Society teaches us that opportunity is a good thing and that more is better. I agree. At the same time, however, we’re culturally trained to believe that opportunity is rare and fleeting, difficult to find, hard to hang on to, and that we had better get it before we miss it or someone else grabs it. I disagree. The problem? That type of thinking, so prevalent in the minds of most people today, has generally become their basic outlook in life and, thus, central to every endeavor they face. And being highly self-limiting, that type of thinking only serves to hold them back.
In contrast, once you understand how opportunity truly works—that it’s an ever-present and accessible field of energy in your day—its incredible effects lead to increased levels of achievement and accomplishment, and therefore success, in your day-to-day experience of living. It’s reflective of how life is actually set up:
Opportunity is everywhere!
How so? Because of the reality I call the paradox of life; the fact that change is constant. You see, change is the one thing that each and every one of us undergoes each and every day. In fact, change (even though we’re not always aware of it) is the fundamental essence of our life experience. Which means that, one, due to the constancy of change in life, new possibilities are always streaming within our lives. And that, two, as a further result, new opportunities (whether we see them or not) are always available in some way, shape, or form.
Once I came to that realization, I embraced a more effective mental and behavioral approach to success in life. Not just toward generating new business during my day but also toward my daily way of living. What’s so great is that, since developing what I call an “opportunitive” mindset, I’ve become adept at identifying new opportunities in any situation, circumstance, or scenario that I encounter. Whether experiencing simple confusion, frustration, or vexation, or confronted by an overwhelming challenge, major obstacle, or “unsolvable” problem, I now find opportunity that I previously would have missed. My new reality? Although not always obvious, opportunity is always available. I just have to know how to look for it; and that’s a skill thing.
Indeed, learning how to think “opportunitively” is so important for one’s ability to achieve success in life that, to help others access more opportunity in their lives, I’ve authored two books that address the topic: The Third Law of Success and Real Estate Attraction. In each, cultivating the little-known ability to identify more opportunity in your day is a major theme. Skills like asking The Question of Opportunity and applying The 12 Tenets of Opportunity—and other key techniques dedicated increasing your access to opportunity—turn your God-given natural capacity for success in life into a practical yet life-changing ability.
Bottom line, if you aspire to more success in life, you must put yourself in a position to readily and easily identify more opportunity each day. In going forward, challenge yourself to be more “opportunitive” in approach. Be that person who, no matter what comes up, regularly asks themselves, “Where’s the opportunity?”, and who remains open to and inquiring of what’s possible. And along the way, always remember to act on one of my favorite and most self-empowering axioms for success in life:
The question isn’t if opportunity exists,
but whether you recognize it.
Which puts the level of opportunity (and therefore success) that you experience in life squarely on your own shoulders. As both a practiced coach and longtime sales leader, I think that’s exactly where it should be.
By Fred Wilson
Author of Real Estate Attraction – How to Do Business NOW in Real Estate Sales
Fred Wilson
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