Learning To Be Prepared For Opportunities Even When There's No Guarantee

A popular saying that I never took seriously is “It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one, than to have an opportunity and not be prepared”. I didn’t realise the importance of this quote, until a few opportunities came & I either had to turn them down because I was not prepared or I took it for granted & misused the opportunity.

For example, there was a time I wanted to be a DJ but I didn’t have decks, so I used my phone to make mixes. I made a few mixes and made my best mix back in 2015 (currently at 59k plays, 950 + likes on SoundCloud - @Tbh_itsnoteasy). It got a lot of attention & I got told to buy decks etc. but I said nope, I’ll wait till next year when I’m ready. I didn’t take my own talent/ gift seriously as it felt easy for me to do. About 2 months later, I got offered to Dj at weddings, house parties, club nights, network events etc. but I had to say no to everything because I wasn’t prepared (no decks). However, I expected that I’ll get the same opportunities later on (which could’ve happened) but I lost the drive after a while & only made like 1 mix a year and didn’t even buy the decks. So, those missed opportunities in my case led to a gift put on pause for the last few years. Imagine if I took my gift seriously, bought the decks & practice. I would’ve taken the opportunities I.e. doing those bookings that came and who knows where I would be in djing today.

(N.B. When you have a gift, don’t overlook/undermine it, especially when it’s easy for you to do, strive to make the most out of it, by feeding it consistently! Like a plant that needs water, Let it grow not go)

I‘m now of the mindset that, the fear of success (not failure) stops you from maximising your potential. What do I mean? It’s like knowing your gift/talent, visualising how far you could get with it but then letting fear of achieving that, lead you to make excuses as to why you can’t get there. So you end up not maximising your gift/talent, pushing back your potential success by weeks, months or years.

Later, you find yourself saying ‘I could’ve been this or done that’ etc. then you give up or subconsciously apply the same thought process to other opportunities that come by.

(N.B. There are many different gifts/talents that we possess. So don’t let one misused gift/talent lead you to miss other opportunities that come along. P.s it’s never to late to give that misused gift another chance... just be consistent)

Overall, The main lessons I learnt were that:

•Opportunities will always come, especially in unexpected ways... but you gotta start to prepare from now... even when you don’t have a reason to, otherwise it’ll pass you by over & over again.

•You possess many skills, talents & ideas. Don’t take them for granted. Look at your talents or even your hobbies & write down the potential of where it can take you I.e. if u like giving advice, I would look at where it can take me to I.e. become a motivational speaker on a big platform. However, my process would be to write blogs, do YouTube videos, podcasts etc. with no expectations but by doing these things, I open a chance for opportunities to come my way. Like someone coming across my blog & inviting me to speak at an event etc. but if I don’t actively do something then those opportunities won’t come along etc. Now, that’s just one of many skills you can explore that can expose you to opportunities.

•Every opportunity that comes your way that you take, maximise the full potential of it till you exhaust the hell out of it. Don’t let one opportunity make you comfortable, let it be a sign to keep going with a mindset of “if I can get this opportunity, how many more can come if I keep up the consistency of what I’m doing.

•Finally, stop saying no to opportunities because you feel under-qualified/under-skilled etc. take that opportunity & learn from it. Just like I said before, don’t let the fear of success allow you to miss out on opportunities. Otherwise, it will postpone your success or even stop it. So, always be on your toes, & prepare for an opportunity that’s not there yet.

(N.B. judge an opportunity more on the long term benefits of it rather than the short term sacrifice. P.s consistently missing opportunities = delay to your achievements)

Questions I ask myself:

1. What opportunities have come & passed you by because you said you’re not ready yet?

2. What opportunities came that you didn’t prepare for or you didn’t maximise its full potential?

3. What skill, talent or idea do you have right now that you are yet to prepare for potential opportunities?

4. What are you going to do after answering the last three questions?

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Follow my journey on Instagram @Davidologunja