What type of person are you? Do you see the possibilities or the problems? What is your outlook on life? Would you describe yourself as a half-empty or half-full type of person?

Opportunities can come and opportunities can go. Sometimes, we can be in the right place at the right time, but still totally miss the opportunities that await us.

I am sure if you are like me, you can look back on life and see the lost opportunities. However, life is in full gear. It is not where we have come from or the missed opportunities we have had. Rather, it is where we are heading that counts. It is the opportunities that lay ahead of us that really matter.

Being in the right place at the right time is good, but only to a certain extent. It is far better to be in the right place at the right time and to embrace the opportunities.  This is how we go from a missed opportunity to a captured opportunity.

Captured opportunities can be built upon. Lost opportunities are lost opportunities.

How do you grow in recognising opportunities? Over the years, I have learnt to be very conscious of opportunities around me. In life, it can be easy to settle into auto pilot mode. However, if you are fully aware of opportunities, you will be better able to capture them.

The following three actions will help you:

  1. Raise your conscious level of awareness. Be on the front foot. Expect opportunities. Look for opportunities and be aware of how you can create them. Entrepreneurs do not wait for opportunities.  If opportunities do not exist, they create them. Be perceptive. Look beyond the superficial.
  2. Challenge yourself for action. I have learned to challenge myself about the opportunities I see. What actions should I be taking? Taking action is one thing.  It takes wisdom to know the right action. As a strategic thinker and coach, I help my clients develop a process to take the right action. This approach has helped me personally and has also helped my clients to capture many opportunities that would have otherwise been missed.
  3. Ask yourself good questions. Think big into the opportunities.  You want a good, robust process that leads to success. Asking yourself good questions can save a lot of time. It also leads to greater effect.

What are you like at asking yourself good questions?

Here are some of the good questions I would ask:

  • Should I respond now?
  • How should I respond?
  • What opportunities could develop from this?
  • How can I maximize this opportunity?

You cannot go back, but you can move forward. Wise people know that for progress, you need a process.

No process equals no progress and no process leads to missed opportunities.

What actions can you take today to be consciously aware of the opportunities that lay ahead of you?

To read a previous blog about application that can lead to transformation, click here.

Starting with your opportunities in mind will lead you to greater awareness, success, impact, influence, and income.