Preparation Meets Opportunity

Preparation meets Opportunity. I did a leadership course about two years ago and these are the words that were uttered and continue to ring in my ears up to today. Another way to look at it is whatever you are doing today is preparing you for something. Scary thought! If you were to evaluate your habits what do you think they are preparing you for? I met two young people recently who really helped me magnify the power of this statement.

Nyambura and Steven have just graduated from university. They haven’t yet been able to find jobs. Nyambura when she hears of a job opening sends in her CV. Most of the time she relies on her parents to scout for these job prospects for her. When she is not doing this she lazes about in the house watching TV, catching up on gossip on social networking sites, checking out fashion trends or going to hang out with her friends who are in exactly the same position as her. The topic of conversation for 15 minutes is usually how bad the economy is, how there are no jobs, how broke they are etc.

After the preliminary pretense of discussing serious business is done away with they will talk about the latest party, who is dating who, how to get tickets for concerts, where to buy clothes etc. Steven is in the same predicament as Nyambura. He also has not been able to find work. His parents are also trying to help him where they can but nothing has come through as yet. Steven however does not laze about during the day. He attends any seminars he can to increase his knowledge.

So far he has attended a CV writing and job interview skills workshop, entrepreneurship training and forums where he has gotten to hear both professionals and business people talk about their experiences. In fact I met Steve at a talk I happened to give to university graduates on entrepreneurship. He has also joined his universities Alumni association and through that has gotten some job interviews. He also does spend time on social media but is now using it to join forums that can assist him professionally. In the meantime he has decided to put his love of gardening to good use and is offering landscaping services.

Both of them don’t yet have jobs but can you see the difference? If both of them turned up at an interview who would you hire? My money is on Steven. Steven is preparing for the opportunity that may come his way in the future. Nyambura is waiting for opportunity to come (i.e. a job) and then that is when she will take her life seriously. It doesn’t work that way. By the time (and if) Steven gets a job he will have managed to improve his skills, his networks, and his communication. Steven is making sure he interacts with people who can teach him something and have walked the path before him. He is not sitting around with a bunch of his peers, like Nyambura, complaining about life.

I use the word ‘if because Steven is also opening up his options in business. Given that he has attended entrepreneurship seminars and has started offering landscaping business, it might just turn out that the opportunity might be in pursuing that venture. Nyambura with her love of fashion can possibly do the same thing but unlike Steven, she is not doing anything to open up her thinking. The same preparation mentality applies to your money. Be Steven with your money. You may not have any money of be in the perfect financial situation but you can start preparing for what you want to achieve.

In our classes we teach people to let their actions always be at the very least a year ahead of their goals. For example say you want to invest in property next year. Typically many people would want to have the money first and then go look for the property. The same way Nyambura wanted to get a job first before she became serious. It actually works the other way round. Start by doing the research. You may not have the funds today but you have a brain.

Spend your weekends driving round talking to people. As new information starts filtering through and you become more specific about you want, you may start finding different ways of acquiring this property. You will get creative on how to generate income. You will find people who you can partner with. You will open up your options. You want to earn a bigger salary next year? What are you doing this year about it? Don’t expect your employer to pay you more because of inflation or because they just like you. How are you performing at work so that you can justify that type of increase?

You want to start a business? What are you doing to prepare for it? Perhaps you should be talking to someone in that same type of business who can share their experiences. If you are not consciously doing actions in preparation for your goals, you are preparing to stay the same, fail or remain mediocre. This way of living is very contrary to our instant gratification instinct so it will take some work. We like the comfort of knowing that it will work out before we try and get emotionally invested because we are scared of the disappointment.

So like Nyambura we sit back and wait for the opportunity to first show up. The irony is the great opportunities never will because we will not be prepared for them. There is no guarantee that what Steve is doing will work out exactly as expected but he is definitely getting prepared for the greater opportunities and will carry the lessons from any failures that he may face. Get prepared!!