinking that in a minute’s time, I would instinctively turn back to the clock as I would sometimes do but how much can you trust your instincts to help you do just that?

After all, is said, I would certainly not leave you without giving you some practical ways to maximize your opportunities like I always did. And, bravo! Here they come.

Here are some practical ways to maximize your opportunities and never to miss them.

In procrastination, you find yourself ignoring a task that you find less interesting in favour of one that you actually enjoy. It is what happens when you tell yourself that you will do your homework later, but you need to see a little more of the movie you are currently viewing.

Overcoming procrastination is not as straight forward as it seems because sometimes when you are procrastinating, you do not actually realize it. But here is a guide on overcoming procrastination.

Taking a step forward means that you are willing to advance. Many times, people are too afraid to just start. Maybe they are afraid of failing, or they just think they are not fully prepared to begin but the truth is, there is never a time when anyone was fully prepared.

In other to keep on in the path of your opportunities, you must learn to take a headstart and avoid unnecessary waiting.

I knew that I would miss the time if I had looked away with the hopes to return promptly, so I had to face it steadfastly.

Facing your fears means you are willing to take the risks that are staring at you. The fear of risks is the beginning of stagnance. You must be willing and ready to face your risks, maximizing your potentials and minimizing more risks as much as possible. What this means is that you must prepare your mind to face the risks that you can do virtually nothing about.

Louis Pasteur‘s quote, “in the field of observation, chance favours the prepared mind” have never run dry of deep interpretations that would teach us some great lessons. Though he coined this from observation within the microscopic field of view, this applies to everything else outside the scope of the microscope.

You cannot recognise opportunities when they come if you are not prepared for them. The truth is, people who meet opportunities are actually those who have been waiting for it to come. They have prepared themselves, made almost everything they need ready. They may not be fully prepared when the opportunity shows up but like I said earlier, no one is ever actually prepared.

After recognising an opportunity, the next requirement is the boldness to harness it and to do so maximally.

If you have ever failed before, you will know what it is to face failure. As undesirable as failure is, it is not never the end of anything. It is the failure to keep moving that is failure indeed. 

Fear from previous failures can stand in your way of identifying and harnessing other opportunities that may come your way. Thence, you need to keep reassuring yourself that you can never be defined as such. You are defined by the greatness that would soon erupt from you if you don’t give up.

I started by saying that the best way to maximize an opportunity is to stay with it. From the illustration I gave in the introduction, you should understand that some opportunities may be in the form of ideas that you receive through any means.

Writing down ideas keeps them safe from forgetfulness, after all, you cannot particularly trust your brain to bring them back when you need them most.

Staying with opportunities does not mean you would have to look them in the face without doing anything. It means you have to stay focused on them and run with them until you can tell yourself that you are done with them, after maximally exploring them.

Any slight delay or lack of action may lead to a permanent of that opportunity. 

When I missed seeing my favourite, I had missed that one forever. That is not to say others did not come later, they did but what is lost is lost already. If you must understand the importance of staying with your opportunities, read this post here.