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About the importance of spotting opportunities and acting on them

 

Today I was sitting here, thinking that my sabbatical is almost coming to an end – I have only about a month left of twelve-month study leave. I was also considering that we are still halfway through paying off our debt. And that it will take spotting opportunities and acting on them to take us to the finish line.

And, yes, I do realise how lucky I am to work at a university that still grants study leave. Looking at my plan and what I have really achieved it struck me that my main achievements didn’t have much to do with my plan and a lot to do with serendipity. Also, although my talents, skills and knowledge were absolutely necessary for some of these to come off, they are by far not sufficient. These achievements needed opportunities, my ability to recognise these and the courage to ride with them.

This made me curious; so I started looking for cases that illustrate this and remembering ones that I already had spotted. This is some of what I managed to find.

Spotting opportunities #1: The ‘Marxist Old Lady’

Spotting opportunities This story is about a Chinese lady who spent her life working as a human resource manager in a large state-owned enterprise – Meng Fang Ning. Then, after retiring in 2005, she became seriously ill with cancer and went to live with her daughter. As it usually happens in such cases Mrs Ning got herself a job: to look after her granddaughter. Apart from this, she started playing the computer games of the child; and when it was time for the little girl to go to school there was not much left than the games.

This is when things started getting hard. Mrs Ning was getting so obsessed with playing games that she was bad-tempered and withdrawn. Her daughter started thinking that if her mother is to be spending so much time on the computer, she may as well do something more productive than play games all the time. This is how the idea of starting an online business was born; but there was a problem: Mrs Ning was a very proud and long time member of the Communist Party. Eventually, she managed to reconcile her political and business values and today has a thriving online business selling snacks and health food all over China.

When she started her online business Mrs Ning was over 60 and her knowledge of both business and the internet left much to be desired.

Spotting opportunities #2: Betty and Beryl

Several weeks back, Betty Smith and Beryl Renwick won the Sony Radio Award for the best entertainment programme. Now, there is nothing exceptional about that except the fact that they are two women from a small radio station and they beat people like Frank Skinner.

Nothing exceptional until I tell you that Betty is 90 and Beryl is 86 years old. Or young!  Or that they were talent-spotted in a shopping centre several years ago and had never done anything like radio shows before; gosh they had never been on the radio before and I bet they even call it ‘the wireless’.

Spotting opportunities #3: The ‘Untouchable’ Multi-millionaire

Spot opportunities and act on theseKalpana Saroj is a woman who didn’t have a great start in life: she was born into a Dalit (untouchable) family in rural India; she was bullied at school; she was not allowed to enter her friends’ houses and she was married off at twelve to a guy ten years her senior. On top of all this, her husband lived in the slums of Mumbai and had a family that treated Kalpana as a slave.

Her first break was that she had a supportive father – when he visited her and saw her plight he simply took her back. This is highly unusual in Indian culture; so back in the village people saw Kalpana as a failure. She learned to tailor and tried to ignore the situation until….

…it just got too much and she tried to take her own life. After that Kalpana decided to live her life and ‘do something big and then die’. She left for Mumbai to stay with an uncle and started a tailoring business which she gradually grew. Eventually, she was asked to take over a company that was massively in debt – Kamani Tubes. She did and today Kamani Tubes is a business worth more than $100m.

What do these women share?

These women share four important things:

  • They have achieved something extraordinary.
  • They had the chips stacked against them.
  • They were offered an opportunity and they recognised it.
  • They had the courage to take these opportunities and be extraordinary.

What is my point, then?

As a civilisation, we have developed a multitude of techniques for planning, management and selection. As individuals we spend a considerable proportion of our lives planning, managing and disciplining ourselves or being planned, managed and disciplined.

What seems potentially more productive is to learn the art of spotting opportunities and to develop the courage to use them.

16 thoughts on “About the importance of spotting opportunities and acting on them”

    • @Roshawn: Your question is not weird at all; I have been asking myself. But it is very difficult to explain because it is a matter of feeling, intuition and flexibility. It is a bit like ‘Blink’ I think – one has to start mastering the skill and keep an open mind; of course you never know what possibilities you will be cutting out through choices!

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  1. I think I identify my opportunities by the hairs rising on the back of my neck – the best parts of my life have always been referenced by what I know but have shot off in odd and fabulous directions.

    I NEVER would have become a Public Speaker had I not spent years in rehearsals with actors soaking up their craft.

    I NEVER would have renovated my houses without learning how to build sets.

    I NEVER would have written a book had I not found books such a challenge with my dyslexia.

    And I NEVER would be taking strides in my new career had I not been wiped out in the credit crunch.

    Sometimes I see so clearly an opportunity that I am surprised that everyone else around doesn’t see it too and jump on the band wagon.

    The universe keeps sending these opportunities – so if you miss one another will be along pretty soon.

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    • @Elaine: Mmmm…Hairs rising at the back of my neck! So probably it is fair to say that we don’t ‘spot’ opportunities; we feel them at a much more intuitive level. Thinking, rationalising types will have a bit of a problem here…

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  2. A very good post and something we all need reminding of from time to time. I think it takes a certain mindset to recognise and act on an opportunity. I wonder how many such chances we let slip by because we weren’t in the right frame of mind?

    We also need to be willing to turn a corner, possibly take a side road and come back to the main highway later – with a new skill or perspective.

    Or, of course, continue on our side road and make it our route?

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    • @Pat: I think you are right; opportunities spotting and grabbing would involve diversions. But then you know about ‘the best laid plans’…

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  3. Wonderful read. It is so amazing how opportunities pop up, without any real planning or forethought. Then, if one recognizes (or even if not) the possibilities and stays with it, a new path forms. Those were great stories and very well told. Thanks for the inspiration to keep plugging along.

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  4. Brilliant article and I’d add the easiest way to spot a true opportunity is when the opportunity comes along and it scares you to try it, that’s the opportunity to grab.

    It a bit like Elaine said above, the hairs rising on the back of your neck.

    When you get those feelings it’s like a signpost to an opportunity.

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  5. Excellent article and very inspiring! I particularly like the ending about how we often get caught up in planning and managing, this is certainly a result of having an industrial, complex society. When we see opportunities, do we go for them? Do we allow our circumstances to dictate whether or not we go for them? I definitely want to spend more time seeking and pursuing opportunities that can change my life and the lives of others!

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  6. That’s a great read Maria. Such stories always end up motivating and inspiring us to achieve more in life. And as you rightly said, it’s all about latching on those opportunities on time.

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  7. What a fabulous, and vital, topic.

    I am in the process of writing a memo to my millennial kids in which I comment: “On my personal financial path, I have tried to avoid fatalism by framing luck as something we are given, and fortune as what we choose to make of it. In other words, you can’t choose the cards, but you can always play the hand you’re dealt. That said, be mindful that creating good fortune from bad luck is not easy, and recognising opportunity from good luck can be challenging.”

    Elsewhere in the memo I refer to MoTs, Moments of Truth. These are where opportunities arise and they need to be recognised. It seems to me the first thing we need to do is acknowledge we are free to pursue activities that hitherto fall outside our daily / known experiences. Once we are receptive to this concept, the easier it becomes to identify those life changing and serendipitous opportunities. Easier said than done, and as you say, Maria, it requires courage.

    So where do we find the courage? Sadly, in my case, mainly desperation – with no choice but to try something new! For others, maybe reading books and blogs such as this.

    I will do my best to spread the word about The Money Principle on my upcoming website. Please keep up the good work!

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