[Discussion] Opportunity doesn't knock; you do

So we're all familiar with the idea that success occurs when preparation meets opportunity. I like that idea, and it's tough to dispute; there are countless examples of it all around us every day. I just don't like how we tend to approach this formula for success.

People dwell on the preparation part too much. Our education, our training, our practice, etc. Of course those things matter, but they don't mean anything without opportunities to use the preparation. And in the absence of opportunity, what do people do while they wait for it to knock? They either give up, or they double down on their preparation. Another degree, another class, another 1000 hours of practice, etc.

I know so many ultra-prepared people who are just dying inside as they wait for opportunity to knock. Well, that's never going to happen for most of us. Opportunity doesn't knock; you do.

• Everyone I know from college who has a job either a) applied to hundreds of jobs, not dozens (upping their chances with the traditional approach) or b) took an unusual approach such as cold calling businesses, applying to positions that weren't open, etc.
  
• Almost every successful artist I know did it for free first. They were prepared to create, and they weren't going to wait for someone to ask them to do it. So they painted or sang or arranged flowers unprompted until people noticed. And now they get asked.
  
• My successful programmer friends tell me they've had the most impact when they acted without a customer's requirement. If they see a process they can automate, a web tool they can improve, etc., they just prototype it and show the customer. They appreciate the opportunity of blatant requirements and tasks, but they provide the most value when they use their preparation to do things customers never even imagined.

We are taught so much about how to prepare (we learn how to learn), but we are rarely taught how to create opportunities for ourselves. What approaches have you taken to create opportunities for yourself? As an ultra-prepared person just looking for somewhere to devote my energy, I want to learn from you.

Submitted June 22, 2017 at 03:34PM by ThePeoplesBard http://ift.tt/2sXoH7k