Being Ready for that Opportunity

Ekta Kapoor once said:

“I think success is what you make of it - of course there is always the factor of luck, but one should always be equipped to seize the moment when opportunity knocks.”

That is obviously true. But can one do things to be better positioned to take advantage of the elusive opportunity/luck when it comes one’s way?

 

Shane Parrish certainly thinks so:

“The answer is as simple as it is frustrating.”

You’ll see what he means as he elaborates.

 

First, it is an accumulation of a large number of small steps that gets you to that stage where you could seize the opportunity. But none of those small steps carry immediate rewards (or penalties):

“The ordinary choices that guarantee a strong future go unnoticed. There is no pat on the back for doing the right thing just as there is no slap on the wrist for doing the wrong thing. Eating a chocolate bar right now won’t make you unhealthy. Just as not eating it won’t make you healthy.”

Not getting any feedback for a long time and yet continuing to do the right things – that’s very hard.

 

To make things even more difficult, it’s important to be consistent with those right things. One can’t do them at times, and ignore them at others:

“It’s like we’re Sisyphus rolling a boulder halfway up the hill, only to throw our hands in the air and go home. When we show up the next day, we see the boulder at the bottom of the hill. Not only did this undermine our progress but it makes getting started even harder.”

 

Which is why Parrish summarizes:

“Excelling at the small choices that compound over time perpetually leaves you in favorable circumstances… When you look below the surface, giant leaps aren’t really giant leaps at all. They’re a series of ordinary choices that suddenly become noticeable. If you look for the magic moment, you’ll miss how ordinary becomes extraordinary.”