[Clarity] The Anatomy of Opportunity #3 – Shop for It!

In our series, The Anatomy of Opportunity, so far we’ve talked about how YOU can create one. Now we’ll talk about opportunities that already exist. This week we want to focus on you DISCOVERING an opportunity. It’s like shopping.

Catch Up Here – The Anatomy of Opportunity #2 – Fix One , The Anatomy of Opportunity #1 – Grow One

Discovering amazing opportunities requires a mindset shift. It’s simple but not easy. Ready? 

Focus the majority of your energy on becoming READY for an opportunity vs. LOOKING for it. Time and again, I have found that opportunities seem to “find” those who have already done the work to receive them. 

But what do we WANT to do?

Go hunt them down of course! Beat the bushes. Ask all your friends. Post like mad on social media. Drag through online job sites with a fine tooth comb.

All of our focus in on the FINDING. What we aren’t paying attention to is our ability to BUY. To close the deal. To say “Yes”. Put that deal in our back seat and drive home with it.

Are You Able to Act Right NOW?

We’ll use shopping as our metaphor (just as we used antiquing last week to symbolize taking an idea and restoring it/fixing it up).

Let’s assume that you just walked into “Fanciest Store That Pops Into Your Head” and you see…THAT dress. Color? Your favorite. The style makes you look like Marilyn Monroe even if you don’t like her. It is a $1,800 dress. It is on sale for $____, some number that is more than you can easily pay but is a ridiculously good deal.

Are you able to act right NOW? And feel free to substitute a coveted domain name, real property or even my year long private coaching as the object of desire. Could you grab it up right now, if the once in the lifetime deal was here?Are you able to act right NOW? And feel free to substitute a coveted domain name, real property or even my year long private coaching as the object of desire. Could you grab it up right now, if the once in the lifetime deal was here?

To shop well, you need to have yourself together BEFORE you go. Do you have time to try things on? Do you have patience to keep looking for the best deal, the best fit? Did you set aside a budget for what you need and a reserve in case the dream opportunity pops up? 

Do your due diligence and budgeting now, before you go looking for your next opportunity. Get yourself ready to receive (yep, big old spiritual precedent for that one called expectation!).

An Opportunity Lost

I was just speaking at conference with royalty and millionaires (it was epic!). One of the most wealthy men there was one of America’s top business coaches (who had spent $30K on a private plane to make the meeting). He made an offer to someone who should have said YES instantly and then gone in the bathroom, called her whole family & took out a loan to make it happen. She said she wasn’t “ready.” (aka She said NO!)

I spoke up and offered to COACH HER INTO READINESS FOR FREE (read that again!) and…she said no to me too! Very politely. She had come there shopping for opportunity and when she found it, on double clearance, in her size she couldn’t buy it because she wasn’t ready.

The opportunity was READY. And the window for opportunities is typically narrow. She said no and the millionaire moved on.  If the opportunity will sit still and wait on you, it is weaker than you think.

I love dating analogies because we all get them. How long can you leave the perfect man to wait on you?  How long will he sit, single, while you think it over and debate it. How long before your competition spots him and makes him a better offer than you?

If you discovered your big opportunity TOMORROW, what will you wish you already had DONE TODAY?

Go do that now. Prepare yourself to discover what you want.

In Joy,