MAXIMIZING OPPORTUNITIES

Life is full of countless opportunities, but only those who know how to maximize those opportunities get the most of them.

Opportunities are open doors or sets of circumstances and contacts that bring promotion and fulfillment into our lives.

• They are open doors to new levels
• They are ladders of promotions.
• They are lifts to new heights.

Opportunities have presented themselves to many people but they could not maximize them because they were not prepared when they came knocking. Success in life is a product of opportunity plus preparation.

The Equation

OPPORTUNITY + PREPARATION = SUCCESS.

If you look back into your life, you will realize that there are many opportunities you have missed because you did not recognize them when they came, or you were not prepared. Opportunities don’t always come the way one expects, so one needs to be sensitive to identify them when they show up.

Identifying Opportunities

There are few pointers to opportunity that make it easier for you to identify them.

• Doing Something

Whenever you have a chance to do something, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, do it the best way you can and give it all you have because you never know, someone may be watching and opportunity may be buried within that deed.

Someone once said “if you are a tailor, tailor well, if you are a teacher, teach well e.t.c.

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it well because that is a doorway to tremendous and unexpected opportunity.” Many of our footballers and musicians in this country were busy doing what they know to do, the best way they could until someone discovered them and their lives changed.

• Meeting people

Just like connecting flight to a desired destination, meeting people and networking can become a great opportunity. Never despise the privilege to meet people because you never know who holds the key to your next level. Value every contact you make with people no matter how brief. Treat everyone you meet with courtesy and respect irrespective of who you know them to be or think they are.

• Giving something

What you sow is what you reap is a universal truth and that is why givers never lack. No matter how small, no matter how big, always be willing to give whatever is required of you as long as it is within your power.

• Give your time when required because it may yield a surprising and life changing return.
• Give your talent when required because it will yield a life time of wealth.
• Give your treasure when required because it will yield things money cannot buy.

There are countless opportunities buried within giving that one will never experience until one gives.

• Getting information

If you are not informed, you will be deformed. If you are not inspired, you will expire, and if you are not updated, you will be outdated. We are in the information age and ideas rule the world. Whether it is through a seminar, a book, a tape e.t.c. getting information should never be taken lightly because it can open up a mine of opportunities. The uninformed will always follow the informed, and if you have the information people need, they will pay and do anything to get connected to you. Place a great premium on the acquisition of knowledge and gathering of relevant information because it is a key to unimaginable opportunities.

• Working somewhere

Have you noticed that every job vacancy advert requires you to have years of experience even though you just left school? Where do they expect you to get the work experience? Well look back into your life and answer this question. Has there ever been any opportunity for you to work somewhere in the past either full time or part time, long term or short term; with parents, family, friends or neighbour? Did you take advantage of it?

If you will be sincere you will answer yes to question one, and most likely no to question two. You did not work because you never knew it could become a needed asset in your C.V and in your future.

Whenever/wherever you have an opportunity to work, take advantage of it because it may have great opportunities buried within.

• Visiting a place or places

When doors open for you to visit a place, especially notable places where people long to visit, don’t take it for granted because it can become a womb to the birthing of numerous opportunities. Apart from the exposure and the enlightenment it gives you, it can become an opportunity for greater accomplishment. There are people who have lived their entire life only in one geographic location without clue of what goes on in other parts of their state, let alone their country or world. Some people even believe that the world starts and ends in their neighbourhood or country. To then be able to visit other states or countries is a valuable privilege that should be well maximized.

• Handling responsibility

The ability to handle responsibility is one of the marks of maturity. Whether it is the responsibility of leading or managing people, coordinating or overseeing a project, taking charge of cases or situations, whatever responsibility one has should be seen as a privilege and handled in a way that makes one exceptional. Many people have had opportunities open up to them because of the way they have handled responsibilities that are placed on them.

The seven pointers that I have revealed to you are doorways to diverse opportunities. Be conscious of giving positive response to these seven pointers and see a new world of opportunities open up to you. And as they come, maximize them. Later in the future, we will examine other vital facts about opportunity that will help you further maximize them.