Opportunity

#Beingaleader means you need to seek out and understand opportunity. The old phrase is Opportunity Knocks. Well, that has not been my experience. Most of the time, opportunity has to be spotted by you, harnessed into something actionable, and then has some follow through required.

So, how do you spot an opportunity? The first question is: are you even looking for it? Are you too complacent in your current situation to even see it if it hits you in the head? Too often, we are too busy to see opportunity. Now there are some personality types that have more of the see an opportunity mindset than others. But for us regular folks, we need to learn how to spot opportunity. Whether it’s an opportunity to provide a compliment to someone. Whether it’s a business opportunity. Or even if it’s something as simple as how to take an ordinary task that you have and make it more enjoyable for yourself or others.

Next, you need to turn it into something actionable. Too often we might see an opportunity but then ignore it or let time go past such that it is no longer actionable. In the famous words of Bob Newhart, ‘stop it’. Stop over thinking. Stop procrastinating. Seize the moment and act on what you see as an opportunity. Take action now. Not later. If there’s a compliment to be given, give it. If there’s an opportunity to make some money, make it. If there’s an opportunity to make something enjoyable that would otherwise be mundane, do it.

#Beingaleader means you need to seek out and understand opportunity. Act on that today.