A lot of people hope for opportunities to come. Of course opportunity is a very beautiful thing, yet it is also unpredictable. Which means that you may not know when and how it will come. It may not even give a signal before it arrives. You will be surprised how some of the biggest moments of your life may open up in just a flash, without prior notification. But sadly, many people just live their life in a reactive state, not proactively. That is, they do not anticipate things before they happen, so they do not prepare for it. Rather, they wait for it to happen, and then respond to it. Most times, they may not do well with the opportunity. Not because the opportunity was not good, but because they were not prepared. This is why you should not just get ready, but you have to live ready.
A friend of mine who is a graphic designer shared with me how he got promoted to lead designer in his company. When he started working there, he was a junior designer. His main tasks were centered around just small boring designs like resizing of logos, etc. However, instead of getting lazy, he went through each day as a great opportunity to learn and improve. Every week, he would quietly study at least one of the company's major clients. He would learn about their brand colours, their designs, preferences, goals, and even replicate their designs in his personal laptop, just as a way to learn. He was doing all those, not because he was paid to, but because he wanted to improve on his skills. He also learnt a lot of designing skills online.
A day came when the company was to do a massive design presentation for a big client, but the lead designer just fell sick, so he was not available for it. The manager started panicking and ran to the staffroom to ask if someone knew the client's company well enough to do the presentation. Every other staff gave the excuse that they did not know. But my friend stood up and said that he had studied the client's company so well, and he said that he is ready for it. The manager did not have any choice, but to allow him. He did the presentation and it was so amazing that even the client was so impressed and increased his patronage. The next week, my friend was promoted to the lead designer cadre of the company. You see, he did not just wait for opportunity, he was prepared for it.
If you wait for opportunity to come before you start to prepare, then you are already late. Imagine a footballer that has not been training, and just sitting and waiting for when the coach will call him for match. If he enters the football pitch, he will not deliver because he did not prepare. He may even lose his spot in the squad if he plays badly. The truth is that you do not know when the kind of opportunity you need will come, so this is the reason you have to live ready. One of the things that make people to lose confidence, panic, and go through a lot of stress is last-minute-preparation. In a professional world for example, imagine a client asks you to present your proposal tomorrow, but you have not even prepared it at all, how will you master your data overnight?
You have to understand that staying ready does not mean that you should work for 24hours a day, nor does it mean that you should live in a state of anxiety. Rather, it is about the small daily habits of excellence. These include updating your skills, keeping your mind clear, going for more knowledge, etc. That is why people go for training, courses, etc, even when already engaged in a work. You may not know when the next big opportunity will come, so you have to live ready and be prepared for it. Imagine how you will feel when the opportunity you have been hoping for suddenly appears and you are not prepared for it?
A soldier does not wait until the day that battle will start before he starts to train. It is better he trains and stays fit ahead of combat, than waiting for it to start first before training. It is the same in other aspects of life, you have to understand that your ability to perform well when an opportunity comes is directly determined by how ready and prepared you are. Ask yourself if you have the capacity to undertake what you are hoping for if you get it. You cannot be applying to be a pilot when you have not gone through a flying school. It is your preparedness that makes you to make the most of the opportunities that come to you.
Thanks for reading
