How can you make the most of your opportunities?
January is typically a time where our focus often turns to looking at new opportunities. Other times in the year such as annual holidays, often allow us to re-focus too.
The possibility of shifting direction, trying something new, or making some positive plans for the future can provide a sense of rejuvenation and excitement. But before you know it, you’ve fully immersed yourself into something new, only to discover a few weeks later, that you can no longer sustain your interest in it.
What felt like a great opportunity to make great strides forward, is suddenly relegated to history, alongside the unwanted gym membership and new language books. So, how can you avoid turning the opportunities that you want so much into lost chances?
Ask yourself – What do I really want to achieve from this opportunity?
With any opportunity lies the key underlying question of what you really want to achieve from it.
It can be easy to fall into the trap of looking at a new opportunity because you want to make more money, to become famous, or to look better in the eyes of others. But in reality, money, fame and the perception of others are all things that you can’t control and which can lead to early disappointment.
Starting anything new, be it a new job, joining a gym to get healthier, or making financial plans might feel easy to begin with, but to really stick with it in the long term requires real discipline. If your motivations lie outside of your control, then the longer you go without receiving the recognition you want from your efforts, the more likely you are to give up on your opportunity.
However, if you approach a new opportunity with the view that you want to improve yourself as a person and be able to help others more as a result, your focus remains on things that you have more control over and there is more likelihood that you won’t give up after the first month.
If you’re struggling with keeping any new year’s resolutions alive, this is always worth bearing in mind, because if your motivations aren’t focussed on self-improvement or helping others, you’re likely to become demotivated much more quickly. Asking this simple question will help keep your focus on opportunities that are more true to you.
Are you prepared to take a few knocks along the way?
Starting something new can be the start of a long journey and as with any journey, it may take a few twists and turns. You may even hit a few dead ends along the way.
It can be easy to treat these knocks as demotivating, but in reality, if you really want to pursue an opportunity for the right reasons, you’ll find a way to pick yourself up and get moving again.
Sometimes, it’s important to appreciate that it can take a while to recover from the bigger knocks and you might even need to pursue other avenues as part of the recovery process. But if in your heart of hearts you really want to do something because you care passionately about it, that motivation will help to propel you forward again in the right direction.
Are you prepared to teach what you’ve learnt?
Learning how to teach is something that many of us aren’t taught. But to teach well, requires:
- the ability to analyse what you actually do;
- the development of self-awareness, to be able to decide whether what you’re doing is correct and effective; and
- consideration of whether what you’re going to teach and how you’re going to teach it, is going to be of enough practical use to help your students to develop in a way that allows them to develop the very same critical analysis skills and self-awareness.
When looking at how to make the most of a new opportunity, developing the teacher mindset can help immensely as you learn and develop new skills. Taking the time to help and teach others with less experience than you well not only helps your students, it also reinforces your grasp of your own basic skills, which in turn maintains your ability to continue learning and improving too.
A great time to stop and re-assess
Any time is a good time to stop and re-assess opportunities if they haven’t quite started as you wanted.
If you go into something new with just an end goal in mind, it’s unlikely that you will make the most of that opportunity. But if you’re prepared to be patient, persevere and learn and pass on your experiences to others along the way, the opportunities that present themselves to you may well provide you with a long lasting, diverse and rewarding stream of work, education and connections.
