How To Prepare Yourself For Opportunities

I was in a Facebook live session with a friend of mine, Mr Justice Kay (Prince of Value) and our subject of discussion was “Opportunities” and how to recognize them. This is because ‘opportunity’ is one of the most misunderstood phenomena out there, especially how to take hold of opportunities when they come.

Before you go further, I would like to make sure we are on the same page on what the opportunity is. So I will like to define opportunity from Wiktionary. It defines opportunity as a chance or an occasion for advancement, progress or profit. A favourable circumstance or occasion.

Now, back to the first question, I asked based on the assertion that opportunities come but once. If opportunities come but once, it then means that we have all missed out on our opportunity for progress, advancement or profit. But you and I know that that is not the case. You still wake up in the morning, get dressed up and go out to your place of work or business because you believe to meet an opportunity to make progress or profit.

How To Prepare Yourself For Opportunities

Have A Change Of Mindset

The first step towards preparing oneself for opportunities I believe is the mindset. The reference I made earlier to the perception of some people on opportunity coming just once and also one being lucky when an opportunity comes simply shows the quality or the state of mindset those have.

One with scarcity or a fixed mindset will most likely see an opportunity as luck and also see opportunity as coming just once. While one with an abundance or growth mindset will see an opportunity for what it is, an occasion to advance and which can come again and again.

Develop Capacity

There is one question I often ask my students when I hold classes on personal growth. I often ask them, ‘will the opportunity you are expecting know you when it meets you?’ The second version of the question is, ‘is the opportunity you are looking for looking for you?’ Think about those two questions for a moment. You may be looking forward to the opportunity to make one million Naira for instance. If an opportunity to make one million Naira comes up right now, do you have the needed capacity to take hold of the opportunity?

While you wait on your next big opportunity, invest in your personal growth. Invest in becoming a person of value.

Become An Opportunity Magnet

Being an opportunity magnet refers to you is one that will most certainly be called upon when there is an opportunity in your areas of interest or expertise. Four things will count in making you an opportunity magnet –

Your Abilities – that is what you can do.

Your Network – that is the quality of relationships you have.

Your Positioning – that is how you can brand or market yourself.

Be Ready

Only those who are ready identify opportunities and only those who are ready to take hold of opportunities. To take hold of opportunities, you must be ready for opportunities. Being ready will require you to have the right attitude toward things. Your attitude affects a lot of things about you and the results you get than you may be aware of.

Closing Thoughts

In this post, I shared with you how to prepare yourself for opportunities. Take note of each one of the points highlighted here and begin to work on them. The best time to prepare for opportunities is long before the opportunities appear. So while you wait on your next big opportunity, prepare yourself.