Opportunity

A long time ago whilst l was growing up l nursed a dream to travel and live abroad. This was a big dream which was unaffordable at the time. Never the less l said yes to this dream and began planning and preparing. One of the things l did to prepare for this dream was choosing to work as travel consultant. This enabled me to obtain information about travelling legally and the type of visas l could apply for. Thereafter an opportunity to travel was presented in the form of a free ticket to travel abroad through a work incentive and the rest is history. My colleagues at the time who also received free tickets through the same incentive managed to sell (miss) their (opportunity) tickets and spent the money!

One of life’s misconceptions is that hard work leads to success. This is a myth which is quickly dispelled as soon as you become intentional about studying successful people.   I have encountered individuals who worked very hard all their life but had nothing to show for it when they retired.  Furthermore, I have observed individuals and noted with frustration that less gifted individuals can go twice as far with achieving greatness than the more gifted individuals.  Most people conclude and attribute this to luck but for obvious reasons l am not convinced by this conclusion.  Therefore, this leads to the question that if not hard work, luck or talent then what leads to success?

Success is realised when preparation meets opportunity.   Pastor Wayne Chaney argued that God rarely drags you into greatness but rather presents passing opportunities that must be discerned for what they are. Certainly, when l set about registering myself to volunteer in church although driven by the need to give more to God, l had seized an opportunity to grow.

 It is not always talent, intellect, pedigree or education that leads to greatness. Ultimately it is the ability to recognise opportunities that can take you from where you are to where you need to be (Pastor Chaney). Successful people are able to discern and seize opportunities immediately because these windows of opportunities are usually time sensitive and will be closed if you decide to seize them later.

 If you can spot these opportunities your life will be changed. Successful individuals are distinguished from the crowd by their ability to sniff out opportunity!