Seize the Opportunity

Do you ever think much about the opportunities that exist in your life?

Although we are all surrounded with more opportunities for advancement in life than we could ever act on, we typically don't live life from the perspective that we've got unlimited options.

While it's easy to get people to agree that there's an abundance of opportunities for success of all kinds in the world today, their actions often tell a completely different story. Most people live life much too timidly or defensively. They somehow think that the purpose of life is to make it safely to death. But, of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

Think about how boring a sporting event such as football or basketball would be if there were no offense, only defense. Surely the game of life requires a strong defense to protect us from the challenges that come our way, but we can never hope to win big in life without an extraordinary commitment to the offensive part of the game.

I often think of the opposing forces of offense and defense as they relate to sports when I think about the topic of opportunity. Surely there are opportunities to take advantage of when playing defense, but again the big wins in life are more often than not offensive in nature. Seizing an opportunity whether it be in sports or in life, usually requires taking bold new steps into the unknown.

I'm sure that the primary reason why many people don't pursue their dreams in life is fear. Fear of what might happen if they take advantage of an opportunity and it doesn't work out. If the truth were known, we're probably all a little bit scared of the unknown but I find it interesting the most successful, happy, and fulfilled people I meet in life have transformed this fear into excitement for what they can build for themselves in the future.

We need to remind ourselves that stepping into the unknown is a part of life. And that's good. Imagine how boring life would be if you knew exactly what was going to happen. It would be like Christmas with no surprises.

Achieving all of our goals and dreams for the future requires us to step into the unknown and take advantage of the opportunities that come our way. I think it's best to be bold rather than timid as we make these steps. Of course, this doesn't mean being careless or acting without intelligent thinking and planning. But don't over-analyze your life either or try to protect yourself from everything little thing. The truth is that you are bigger than anything that could ever happen to you so don't pass up a great opportunity out of just plain fear. Sometimes in life you've got to feel the fear and do it anyway when the opportunity is right for you.