Do you let opportunity pass you by?

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” ~ Winston Churchill

Are you letting opportunities pass you by? Like most people, I’ve had numerous opportunities in my life. Some of them I’ve taken while others I’ve completely missed. But sometimes all it takes is that one opportunity to make an ordinary life become extraordinary.

So why are we hesitant to take the chance?

The truth is change is scary and complacency is comfortable. But life is not about being comfortable. If we want to grow and ultimately evolve we need to accept challenges and opportunities as they come. We can only reap the reward when we take the risk: and with every risk we take the greater our lives will be.

But don’t spend all of your time wallowing in regret, as there are still numerous opportunities that will come your way.

Are you ready to start taking advantage of them?

Be Positive

As silly as it may sound it all starts with a positive attitude.  When you see things in a positive light you don’t waste time getting lost in the negative. You see chances as opportunities to learn rather than fail. You have an increased self worth and your life is happier.

Say Yes to Opportunities

Saying yes is saying yes to more things that will have a direct impact on the quality of your life and no to more things that will not. Say no to the same old boring routine and yes to everything different. When a coworker asks you go to a networking event that you may find uncomfortable say YES. When a friend asks you to take a road trip at the last minute say YES. When a family member asks you to accompany them to a charity dinner that you don’t want to go to say YES. You never know what opportunities are waiting.

Say Yes to You

But saying yes also means saying YES to you. Start believing in yourself enough to say yes to your dreams. Stop limiting yourself to the life that you are currently living and start saying yes to your thoughts. Create the vision that currently only exists in your mind. You can do it.

And when you start believing you can and saying yes to yourself you will begin to find yourself surrounded by more opportunities.

Follow Through

You can’t just say yes and expect that everything else will fall into place. You have to make the decision and then do the work to follow through. Don’t allow yourself to overthink the decision. When we spend too much time in our head lost in thought, wondering if it’s the right decision or the wrong one we never make a decision. Choose one and stick with it. Keep the momentum going by keeping your focus on the end result.

Don’t wait for Perfect

Perfect does not exist! Some of us wait for the perfect moment to come before we make a life changing decision. We wait until our work is perfect before we show it to others. We wait for the perfect to guy marry.  We wait for the right time to make our move. But I have some news for you. The people who wait for perfect are still waiting.  We have to seize every opportunity as it comes and then decide which ones are right.  Continuing to wait for perfect will only result in more missed opportunities.

Stop waiting. Take the risk. The right time is now.