I have been guilty many times in my life of sitting and waiting for things to happen for me. It is only recently, in the last couple of years, that I decided to be proactive and seek out opportunities for myself. 

How many of us have sat with the mindset of, “When [some random opportunity] happens, then I will start to learn/practice/develop [the skill needed to accomplish said opportunity]?” I will bravely raise my hand. Great opportunity may come to those who wait, but I think we’d all be better off if we started preparing for things while we wait. 

“Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.”

– Zig Ziglar, See You at the Top

We cannot sit on the couch, twiddling our thumbs, waiting for the phone to ring with that new job offer. No one is thinking to themselves that they should call you with a gig or a show unless you have proven yourself by developing a following, building relationships, developing your skills, and making a ruckus in the world already. This idea is very similar to my previous blog post “Take your eye off the prize” in that sometimes you just have to work, learn, create, and do without thought of reward, without letting the notion of “What’s in it for me?” hold you back.

Be persistent, find out what you need to learn and do to get where you want to be, and start doing it. The opportunities will come, but you have to be prepared when they arrive. If you get an offer for the NBA, and you’ve been sitting naked on a bean bag chair eating Cheetos for 3 months, you aren’t prepared and will therefore fail in your opportunity.

If you want a job in marketing, you are going to have to learn it on your own time and start doing marketing, maybe for a friend while you hold down another job to pay the bills. If you want to make a living as an artist or a graphic designer, you are going to have to start doing work and putting it out into the world whether or not you get paid for it. People have to see you and know you before they will want you. You will have to sell yourself as an expert in what you do and that means you have to do the work, build a following, make noise in your little area of the world.

You are going to fail, probably more than once. That’s fine, just start another project, call another business, reach out to another person who might need your expertise. Just keep working.

“When you work and develop your skills and talents, your day will come…[and] if your day never came, you would still be the big winner. Inside you will be the knowledge that you’re doing your best with what you have.”

– Zig Ziglar, See You at the Top

I’m going to keep preparing myself so that I am ready when opportunity comes knocking. What about you?