10 Misconceptions About Opportunity

Following are the general misconceptions which people have, about opportunity:

1) There’ll be more: Instead, each opportunity is unique; so if you let go of one opportunity, you hope there’ll be more. Perhaps there’ll be but most probably none like the one you let go off. This brings me to the second misconception;

2) This is not for me: This misconception mostly comes from a lack of educated judgment or even one’s lack of self-confidence. If an opportunity comes by and you believe that it isn’t for you, research and then decide. An opportunity, before being let go off, should be judged properly.

3) If an opportunity doesn’t challenge you, it isn’t the one: If it doesn’t challenge you to improve, then what’s the fun, it doesn’t bring you any scope of learning.

4) Working effortlessly is different from feeling challenged:  It might be your talent that allows you to carry out a task effortlessly. But if it isn’t something that gives you room to learn, then the opportunity obviously isn’t worth taking!

5) Just because it is something you haven’t done before doesn’t mean that it isn’t for you: This is more like a reminder; that one of the best things about opportunities are it allows you to test your waters. It is the best way to know if you are good at something or not, because if you haven’t tried, then you wouldn’t really ever know. In that case, it won’t justify when you point at something and say ‘No, that isn’t for me’. 

6) An opportunity is not the end of your goal that you want to pursue: An opportunity is not ‘the’ thing you want. An opportunity is the means to a lot more opportunities. It is like a circle. One thing will lead to another, there’ll be network expansion to a lot more opportunities coming in.

7) Opportunities will come to you: NO, they never will; unless you look out for them. You should have an attitude that is welcoming and making efforts of going after what you want. When it is said that opportunities come knocking on doors, it actually implies one ought to have a door. This is a metaphor for saying that you should show interest and make efforts to look out for what you want.

8) Keeping to yourself will secure your opportunity: There’s a competitive mode when it comes to the contemporaries and one tends to keep mum about what they are pursuing in life, with an underlying insecurity that the other might take it before you do. In such cases, be smart in choosing your peers and the people whom you consult and share things with. Choose people who you know will be your well-wishers, people you can rely on to help you improve at what you do. Such people could be your parents, cousins, teachers, seniors and even contemporaries from a different field.

9) Maintaining networks: Once you have moved on from one place to another maintain your relationships from the previous opportunity experience. They are the foremost people who will bring opportunities knocking at your door. Here are some tips to create and maintain your network of people.

10) ‘That’s not an opportunity’: That’s like a pessimist talking because, in this 21st-century world start-ups are booming everywhere, food can be ordered online, information has become dirt cheap and every day someone is doing something new. Anything and everything is an opportunity which depends completely on your magnitude of creativity, innovativeness and of course perspective.

The word opportunities might come across as a word that is overrated/overused, but If there is anything that opportunities can guarantee you, it is a learning experience and having said that, it more than compensates for being regarded as ‘overrated’.